Learning and Gaming

Chapter 5: Learning and Gaming

1 What is the main argument the author is making in Chapter 5.

Learning in schools should take place in the same way that learning to play video games does

2. What constitutes a theory of learning?

There where, the who, and the what people are learning

3. Why did the author struggle to learn to play Warcraft III? What needs to proceed before good learning principles?

he "failed to engage with it in a way that fully recruited its solid design and learning principles" (Gee 59) . In other words, he wasn't quite into the game as the game intended its players to be. Also, before good learning principles can happen, one must be motivated and engaged for an extended amount of time.

4. How would have the authors struggle with learning to play Warcraft III been interpreted in school?

as a failure

5 What kind of learning experience might be better suited for at risk students?

Have them do simulations and video game type learning. If they gain "experience" with their lessons, then they can move up the levels.

6. Why does the school-based interpretation of "at risk" lead to bad learning?

By the time they are labeled "at risk" the curriculum for them has already been set to be "dumbed-down", it's damaging on their self esteem and there seems to be no alternatives

7. What do schools need to do to function more like a good game?

allow students to take on different identities which will help them get their minds fully engaged with learning in the "world" of school

8. What is different about how good games and school assess learners?

School have one set assessment for everyone. With games, the player can pick and choose when and how to be 'tested' as well as having the option to go back and redo it until they know they have it. 

9. What are the attributes of a  fish-tank tutorial that make it an effective learning tool? How is it different than school-based learning?

They can assess their own learning styles and discover how they learn best! In school, students are all assessed the same way, and if someone doesn't fit into that cookie cutter shape, some adult decides what should be done

10. What is a sand-box tutorial? Why is effective? How is it different that school-based learning?

The player is able to explore the game without being harmed and it occurs in a mostly real situation. This is great because the player can practice and get a feel for the real thing. In school, kids aren't typically given the opportunity to get the feel of something before being expected to get their hands dirty so-to-speak. And, nothing in schools is "non harmful" when failure is a possibility. 

11. What is a genre? Why is it important for good learning?

Genre is a type of something. When a student knows the genre, they have an idea of what will be coming up and they can prepare for what might be expected of them.

12. According to the author, what do learning and play having in common?

You learn as you play!

13. How are the skills test in good games different from skills tests in school?

Many times, in games, you can choose when and how you are tested, or you are even given more opportunity to practice before you are evaluated. Upon doing this, the player can come to a realization on what does and doesn't work and figure out how to fix it. Tests in school are made by adults and assessed by adults, the student plays little to no participation outside of making sure they are just listening to what they are told.

14. How does RoN support collaborative learning?

Simply put: players have and utilize social networking. Whether this means they group up to work on a goal, talk on forums, read magazines produced by other gamers, etc. They are working together, helping each other, and learning from one another.

15. Match at least one learning principle of good games (on page 74) with each the following learning theorists you have studied in 3352:

Dewy: 8. "Basic skills" means what you need to learn in order to start taking more control over your own learning and learn by playing.

Vygotsky: 5. They let learners themselves assess tehir previous knowledge and learning styles and make decisions for themselves (with help)

Piaget: 9. "Experienced" doesn't need to mean "expert"; it can mean that one is well prepared for future learning

Gardner: 14. They give information via several different modes (e.g. in print, orally, visually). They create redundancy.

Bandura: 12. They offer supervised (i.e. guided) fish tank tutorials (simplified versions of the real system). 

Skinner: 1. They create motivation for an extended engagement. 

Formative Assessment

What is formative assessment?

assessment done throughout the learning process to better gage students understanding of the given subject matter

What is the CENTRAL purpose of formative assessment?

To identify where students have a clear understanding, or difficulty in an area of learning.

Connect a best practice in formative assessment to one research-based strategy.

