In today’s technology oriented world, it seems that even our educational classrooms have caught onto the wave. Justice Sandra Day O’Connor has become a strong proponent of using educational video games to teach civics. In the article, “Student Question: Should There Be More Educational Video Games In School?” By Michael Gonchler, he cites that Justice O’Conner has recently released a video game called, “Win the White House” in which students must take the role of imaginary presidential candidates who must learn how to compete civilly against opponents with opposite views on issues such as immigration and gun control.
“The game has been played by more than 250,000 students just this month and is barnstorming its way through middle schools across the United States.”
Kids loves video games! So if we can tap in on that and teach through a modality that they enjoy, then so be it! That is what should be done. Video games are an excellent way of motivating and stimulating learning. It provides immediate feedback, one on one attention, graphic stimulation, audio stimulation, user input, etc. Video games, such as Justice O’Connor’s, “Win the White House” is only an example of how successful they can be when utilized in the classroom.