Digital Games vs. Traditional Games

I am torn between both sides of the fence of Digital Games in the classroom. As I said during the presentation on Monday, I strive to incorporate the skills that may get lost by using digital games in the classroom. When the Singapore Math spokeswoman brought up the point about lagging skills due to this younger generation not playing traditional board games, I got very nervous. I had never even thought about that! Lagging math skills because kids weren't counting places on a gameboard? I had never thought about that. So, as I said in the presentation, it just makes our job as educators that much more important and relevant to bring in the skills we value into the digital gaming world. I find that my students who struggle with attention perk up the second I turn on the Smartboard. While I would LOVE for them to have such a tuned in attention span during more "traditional" or less exciting lessons, I am going to capitalize on that moment where they're plugged in and teach them as much as I can. This is what makes us educators and assures that computers, technology, or games could never take our place. As I read this article, I kept the recent NYTimes article about the school that bans technology in my head. Everything is relative, and every side can be argued for: I think it is our job to understand what speaks to our students the most and find ways to teach them the skills we value through that channel.