Timing- students should be given enough time (but not too much time) to complete an assignment, test, or assessment in general... likewise, positive or negative reinforcement should be giving promptly and in a timely manor as well. Timing is key! Feedback needs to be done in a timely manor to increase understanding of where they went wrong, or even confirm they were right about something they were unsure about.

Give an example of how a specific assessment can be used formatively and summatively.

A rubric could be used for both. If you want to evaluate a writing assignment, list the criteria so the students understand what is expected, and then use it to assign a grade at the end (summatively)

Give an example from your field placement related to formative assessment and timing.

Every morning, as soon as students walk in the door, they have a journal entry to make. There is a prompt on the board. The teacher checks the journal entries to make sure the students are properly making complete sentences (including starting with a capitol letter and ending with a period) and it's basically making sure they are capable of writing a few sentences consecutively that make sense... and this assesses that they are following directions. As soon as they finish, they read their entry to her, and she later reads them.. by the end of a few days, she has them graded with feedback. 

What are some strategies to help formative assessment be more effective when providing students with feedback?

The article states the following: 

 emphasizes the quality rather than the quantity of 

student work; 

 prizes giving advice and guidance over giving grades; 

 avoids comparing students in favor of enabling individual students to assess their own learning; 

 fosters dialogues that explore understandings rather 

than lectures that present information; 

 encourages multiple iterations of an assessment cycle, 

each focused on a few issues; 

 provides feedback that engenders motivation and 

leads to improvement.  

Name two advantages to high quality formative assessment.

Teachers are able to identify struggling students and therefore better help them. And students can get a sense of confidence and control- when students get feedback, they understand the area and can relate it and make connections.

What are some challenges to implementing high quality formative assessment?

Constantly thinking of, creating and implementing formative assessments can become really time consuming for the teacher. 

Simulations and Bodies

1. What does the author mean when he says, "Learning doesn't work well when learners are forced to check their bodies at the school room door like guns in the old West." 

One cannot learn well when he/she is being forced to engage in an environment that isn't comfortable or natural- learning must take place within your comfort zone

2. According to the author, what is the best way to acquire a large vocabulary?

practice; use it, speak it, every day life should include a wide range of vocabulary

3. What gives a word a specific meaning? 

the context in which it is used. In my clinicals today, the phrase "pick you up" was discussed and the contexts in which it could be used. My host teacher mentioned that you can say "I will pick you up" to a baby and its context is literal. If you say "I'll pick you up after school" -  it just means, I'll be there to make sure you get home. And you can even say "Ice cream will pick you up" meaning to lift your spirits.

4. What does the term "off the hook" mean in each of these sentences?

a. My sister broke up with her fiance, so I'm off the hook for buying her a wedding present. I don't have to

b. Them shoes are off the hook dog. awesome and in style

c. Man that cat was fighting 6 people and he beat them all. Yo, it was "off the hook", you should have seen it!! again, awesome/cool/entertaining

4. According to the author what is the"work" of childhood? Do you agree?

Everyone knows "a child's work is play". I do agree. Take my 4-year-old for instance. When she plays with others, she has to figure out what's right and wrong and fair and what can everyone agree to play on...

5.Why is NOT reading the instruction for how to play a game before playing a game a wise decision?

It's a learn as you go kind of thing. When I learned to play WoW (World of Warcraft) I didn't sit down and read anything, rather, I logged in, made a toon, and figured it out as I went. It's the same with just about anything else in life: you don't learn by reading about it, you learn by living it and doing it yourself.

6. Does knowing the general or literal meaning of a word lead to strong reading skills?

Yes, if you take general sayings in a literal meaning while reading, you're going to be awfully confused as to why you're going to (for example) throw the baby out with the bath water!  

7. What does the author mean by the terms "identity" and "game". Give an example of 3 "identities" or "games" you play?

I'm a gamer- I play World of Warcraft (For the Alliance!)

