The goodness of video games
arcarpenter2003
Hi all,
Steven Johnson has an article in the July 2005 Discover magazine about
the amazing learning that goes in in video games, as well as some
recommendations for good video games. (Johnson is the author of the
book _Everything Bad is Good for You_, which is apparently debunking
myths about TV, video games, and so on.)
You can probably find Discover at your library, or you can access the
article here:
http://www.discover.com/issues/jul-05/features/brain-on-video-games/
You can read the full article by becoming a Discover.com member for
free and then paying $1.00 for the article.
My favorite moment in the article is when the author is showing his
seven-year-old nephew the SimCity neighborhood that he built. When
the author notes that he's having problem getting a certain area with
factories to come back to life, the boy turns to him and says, "I
think you need to lower your industrial tax rates."
Yeow.
Peace,
Amy
Steven Johnson has an article in the July 2005 Discover magazine about
the amazing learning that goes in in video games, as well as some
recommendations for good video games. (Johnson is the author of the
book _Everything Bad is Good for You_, which is apparently debunking
myths about TV, video games, and so on.)
You can probably find Discover at your library, or you can access the
article here:
http://www.discover.com/issues/jul-05/features/brain-on-video-games/
You can read the full article by becoming a Discover.com member for
free and then paying $1.00 for the article.
My favorite moment in the article is when the author is showing his
seven-year-old nephew the SimCity neighborhood that he built. When
the author notes that he's having problem getting a certain area with
factories to come back to life, the boy turns to him and says, "I
think you need to lower your industrial tax rates."
Yeow.
Peace,
Amy
Roslynn
I LOVE video games. The boys are learning how to read because after
winning all the games they have, they still think that it may have
hidden things to find so they are learning how to read all the
comments that pop up on the screen. :) We have no game restrictions
here. They even own the game Manhunt. (Which I guess their was all
this conflict about because it was SOOO violent) But we talk about
it, and they know it's a game. The camera angles are cool, the talks
about the human body, arteries, blood, were really interesting. There
is a lot of hide and seek strategy kinda thing going on within the
game. They tired of it when they won it so quickly. Right now they
love the car game? uhh.. The grand theft auto game. The new one. I
am unsure of the "edition" of it. But that one has "missions" that
are good because some of them are timed and you have to get a sequence
of events right or else you can't win it. :)
Def. one of those things that gets a bad rap in my book.
Roslynn
~mother to *only* 5 children
--- In [email protected], "arcarpenter2003"
<arcarpenter@g...> wrote:
winning all the games they have, they still think that it may have
hidden things to find so they are learning how to read all the
comments that pop up on the screen. :) We have no game restrictions
here. They even own the game Manhunt. (Which I guess their was all
this conflict about because it was SOOO violent) But we talk about
it, and they know it's a game. The camera angles are cool, the talks
about the human body, arteries, blood, were really interesting. There
is a lot of hide and seek strategy kinda thing going on within the
game. They tired of it when they won it so quickly. Right now they
love the car game? uhh.. The grand theft auto game. The new one. I
am unsure of the "edition" of it. But that one has "missions" that
are good because some of them are timed and you have to get a sequence
of events right or else you can't win it. :)
Def. one of those things that gets a bad rap in my book.
Roslynn
~mother to *only* 5 children
--- In [email protected], "arcarpenter2003"
<arcarpenter@g...> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
>
>
> My favorite moment in the article is when the author is showing his
> seven-year-old nephew the SimCity neighborhood that he built. When
> the author notes that he's having problem getting a certain area with
> factories to come back to life, the boy turns to him and says, "I
> think you need to lower your industrial tax rates."
>
> Yeow.
>
> Peace,
> Amy
Heidi Crane
I never thought I'd say it, but I love video games, too. I'm watching my 10
year old girl, playing Runescape, learning to read, asking how to spell this
word or that word, and recognizing many words from Runescape in other
contexts. And, lately she's been putting in a math oriented video game
called Operation Neptune, that we've had hanging around the house for five
years that *I* used to play a lot, but none of the kids was into it all that
much...and now, my 10 year old plays it daily.
They're an important learning tool, IMO, and I'm glad we have lots of
variety for the kids to choose from. Besides! LOL my son wants a hand held
Nintendo, one of those new ones that you can move the characters with your
finger or a stylus on the screen? Well, he wants one, and so to earn some
money, he's been doing extra chores pretty much every day, and saving his
money. The cat box is being maintained, the patio is clean, the van has been
getting emptied out regularly...yeah, I like video games!
blessings, HeidiC
year old girl, playing Runescape, learning to read, asking how to spell this
word or that word, and recognizing many words from Runescape in other
contexts. And, lately she's been putting in a math oriented video game
called Operation Neptune, that we've had hanging around the house for five
years that *I* used to play a lot, but none of the kids was into it all that
much...and now, my 10 year old plays it daily.
They're an important learning tool, IMO, and I'm glad we have lots of
variety for the kids to choose from. Besides! LOL my son wants a hand held
Nintendo, one of those new ones that you can move the characters with your
finger or a stylus on the screen? Well, he wants one, and so to earn some
money, he's been doing extra chores pretty much every day, and saving his
money. The cat box is being maintained, the patio is clean, the van has been
getting emptied out regularly...yeah, I like video games!
blessings, HeidiC
>
>Message: 9
> Date: Sun, 03 Jul 2005 19:00:42 -0000
> From: "Roslynn" <rroseacademy@...>
>Subject: Re: The goodness of video games
>
>I LOVE video games. The boys are learning how to read because after
>winning all the games they have, they still think that it may have
>hidden things to find so they are learning how to read all the
>comments that pop up on the screen. :) We have no game restrictions
>here. They even own the game Manhunt. (Which I guess their was all
>this conflict about because it was SOOO violent) But we talk about
>it, and they know it's a game. The camera angles are cool, the talks
>about the human body, arteries, blood, were really interesting. There
>is a lot of hide and seek strategy kinda thing going on within the
>game. They tired of it when they won it so quickly. Right now they
>love the car game? uhh.. The grand theft auto game. The new one. I
>am unsure of the "edition" of it. But that one has "missions" that
>are good because some of them are timed and you have to get a sequence
>of events right or else you can't win it. :)
>
>Def. one of those things that gets a bad rap in my book.
