In his lecture, author Marc Prensky states that "Engagement is more important than content". I disagree. Without content, what are you teaching? A good teacher makes the content engaging.
While I agree that Video Games can play a role in educating this generation of players, Prensky himself said that "the brain adapts to what's going on around it". And while teachers need to "respect the players", players need to respect the teachers, also. If teachers can work video games into their lesson plan without taking away from the "meat"of the lesson, then they can be a useful educational tool.
The only games currently being used in classrooms at Southaven Middle School are games specifically designed as educational tools, such as "Punctuation Paintball" and "Tux of Math Command".
These and other tools created by The New Technology are proving to be very useful in engaging this new generation of learners.
However, the introduction of non-education specific, commercial video games into the classroom must be made judiciously.
Lure of the Labyrinth (http://labyrinth.thinkport.org/www/) is worth checking out. It integrates math with gaming. It would be interesting to see our students' reaction to it. Would it be "chocolate-covered broccoli" to students? Or would it be an engaging learning tool? I think adding a social factor to educational games would make them more interesting. What I would be curious to see is the effect of completing learning modules and earning credits, as a reward, that could be used in a social gaming app such as Farmville or Mafia Wars.
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