I'm a mom and an Army wife

I'm a suggie mamma (I'm the mom to 4 sugar gliders)

8. According to the author what is good learning?

Basically, active learning and playing an active roll... knowing which 'game' to play and where (I like to say that I wear many hats, so good learning is knowing when to put what hat on)

9. How does understanding that being able to build a mental model and simulations of a real-word experience is closely tied  to comprehending written and oral language support of change the way you think children should learn in school?

I'm not sure I fully understand what this question is asking... It is important for children to make these mental connections between school and the real world. When they build these mental models and run through these simulations in their minds, it shows understanding. Likewise, if kids can read and write and talk on different levels (using these different identities) they have a higher chance of success. It's all about making connections with real world experiences.

10. Why is peer to peer interaction so important for the language development of young children? How does knowing this support or change the way you think children should learn in school?

Peer to peer interaction is critical...who can better get into a 3rd graders mind and understand how he/she thinks than another 3rd grader?! I already know that this should be supported in school, and I implement this in my clinical classroom. For example, today "J" was having difficulty with some math and I just wasn't able to get the concept through to her, so I grabbed one of her peers and said "Hey, can you help 'J'? She needs a little bit of help with this problem and I think I'm just frustrating her". Need I say more? Nope, because she got it after that. 

Language and Identity at Home

1. What are the features of the forms of language that are spoken in a home environment that align with academic varieties of language?

many times, home language that aligns with academic varieties of language are when we read to our children and when children play (house, school, etc)

2. What are the features of Leona's specialized form of language? 

parallels and repetition in story telling... she clumps together parts of her story and, I imagine, when she was telling this story, it was rhythmic 

3. Why is Leona's specialized form of language not accepted in school?

it doesn't "sound" right and it isn't "proper"

4. Explain the contradiction between the research conducted by Snow et al. (1998) and the recommendations made by Snow et al. (1998).

the Black-White gap in literacy was closing, but he recommends (in my own words) more 'drill and kill' for phonemic awareness and phonics which will bore kids MORE and ultimately widen that gap again  

5. What other factors besides early skills training will make or break good readers?

finding something interesting to read will make or break a good reader! If you force kids to read Basil readers over something they actually have an interest in, it will kill their drive to WANT to read! 

Also, a sense of belonging helps or hurts a reader. If they talk like Leona, they will likely be rejected for being 'stupid'... but if kids like Leona are embraced and their culture is embraced as a cultural capital, then it will HELP!

6. Why do some children fail to identify with, or find alienating, the "ways with words" taught in school?

you're expected to talk and act a certain way at school that isn't "natural" for many kids to do because of their way of life at home. If school would accept these kids with differences and use them as an aid to better learning, things might be a little different in the classroom.

A Strange Fact About Not Learning to Read

1. What is the strange fact about not learning to read? 

Poor and minority children have more difficulty learning to read than more privileged children.  

2. Why is this fact so strange?

Because ALL children seem to have little or NO difficulty learning to play video games, so why should reading be any different?! Socioeconomic status shouldn't matter

3. What is it about school that manages to transform children who at good at learning things like Pokeman into children who are not good a learning?

The difference is the instructed process versus it being embedded into ones culture. It's a proven fact that humans don't learn as well through direct instruction, rather, one must have a culture built around it so he/she has a saturated environment  

4. What is the differences between a traditionalists approach to learning to read and more progressive educators?

Traditionalists believe learning to read is an instructed process; progressive educators, on the other hand, feel that it's more natural and progresses as one grows and learns more. 

5. Is learning to read a natural process like learning to speak a language?

No. Learning to walk and talk is a natural process that is in our genetics and has been for hundreds of years, Learning to read, however, is a learned skill such as tying your shoes- someone must teach you and you must practice.

6. What is the differences between natural, instructed and cultural processes and which process should reading be classified under?

Natural processes are biological processes in which we, as humans, do instinctively. Instructed processes are where an expert is scaffolding the learner and teaching him/her. Cultural processes are those things we learn because of the culture we live in such as eating with chop sticks. Reading should be classified as a cultural process, as everyone should be reading, however, it is an instructed process because not everyone has the cultural means to a literary home life.