>
>Roslynn
>~mother to *only* 5 children
Glenda S.
DS (almost 7) and I have been playing the Spyro video games together for several years. The second and third Spyro games, especially, are our favorites. There are certain skills I absolutely cannot master which he's mastering quite well now!
For a while, we also had a Barbie Explorer video game (before DS developed a very strong dislike for anything Barbie LOL) and that was fun and rather challenging -- you could also play it 2-player, which was a perk for us. Too bad we can't do that with Spyro.
DS has definitely honed his reading skills by playing video games. I also think it's amazing he can pick up a brand new game and figure it out rather quickly without referring to a guide -- I know this very thing was discussed somewhere, maybe on the unschooling info message boards.
Glenda
---------------------------------
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
For a while, we also had a Barbie Explorer video game (before DS developed a very strong dislike for anything Barbie LOL) and that was fun and rather challenging -- you could also play it 2-player, which was a perk for us. Too bad we can't do that with Spyro.
DS has definitely honed his reading skills by playing video games. I also think it's amazing he can pick up a brand new game and figure it out rather quickly without referring to a guide -- I know this very thing was discussed somewhere, maybe on the unschooling info message boards.
Glenda
---------------------------------
Yahoo! Sports
Rekindle the Rivalries. Sign up for Fantasy Football
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Joyce Fetteroll
Since Harry Potter's coming out Saturday :-) I thought I'd let people
know there are two local (to us) kids who've written and put out 2 CDs
of songs about Harry Potter and his world. The kids were 14 and 17 for
the first CD in 2002 and have been touring a bit the past 2 summers.
(They're schooled so perhaps even more surprising that they're rising
above the norm ;-)
Most of the songs are ballads in a mellow punk style I guess you'd call
it. We listened to the first CD and it was enjoyable :-) If you go to
their website you can listen to three songs from each album.
http://www.eskimolabs.com/hp/news.htm
Joyce
know there are two local (to us) kids who've written and put out 2 CDs
of songs about Harry Potter and his world. The kids were 14 and 17 for
the first CD in 2002 and have been touring a bit the past 2 summers.
(They're schooled so perhaps even more surprising that they're rising
above the norm ;-)
Most of the songs are ballads in a mellow punk style I guess you'd call
it. We listened to the first CD and it was enjoyable :-) If you go to
their website you can listen to three songs from each album.
http://www.eskimolabs.com/hp/news.htm
Joyce
[email protected]
How cool!
(Saturday, Saturday... waiting...)
This morning on The Today Show they had parent/kid teams of Potter Trivia
participants. It was cute, but as they were introducing them I was thinking
how they wouldn't have video game trivia contests on TV like that. The the
prize for the winning team was a PS2 and games to go with it. The girl looked
THRILLED and the mom was fine with that too. For a second I thought those who
were so dedicated to reading might shun a video game system.
I haven't heard them, but when I went to buy Keith something by his
current-favorite group right now (a weird group, too, from the Faroe Islands), another
CD was recommended at Amazon, and I'll probably buy him one of those for
Christmas, so it's not a recommendation by me because I don't know exactly what
it's like, but it's songs about the Lord of the Rings world. It's by a Finnish
group I haven't heard.
Sword's Song
Battlelore
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00009918B/ref=pd_sim_music_
2/102-9284127-3028954?v=glance&s=music
These are metal bands (odd, yeah) so it's probably not as acoustically
friendly as the Potter-song kids, which sounds pretty good. Too bad my kids don't
like Harry Potter. <g> I do though!
The CD Keith is liking so much is called "How Far to Asgaard" by a group
whose name doesn't spell out right outside of the runes, but is called in English
TYR.
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
(Saturday, Saturday... waiting...)
This morning on The Today Show they had parent/kid teams of Potter Trivia
participants. It was cute, but as they were introducing them I was thinking
how they wouldn't have video game trivia contests on TV like that. The the
prize for the winning team was a PS2 and games to go with it. The girl looked
THRILLED and the mom was fine with that too. For a second I thought those who
were so dedicated to reading might shun a video game system.
I haven't heard them, but when I went to buy Keith something by his
current-favorite group right now (a weird group, too, from the Faroe Islands), another
CD was recommended at Amazon, and I'll probably buy him one of those for
Christmas, so it's not a recommendation by me because I don't know exactly what
it's like, but it's songs about the Lord of the Rings world. It's by a Finnish
group I haven't heard.
Sword's Song
Battlelore
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00009918B/ref=pd_sim_music_
2/102-9284127-3028954?v=glance&s=music
These are metal bands (odd, yeah) so it's probably not as acoustically
friendly as the Potter-song kids, which sounds pretty good. Too bad my kids don't
like Harry Potter. <g> I do though!
The CD Keith is liking so much is called "How Far to Asgaard" by a group
whose name doesn't spell out right outside of the runes, but is called in English
TYR.
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]