Your professor is teaching a class on education. Write a post responding to the professor’s question.
In your response, you should
express and support your personal opinion
make a contribution to the discussion in your own words
An effective response will contain at least 100 words. You have ten minutes to write.
Professor Harris
Professor:
As we all know, video games have become an increasingly popular form of entertainment for people of all ages. However, their use in educational settings has been a topic of debate for many years. In recent times, the idea of incorporating video games into the classroom for young children aged 5-10 has gained traction. While some educators believe that video games can be an effective tool for learning, others argue that they are a mere distraction with no real benefit for education. What is your opinion? Why? Before next class, I would like you to share your idea on the discussion board.
Alice
Alice:
I would definitely say that video games can be used to good effect in the classroom at this age. Children love variety and, therefore, teachers should use many different resources in the classroom to help learning. Video games can be a very effective way to grab attention with simulating images and sounds, and getting attention is particularly important with primary age children. Another important consideration is the real-life application of some of the skills practiced when playing video games, such as hand-eye coordination, eactions, and problem solving.
Joe
Joe:
I hold a different view from Alice and firmly believe that video games should not be encouraged as learning tools at primary schools. My initial point refers to the addictive nature of video games for young people. They can dominate attention at the expense of everything else. For this reason, it is problematic to attempt to use them as a classroom learning tool. Another reason concerns the effect on behaviour of some games on children. There is some evidence that violent video games can make some children more aggressive.
I personally would vote for Joe’s opinion that primary schools should not promote the use of video games as educational aids. In addition to the possibility of children’s addiction to video games and display of aggressive behavior, constant exposure to games can easily lead to psychological problems, making students become antisocial. It is widely acknowledged that there is a correlation between excessive video game use and social isolation, depression, and anxiety in children. Furthermore, the negative impact that is worth mentioning is about the impairment of children’s health. If children stare at the e-screen for a long time in and after class, chances are that they gradually suffer poor eyesight and obesity, a result from decreased physical activity.
Alice did make a point when emphasizing the attention-grabbing feature of video games in children’s learning. However, she fails to realize the fact that long-term playing of electronic games can actually create a wrong sense of belonging to the virtual world, causing students to lose interest in learning real-world knowledge, thus worsening their academic performance.
