Video games as an educational medium
Abstract
When a person is given the choice to play video games or work on his homework, there is a good chance that he/she will choose to ignore their homework and play video games instead. The engaging environment of a virtual world and it's challenges are almost always preferred over the dull and repetitive exercises assigned by a math teacher. Knowing that the rich interactive worlds of video games are able to engage the player in a much more effective way than a pen and paper math problem can, a video game can be used as an effective medium to engage students to learn classroom content in a more effective way. To achieve this, a video game is being developed to target challenging topics in high school Algebra I classes and college level computer science topics. The games will be implemented in participating classrooms in the 2014 fall semester, with the hopes of effectively teaching students complex topics through engaging interaction and experimental practice through trial and error. We will discuss the components of these games in the context of the values providing for teaching and learning of mathematics.