comps reading - Why are Video Games Good for Learning

Written by James Paul Gee, this paper, as the self-explanatory tile suggests, discusses why video games are good for learning. Gee put forth six important reasons, none of which is about its characteristics of being interesting and audiovisual entertaining, which is really beyond my expectation. It seems to me the six reasons are quite valid in terms of educational principles. They are now listed as follows:

1. They can create an embodied empathy for a complex system
2. They are action-and-goal-directed preparations for, and simulations of,embodied experience”
3. They involve distributed intelligence via the creation of smart tools
4. They create opportunities for cross-functional affiliation
5. They allow meaning to be situated
6. They can be open-ended, allowing for goals and projects that meld the personal and the social

One implication to me after this paper may be that I can provide more educationally valid concrete explanations when next time being asked why video games are good fro learning, instead of giving some ambiguous and abstract answers such as more motivating and interesting.

Since I was sort of being convinced by Gee.