7. How do humans learn best? Through instructional processes or through cultural processes? How is reading taught in school?

Humans learn best through cultural processes, however, reading is taught by an instructional process in schools

8. According to the author, what is the reason for the "fourth grade slump."

The fourth grade slump is the exchange between learning to read and reading to learn. And many students cannot retain the complex language of textbooks

9. What is a better predictor of reading success than phonemic awareness?

How well a student does with language prior to school

10. What is the difference between "vernacular" and "specialist" varieties of language? Give an example of two sentences, one written in the vernacular and one written in a "a specialized variety",  about a topic in your content area.

Vernacular language is how people speak to one another on a daily basis. Specialist language is a more academic way of speaking, more proper. Vernacular sentence: That kid just doesn't read very well.     Specialized sentence: Due to her learning difference, that student isn't at the proper reading level for a child of her age. 

11. What is "early language ability" and how is it developed?

Early language ability is those who bring some prototype of academic language (some of that specialist language) with them to school upon reaching pre-k or kindergarten. It is developed by having a text-rich environment at home and parents and family members that use academic rich type conversations with the student.

12. According to the author why and how does the traditionalist approach to teaching children to read fail?

Because hearing and using the academic (or specialist) language isn't as comfortable for many children to use because they don't hear it at home. If they were taught using more of a vernacular language, it would help learning. 

13. Are parents of poor children to blame for their children's inexperience with specialized varieties of language before coming to school?

I will get a hard time for this, but yes! Without the support of parents (or guardians) and without their knowledge, they can't give their child the amount of support needed to succeed in school. Although it is the child alone that goes to school, does the work and is responsible for his or her own success it's up to the parents and family members to encourage it and typically, people of lower socioeconomic status are less educated. 

14. Did you struggle with reading this text? Why? Are you a poor reader or are you unfamiliar with this variety of specialized language?

Not really. I am a pretty crummy reader in general as my comprehension level and attention levels are low, but I did ok. This specialized language isn't too difficult to decipher. 

Situated Language and Learning: Intro

The main challenge in this book seems to be based upon the way people talk. It isn't enough to speak and write in the same language; furthermore, the problem at hand is getting students to comprehend educational and/or more advanced jargon than everyday language. These different ways of talking are what the author refers to as "ways with words". The way I think of it is like a discourse community; each group of people have their own "ways with words" that they understand, but outsiders might not get. I think the main argument of this book is going to be the battle between these "ways with words". You know, do we, as teachers, have to change the sound of education to reach students for their understanding? Or is there a way to continue as educators have for many years and just present the information in this formal language expecting the students to plow through the information the best they can?

As previously mentioned, there are "ways with words" that different discourse communities use. The author refers to video games a good bit, so I would like to use the same subject for an example. I play the online computer game World of Warcraft. There is a particular lingo used within the game and the players that most people don't understand. Gamers have "ways with words" that only they understand. Incredibly, these words are different among each game, too. If you do not play World of Warcraft, you can easily feel alienated from me because you have no idea when I say "I pwned those noobs in PvP. The Horde was in Stormwind and I flagged myself and started taking them down. Octane kept dying, so I had to use a battle rez... it's a good thing I'm healz or he would have died even more. Now, I"m OMW to the FP so we can start dailys". For those that don't play World of Warcraft, I think they now feel that black hole that the author spoke of. The example I just used (which I have said pretty close to those exact words in game before) is a specialized language. When I first started playing WoW, I had no clue what pwn or omw, or fp meant. After playing for about four years, I now know that pwn is "own", omw is "on my way", and fp is "flight point". The only way you can learn this specialized way with words is to be around it and use it.

