Video games have evolved throughout history and although they are mainly meant for entertainment, they can be and are used as educational tools. The term for that type of game is an edutainment game. The popular edutainment video game Minecraft portrays a perfect example for teaching ecology and the environment to students worldwide. Minecraft, a sandbox game designed by Markus Persson and Jens Bergensten, “is a game where the player digs (mine) and builds (craft) different kinds of 3D blocks within a large world of varying terrains and habitats to explore” and it is classified as a sandbox game because “the player creates the game themselves by manipulating the world within it (like kids playing in the sand)” (Oakley). One can play alone as a single player or with other friends as multiplayers. There are …show more content…
In the game, one must work by gathering materials and making tools through the day and night cycles. Alongside, there are other living, moving entities in the game called mobs, or mobiles. There are different types of mobs, specifically six. There are passive mobs that do not attack the player; these include chickens, pigs, and cows. There are neutral mobs that attack when provoked by a player; these include spiders and endermans. There are hostile mobs that will kill the player on site; these include creepers and zombies. A player must protect themselves from the hostile mobs. There are tamable mobs that can be tamed; these include horses and donkeys. There are utility mobs that defend villages; these include Iron Golem and Snow Golem. Lastly, there are boss mobs that appear at the end and include the Ender Dragon and Wither (Minecraft Wiki). On another hand, the
The Monster scares the villagers, “some fled, some attacked” automatically hating the strange being that had come into their midst (75). However, the Monster does nothing against the villagers, even though he is seen with giant stature and brute strength. After the village incident, the Monster flees and finds a small family living in the wilderness in a small cottage. As he stays near the cottagers for a time, he begins to learn that he is indeed alone. He learns the roles of family members and yet he does nothing to provoke them.
Monsters are disturbing hybrids whose bodies do not want to be included in any systematic structuration. The monster is, therefore, dangerous. It always appears at times of crisis as kind of the third term that creates more problems. The power to avoid and undermine has run through the monsters blood since the classic times. The monster also resists any classification built on hierarchy or just binary opposition and instead demands a system that allows mixed response and resistance to integration. The geography of a monster is wide and always full of cultural debate that can never be
When I was younger, my favorite game to play was Minecraft. The game was a fun way to express myself and to make decisions like “It’s getting dark, maybe I should start heading home so I can sleep in my bed and avoid the mobs” and that’s most likely why I loved the game so much. I had the opportunity to do whatever I wanted and if I made a mistake the only consequence was to press “respawn” pretty simple right? At the time, yes, but as I matured and became curious, I wondered, could an online game possibly be the definition of life? Can something so many look for yet don’t find be right in the palms of my hands? Could Minecraft, a game that is made for children be the answer to a question asked for centuries?
Have you ever gone to school and played in the same shoes with holes in them? Have you ever gone to school in the same shoes two years in a row? Exactly. I like the idea of a sandbox. I have, and it’s not a good feeling when being talked down.
Asma is very knowledgeable about this subject because he is a philosophy professor and he also has attended the global conference on Monsters and the Monstrous which means that he very well informed in this subject which could make his article more legitimate.The purpose of this article is to explain the idea of monsters and its relevance even in today’s age, they portray the challenges that life faces each individual with. They represent the obstacles and even the enemies that everyone faces in life without a choice. As he says “Monsters can stand as symbols of human vulnerability and crisis, and as such they play imaginative foils for thinking about our own responses to menace.”. He persuade his audience by giving them a clear understanding of his reasoning that most would agree with, he also back up most of his idea with books(sources) like Bram Stoker's Dracula to Rice's Vampire Chronicles and gave examples. But in the examples one was very detailed to make the audience feel a little sympathy
Monsters are symbols and representations of a culture. They exist because of certain places or feelings of a time period. Monsters are “an embodiment of a certain cultural moment”. Author of Grendel, John Gardner, and author of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, both create a monster to represent something larger than itself in order to have the reader reflect on their “fears, desires, anxiety, and fantasy” in society, which is explained in Jefferey Cohen's Monster Culture (Seven Theses). The latest trend in monster media, zombies, also fit into Cohen's theses on what a monster is.
