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James Paul Gee
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What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy Hardcover – January 1, 2003

3.4 3.4 out of 5 stars 31 ratings
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A controversial look at the positive things that can be learned from video games by a well known professor of education.

James Paul Gee begins his new book with "I want to talk about vide games--yes, even violent video games--and say some positive things about them." With this simple but explosive beginning, one of America's most well-respected professors of education looks seriously at the good that can come from playing video games. Gee is interested in the cognitive development that can occur when someone is trying to escape a maze, find a hidden treasure and, even, blasting away an enemy with a high-powered rifle. Talking about his own video-gaming experience learning and using games as diverse as Lara Croft and Arcanum, Gee looks at major specific cognitive activities:
* How individuals develop a sense of identity
* How one grasps meaning
* How one evaluates and follow a command
* How one picks a role model
* How one perceives the world

This is a ground-breaking book that takes up a new electronic method of education and shows the positive upside it has for learning.
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  1. Print length
    256 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Palgrave Macmillan
  4. Publication date
    January 1, 2003
  5. Dimensions
    6.3 x 0.98 x 9.53 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1403961697
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1403961693
  8. See all details
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3.4 out of 5 stars
31 global ratings

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Top reviews from the United States

  • Marjee
    5.0 out of 5 stars Teachers and Administrators should read this book.
    Reviewed in the United States on November 9, 2003
    Verified Purchase
    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.
    40 people found this helpful
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  • Robert Varga
    4.0 out of 5 stars A great book for those of you who shun video games
    Reviewed in the United States on January 10, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    My masters degree is all about technology in education, and this book helps us realize that video games are not mind numbing garbage, they are actually excellent problem solving trainers. Granted the violence in a lot of the games could be argued, but that doesn't nullify a video games teaching potential.
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  • Hedstroms
    2.0 out of 5 stars Facts in spots are wrong, brings up credibility issue
    Reviewed in the United States on July 26, 2004
    Verified Purchase
    I bought this book with high hopes, being a teacher, and an avid video game player. When I got the book, I immediately turned to the chapter which talked about Everquest (having played Everquest since its beginning until late last year). Imagine my surprise when I found an extreme amount of errors in how he describes things that happen in the game. For example, he says that when a player dies, the corpse drops to the ground spilling all the objects it was carrying and the player comes back in a weaker form with worse armor. This never happened even in the early stages of Everquest. Besides, the publication date is 2003 regardless.

    That was one such example of many I can cite from that chapter, but that brings up credibility issues for me in reading any further in the book. If that chapter's facts are wrong, then how do I know that other facts in other chapters are correct?
    8 people found this helpful
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  • Yonah
    1.0 out of 5 stars A complete farce
    Reviewed in the United States on November 14, 2005
    This book is a complete farce. Gee, trained as a theoretical linguist, is clearly treading in foreign territory, attempting to theorize about a phenomenon that he can barely even grasp. Of course video games are "learning machines" that must be able to teach gameplay in order to succeed. Of course video games qualify as "semiotic domains," and that some cognitive skills are practiced in their mastery. But there is no evidence to support Gee's jump to conclude that the practice and mastery of the semiotic domains of video games has anything to do with the practice and mastery of complex academic semiotic domains. Video games represent a good model for learning insofar as learning is successfully integrated with reward, but there is no reason to believe that more substantive forms of learning could possibly mimic these rapid-fire reward structures. If anything, the near-constant adrenaline rushes of video game "learning" are likely at complete odds with most other forms of learning, and certainly with reading, which cannot possibly provide this form of stimulation. Gee has become a patriarch of sorts to the legions of gamers and game developers who long for an intellectual justification for their algorithmic addictions.

    Read this book if you are interested, but try to remain critical. The temptation to believe may be great, but the man's logic simply doesn't add up.
    46 people found this helpful
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  • Tara Pellerin
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in the United States on March 3, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    Book was in excellent shape! Thank you so much!!
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  • Moreira Julian
    4.0 out of 5 stars Correct
    Reviewed in the United States on November 12, 2012
    Verified Purchase
    I received the book in time, it was slightly damaged on the corners. But it's not a big deal :)
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  • Dee Cardenas
    2.0 out of 5 stars Agree with the premise, hate the delivery.
    Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    36 principles really? And that will be useful to who? As a classroom teacher, I have no problem getting talked into using video games in my classroom, but Gee needs to give more than anecdotal data and personal experiences playing games that are so out of date now to as no longer be part of the "semiotic domain," to use the author's own jargon. A disappointment...
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  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars On Time and in Excellent Condition
    Reviewed in the United States on May 20, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    A+++++
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Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English
  • Spaetzle
    2.0 out of 5 stars ganz gutes Buch, schlechter Service
    Reviewed in Germany on March 26, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    Der Artikel ist an und für sich in Ordnung. Für wissenschaftliche Arbeiten nicht ganz so gut zu gebrauchen, da die Quellen ungenau angegeben sind, aber ein gut leserliches Buch. Leider kam der Artikel erst 5 Wochen nach Bestellung bei mir an und konnte deshalb kaum noch verwendet werden, wofür er geplant war. Auch die Antwort nach einer Kontaktaufnahme befriedigte nur mäßig, da sie in kaum verständliches Deutsch aus dem Englischen übersetzt war. Auf eine zweite Kontaktaufnahme wurde gar nicht reagiert.
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