Likewise, if you want to be successful in the 21st century, you have to learn to adapt. If there is an interest you have, or a goal you want to achieve, you have to learn to understand and be able to shape-shift into whatever you need to be, THEN you can become successful. I disagree with the author when he says that we need to be "shape-shifting portfolio people" (Gee, 2004). I think that's what schools want you to be! Society tends to look down on those people who only look good on paper. Yes, I agree that people must learn to, in his words, "shape-shift" because it's all about adaptation to your surroundings... survival of the fittest, if you will. On the other hand, one must represent him/herself with dignity and a certain level of professionalism if he/she wants to make it in this world, so I would have to say that I disagree with Gee when he says that academic language is not sufficient for success in modern society. You have to be both! You must present yourself as an educated person, and therefore, use the academic language to converse with others so they know you are an educated person who deserves respect. Also, you have to be able to go with the flow and read the situation. You can't be formal ALL the time, but you can't be too laid back where you seem lazy or uncaring, either; find that happy medium.

To conclude, I'd like to state that I am looking forward to reading this book. The first paragraph of the Introduction got my attention because I love learning about language and it was interesting to me- confusing, but interesting. Gee said he can switch up his "ways with words" so you don't feel like you're in a black hole. I like the way he writes and I think it will be ok to read.


Gee, J.  (2004).  Situated Language of Learning:  A critique of traditional schooling.  New York:  Routledge.

Student Observation and Interview

I decided to interview two students in my class: one was a struggling student and the other was high performing. I spoke with my host teacher to figure out which students would be most willing to talk to me and answer my questions. We agreed that one boy and one girl would be good.

The first student I talked to was a struggling student. Generally speaking, he has a few behavior issues in class as he tends to pick on other kids and annoy them which gets both parties in trouble for disrupting class. He sometimes has difficulty sitting still, but almost comes off as lazy. Here are his replies to the questions I asked him in an interview.  

Q. Do you enjoy school?
S. yes

Q. What kind of student are you?
S. good

Q. What do you do for fun outside of school?
S. play with friends

Q. How would your classmates describe you?
S. Good. Everybody describes everybody as good.

Q. Who are you friends with and what do you do with your friends?
S. Mason, Nick K., Nick H., Tanner, Jacob, Kassalyn.... we run around, talk, play on swings...

Q. Tell me a good memory you have about school.
S. work

Q. Tell me a bad memory you have about school.
S. People picking on me.... when people argue with me

Q. Describe a "good" teacher or tell me about a favorite teacher you have had in the past.
S. She helps you and tells you some of the answers. 
Q. Who was your favorite teacher?
S. Mrs. Butler... she was nice and she helped you. She lets you use her stuff.

Q. What is something you wish your teacher knew about you?
S. (Has no answer for this question. He does not understand the question and shrugs his shoulders)

Getting answers out of this student proved quite difficult at times. He gave short answers and acted as though he did not understand some of these questions. When I observe this student in class and with his peers, he is playful and likes to pick; however, he is quiet and often has difficulty communicating.


The next student is higher functioning. She is pretty quiet and frequently has the right answers and incredible penmanship! Here are her answers to the interview questions:

Q. Do you enjoy school?
S. yes

Q. What kind of student are you?
S. *giggles* quiet

Q. What do you do for fun outside of school?
S. Play with Katie (classmate)

Q. How would your classmates describe you?
S. friendly

Q. Tell me a good memory you have about school.
S. *thinks... giggles* Mrs. Bennett is here!

Q. Tell me a bad memory you have about school.
S. Doing work.

Q. Describe a "good" teacher or tell me about a favorite teacher you had in the past.
S. Mrs. Cantrell because she's nice

Q. What is something you wish your teacher knew about you?
S. I'm hyper at the end of the day.

This student is pretty quiet, but when she speaks it's something you want to hear. She isn't the type of student that has to tell you a bunch of random stories, unless it is relevant or important. When she's at recess or in class, she has one or two close friends that she hangs out with.