What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy (Hardcover)

by James Paul Gee (Author) "I WANT TO TALK ABOUT VIDEO GAMES-YES, EVEN VIOLENT VIDEO games-and say some positive things about them..." (more)
Key Phrases: external design grammar, internal design grammar, cybernetic modules, Bead Bead, Von Croy, Mary Smith (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Gee astutely points out that for video game makers, unlike schools, failing to engage children is not an option." -- Review

"Gee.says the most challenging games prod players to push the boundaries of theiir skills and to adapt.." -- Shannon Mullen,Asbury Park Press,

"These games succeed because, according to Gee, they gradually present informatiion that is actually needed to perform deeds." -- Norman A. Lockman,USA Today,

Review

"[Gee is] a serious scholar who is taking a lead in an emerging field."--Scott Carlson, Chronicle of Higher Education"Am I a bad parent for letting [my child] play video games at 4? Not at all, according to Gee."--Jim Louderback, USA Weekend Magazine"Rather than be reined in, today's successful game designers should be recognized as modern masters of learning theory..."--Mike Snider, Cincinnati Enquirer"...an astoundingly insightful manifesto on teaching and learning..."--Michael Hoechsmann, McGill Journal of Education"Gee astutely points out that for video game makers, unlike schools, failing to engage children is not an option."--Terrence Hackett, Chicago Tribune"Gee...says the most challenging games prod players to push the boundaries of their skills and to adapt..."--Shannon Mullen, Asbury Park Press"These games succeed because, according to Gee, they gradually present information that is actually needed to perform deeds."--Norman A. Lockman, USA Today"...Gee suggests that...schools...are 'in the cognitive-science dark ages.'"--Jeffery Kurz, Meriden-Wallingford Record-Journal

"These games succeed because, according to Gee, they gradually present information that is actually needed to perform deeds."

(Norman A. Lockman USA Today )

"Gee…says the most challenging games prod players to push the boundaries of their skills and to adapt…."

(Shannon Mullen Asbury Park Press )

"Gee astutely points out that for video game makers, unlike schools, failing to engage children is not an option."

(Terrence Hackett Chicago Tribune )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan; 1 edition (May 16, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1403961697
• ISBN-13: 978-1403961693
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #955,111 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

56 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars brilliant, May 16, 2003

By	Miles Jacob (Laguna Beach, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I read through the entire book today, enthralled that an academic of the same generation as my parents finally "got" what made videogames (focusing on action, adventure, and rpg games) a fascinating medium both for players and creators. Furthermore, the author was then able to apply this knowledge to his area of expertise, educational theory. I knew videogames could be art, I knew that as simulations they could be political, but I never quite saw what seems to me perfectly obvious now, that good videogames of almost every variety teach us how to think and learn, and that they do this much better than our school system.

This book should be loved by anyone with a strong interest in videogame theory or educational theory, as it impressively doesn't simplify either area to fit the demands of the other.

I also applaud the organization of the book, as each section centers around a few key concepts of educational theory which are repeated in the appendix giving everyone who has read the book an easy way to recall the '36 learning principles'.

32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Teachers and Administrators should read this book., November 9, 2003

By	M. Chmiel (Arlington, VA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As a science teacher, I have asked myself (as Gee points out...many teachers and parents do) why it is that the same students who sit listlessly in my classroom will go home and spend upwards of 8 hours engaged in frusterating video-game play.
Gee effectively answers this question and makes a strong case in favor of video games being more akin to agents of learning (like recreational reading) as opposed to mindless entertainment (like really dumb movies).
Videogames are an interesting window through which we can study issues such as learning theory, motivation, and development of expertise. Fellow game players will recognize themselves in Gee's descriptions of what makes games so compelling, and nonplayers will be surprised by how far games have come since PacMan. I recomend this book to parents, administrators, and anyone else interested in education.

35 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good theory of education, vague video game argument, January 31, 2004

By	Will Jordan (New Haven, CT USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The book is primarily a criticism of 'traditional' school-based learning methodologies, using observations of children playing video games and the author's own play sessions as representative examples of the 36 principles of good learning he describes. He uses primarily 3d shooters and RPGs as his examples of 'good' video games (meaning that they encourage learning things about and within the world of the game). The author defines and conceptualizes his principles of learning and contrasts it with the school-based education process, noting the vast differences between the two. On this topic of criticism of school-based education, the author makes a strong argument.

His second argument, that these principles missing in school are demonstrably present in video games, is very vague and unfulfilling. The author often stresses elements of learning that can easily be found everywhere in life and social activity and in other forms of media, not just in video games. One point he makes in the middle of the book about incremental difficulty and the player's dynamic 'regime of competence' was a good topic consistent with video game design (although easily found in other places, such as golf handicaps), but it was not good enough to warrant his emphasis on video games in the other ~150 pages of the book. He repeatedly mentions that kids enjoy playing video games but don't enjoy learning in school and suggests that school should be like playing a video game, but he leaves it at that. Because he focuses on the process of learning and assumes videogame content and classroom content to be of an equal nature, the burning question of how to make learning calculus equations as fun and desirable to learn as advanced combat strategies to annihilate your friends in Starcraft remains unfortunately beyond the scope of this book.

If the intention of the book was to show that video games have the capability to encourage learning of arbitrary content, it succeeded. However, watching TV or movies or playing non-video games with your peers can be just as conducive to learning (and, depending on the content, just as mind-numbing). Having been weaned on Mario and Zelda myself and already appreciating the incredible complexity and carefully tuned learning curve of videogames, this book was somewhat interesting for its general theory of education but not as thought-provoking regarding video game theory as I had hoped.

This book is probably a better read for older generations that didn't have video games as an integral source of learning during their formative years and have as a result never taken them seriously.