Video Gaming and Schools

   I chose to read Gee's "Good Video Games and Good Learning" first. I found myself first thinking "Yes! That makes sense!" as I read through all the reasons why video games support creative learning and are exciting for children and adults alike. One sentence in particular really struck me: "School is often too easy for some students and too hard for others, even in the same classroom". Unfortunately, this is a problem that I have been struggling with in my own classroom and it is very frustrating. I see that half a class needs reinforcement while the other half is bored out of their minds and yet I feel that I have no choice but to go over the content. I think that it can be easy for teachers to fall into the trap of constantly catering to weaker students, while at the same time falling short of their stronger students' needs. I get that video games progress as you move through, therefore always being just a step outside your "comfort level" but not so much that you feel it is hopeless (unless you are talking about me and the new 007 Wii game because I pretty much gave up on that one already...). So Gee leaves us with the question that we as educators must ponder...how do we either implement these games into our teachings, or how do we structure our classes in ways that model the ways that games draw in kids and adults to keep pushing to new levels of learning. One example that popped into my head is the game SPORE, which I played a couple of years ago and thought it would be PERFECT for modeling how natural selection works, in a biology classroom. The first barrier blocking the possibility of bringing this game into my classroom is the fact that we may not download anything onto our computers. Still, I'm wondering if there is a way to get around that, or perhaps explain the benefits of the game...
    Next, I read Kara-Soteriou's "Video Games for the Disengaged (and not only) Students". When I got to the heading "Why teachers are reluctant to use video games in instruction" I thought "OK, let's hear the blame..." but on the contrary, I appreciated her defending why teachers aren't currently bringing video games into the classroom. You couldn't pay me enough to walk into lunch tomorrow and declare that video games should be used in the classroom because there is growing research that these games actually support creative and cooperative learning. There is such a stigma among adults and the media that these games create violent children, and are a waste of time. A more realistic approach of sharing the research with an adminstrator and suggesting it maybe be shown at the next faculty meeting is still a scary thought for me. So where do we start? I think each teacher has to decide this based on where he or she is working...for me I think structuring lessons to focus on real life problem solving and including varying degrees of difficulty is the best place to start. Where do you think you could start?
    I was going to make that test for Wednesday but I think I'll play my Sims 3 instead :P