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Good gaming info for parents?
GR_Zombie
Krillin ItRegistered User regular
Krillin ItRegistered User regular
Hey all, my cousin is saving up for a Wii, she's 8 years old and her dad is a total non-gamer, and a little wary of her getting into gaming. Are there any good sites to direct him to for information about games for non-gamer parents? I've heard of GamerDad but don't know much about it. I've been trying to educate him the best I can on gaming's positive qualities, but hearing it from other parents might ease his fears a little more.
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Alternatively, if you're looking for a basic overview of some of the issues in the field and a (very basic) summary of some arguments, FutureLab has a (slightly outdated from 2004) literature review.
Otherwise, there's a wealth of scholarly articles dealing with the impact of games in a teaching environment or how games can be used to increase media literacy, problem solving, reasoning, spatial memory, and other skills.
The most interesting of these I have citations for would be:
Atkinson, Tom. "Myths and Realities." TechTrends: Linking Research & Practice to Improve Learning 52, no. 5 (September 2008): 26-29. (learning through SecondLife, so may not be as applicable)
Facer, K. et al. "Savannah: Mobile Gaming and Learning?" Journal of Computer Assisted Learning 20, no. 6 (December 01, 2004): 399-409. (using mobile devices to create a game in a 3D space)
Hutchison, David. "Video Games and the Pedagogy of Place." Social Studies 98, no. 1 (January 2007): 35-40.
McMichael, Andrew. "PC Games and the Teaching of History." History Teacher 40, no. 2 (February 01, 2007): 203-218. (although this one deals with early college-level usage)
These (as well as many others) are available through ERIC and Ebscohost (Academic Search Elite). Marc Prensky and David Hutchinson tend to have quite a bit of writing, but I don't have any citations for them on-hand. I also have some research that is more quanitative, but those topics tend to be more mechanical, dystopian-sounding article and journal names which may influence an irrational bias. For instance:
Nelson, Michelle R. "Recall of Brand Placements in Computer/Video Games." Journal of Advertising Research 42, no. 2 (March 2002): 80-92. (shows that players subconsciously remember some visual content in games)
Ricci, Katrina E., Eduardo Salas, and Janis A. Cannon-Bowers. "Do computer-based games facilitate knowledge acquisition and retention?" Military Psychology 8, no. 4 (1996): 295-307. (found that a puzzle video game worked best at promoting information retention)
Alkan, Serkan, and Kursat Cagiltay. "Studying computer game learning experience through eye tracking." British Journal of Educational Technology 38, no. 3 (May 2007): 538-542.
(I can see a "Military Psychology? I don't want my kid near anything to do with military psychology!" or something similar, so I wouldn't necessarily recommend using these)
The easiest way to use such literature would be finding out the father's concerns and then finding some literature to match that theme. Usually academic writing has a very specific focus, which limits its applicability in all situations.
Even though I don't have a kid, I did most of the exercises because they were giving away Best Buy gift cards
Here's the website: http://www.getgamesmart.com/