Griffiths, Mark. "The Educational Benefits Of Videogames." Education & Health 20.3 (2002): 47-51. Professional Development Collection. Web. 4 Feb. 2014.
A monster is a group that doesn’t obey common societal rules or regulations and is often viewed as an oddity of our society, according to Jeffrey Cohen’s Monster Culture. When the dominant part of our society trusts in an idea or holds something to be legitimate, the monsters dependably trust the inverse. Monster’s have the aspects to think outside the common societal norm. Monsters represent the ideas of our society that we are fearful to contemplate further into that it is something outside of our nature. Monsters cause us to contemplate a societal perspective that we wouldn't ordinarily think as our own. Monsters challenge our basic perspective and encourage us to think deeper into the common themes of our society. Finally, Monsters incite
One way to excite students about learning is by using games. Game play can require students use higher-order thinking skills, where they are analyzing, creating and understanding the concepts at deeper level. Making games from content, or Gamification can be done by creating teams, scores, competitions, and rewards. Real life simulations incorporated into a game environment can create a powerful learning environment.
A common way to describe a modern day monster can be described within the soul and mind. Many people have a complex and confused mind. Stephen King states, “ I think that we’re all mentally ill; those of us outside asylums only hide it a little better- and maybe not all that much better, after all.” Monsters can overpower the mind. Many people struggle to listen to themselves, and they let their monstrous conscience take over their actions which will cause harm to them or people around them. It is common for people to battle monsters within their souls. Many people feel too weak to stand up and be free from
Presently, video games aren’t merely toys that negatively influence the youth. They have become an alternative means for people to learn and train for work. Games teach values and essential information, and motivate its players to achieve goals. Soldiers and doctors benefit from video games as well. The collaboration of game developers and educators helps improve the quality of educational games. At present, as technology progresses, one can truly see that video games have become an important factor in learning.
The role of teachers in employing these theories in their work is to design and plan their curriculum to stimulate children’s learning and cognitive development through play. Educators are acting as the stage manager. They are required to schedule some time for children to participate in open-ended, self-initiated free play. They need to set up environments for play, planning schedules with enough space, materials and time for children to play. For instance, an early childhood teacher has decided to let children play with sand in a day. She /He needs to set up the sand center in a safe area and supervises children fully to make sure that children are playing safely. She /He needs to provide sufficient supply of tools and materials to use in sand so that every child have adequate choices to choose the tools they want. Rather than divide the tools for children, the educator make children do their own choices and therefore children can gain some sense of control. When children are playing with sand, the educator should observe each child carefully, encouraging them to solve the problems themselves and consider their feelings (Crosser, n.d.). Moreover, the educator should interactive with children responsively and positively. She /He can ask questions including “What do you think/ feel about playing with
As kids we were always told that TV’s, computers, and video games kill our brain cells. That isn’t exactly the truth. Video games can be used as great educational tools. They help teach people basic skills needed in life such as language, math, and reading. When you play you follow directions the people in the game give you to achieve a task, sometimes you may even give the directions, these are just a couple of ways that benefit your learning skills. Video games have a large place in helping develop skills with the people that have
There are several negative stereotypes associated with video games and those who play them; some of these may often hold true. However, there are plenty of learning opportunities in video games. While the direct purpose of some games is to educate or train, other games that do not directly have this purpose can still become a learning experience for the player. As Ntiedo Etuk, president of the educational video game company Tabula Digital said, “The traditional view of video games has been that they are distractions from the task of learning” (Electronic Education Report 1). Video games are an effective tool for learning and retaining skills both inside and outside the classroom environment. The basic cycle of game play--the introduction to the game, game play, collaboration, improvement of these between each round, and evaluation at the end of the game (Klievink and Janssen 159)--are nearly parallel to the traditional classroom learning cycle of reading a textbook or listening to a lecture, taking a quiz, studying, focusing on items missed on the quiz, and taking a test or exam. Within this cycle, there are many opportunities to develop and perfect both educational, life, and occupational skills.
The concept of “edutainment”- the hybrid of education and entertainment has existed almost as long as video games have. Evidence of this is The Oregon Trail, a game about the colo...