Great ideas to add to the classroom! Extremely valid points made. Today's students do learn differently and require more instantaneous feedback. So often we are concerned about covering topics that we forget about involving student interests. Learning is interactive and we have forgotten how to teach students to problem solve and try harder to solve a problem. The intrinsic motivation found in game competition is a great way to explore this idea!

Donica,

Thanks. I hope the article gave you some ideas that you can share with your teacher. Please feel free to e-mail me for additional ideas: [email protected]

Laura Sharp

Hi Laura,

When I was teaching in the classroom, I always used games as rewards for the students.  I would often use it to help create a tone to also help with classroom management.  Students could earn time to do fun and interactive games that they still used to learn objectives but they did it in a very fun way.  I was always trying to create new games and ways to help the students take ownership of this process and I never had a problem with classroom issues because the  students held each other in check when it came to wanting to do these fun games as a reward for learning.  A good resource for this is Fred Jones.  Check out his books and web sites.  Take care and God Bless.    Matt

Laura, this article was very interesting. I have a son who is a freshman in high school and it is very difficult to motivate him to engage in his academic work. However, this same child could sit for hours and play videogames. I often listen to him interact with his friends and am astounded at his vocabulary, leadership skills and problem-solving. These skills indeed could increase academic achievement if transferred to the school setting. His school issues tablet PCs to all high school students and it absolutely amazes me at what the teachers are doing to integrate technology in their classes. I predict that in the next few years we are going to see these games infusing our curricula. Now all we have to hope is that teachers keep updated on the technical side of things and that districts can find the funds to keep the technology and software current. Interesting!

Laura,

Playing games in the classroom is a great way to teach students.  When I first started subbing I mostly worked in elementary schools.  I found students were more engaged and treated me like a teacher rather than just a sub if we played games throughout the day.  I would put up a tally sheet and everytime they answered something correctly they got a point.  If not I got the point.  You should have seen how much they worked together when we did this.  I also used this last year and the year before when working children with LD in 3rd and 4th grade.  They responded so well and were ready to work most days because there was a game involved.  I have also used board games and other interactive games while tutoring and have had kids in my school ask me if I would be tutoring this spring and if they could be in my tutoring class after school.  If we make learning fun and interesting, the kids will respond.

MIchael  

I enjoyed reading your paper. My grandson (8th grade) told me that several of his teachers (especially Math and Science) use games, both on the computer and in class, to reinforce a lesson. He did say that these classes were the best - everyone would be motivated to participate. In Science, the teacher has different students decide on the game each month. We worked on his Science assignment over the break to design a game that the class could play next week. It was interesting to listen to his ideas.

Laura,

The concept has been used with pre-school and elementary children, why not adult / online learners?   My wife is an elementary teacher and games are used effectively in the classroom.  The concept of "Stealth Learning" can be quite simple for any creative instructor.  I had a course where the Professor had students use a "financial" game to get the basic grasp of macro/micro economics.  There are so many games out there that promote many learning concepts (you mentioned a few) and I applaud you for addressing this concept.  Great ideas!

As far as your papers content.  It was well written and engaged the reader.  Sources were relevant and pertinent to the topic.  The paper was clear and flowed well supporting your thesis.  Your arguments were orderly, founded and supported.  Great paper.  God Bless!

Being a grandmother, I find it intrusive to request that my grandchildren remove their eyes from the digital games within their reach to pay attention to me.  Even when I am bearing gifts, if those gifts are not interactive or money to obtain something interactive, the response is less than excitement.  That being stated, learners are looking for excitement because most mediums provided to them are infused with such.

I believe educators are missing the mark when interactive modes of learning are not employed.  Teachers who believe this is a waste of time require more information to learn the value of such processes.  This submission is a great start!

While there have always been learning games in education, such as flash cards, math bingo, and the list created within this piece, when educators move toward the mode of games that are in the hand-held format that keep my grandchildren glued to the palms of their hands, the educational profession will have caught up with the world!  This final point should be stressed within future presentations on this topic.

Rae Thompson

Laura,

Learning in the best environment suitable to the learner is very important. Institutions as well as faculty should always be teaching to the student and the needs. The end goal is student success and learning. The points raised are good as well as necessary. These concerns although appear repeating over the years in some ways, important in adapting, student learning etc- should be heard with the innovation of techniques of today, especially with the adaptive technological learners. Our learners are highly adept and when learning appears slow or not engaging, learners will dismiss the course, teacher and subject immediately.

Long gone are the days where students show patience to professors and wait with patience 5-7 days for assignments, and 24 hours for emails or telephone calls. I have found more students IM and text, and email as a last resort. Some will telephone when an emergency arises. Research supports and encourages the use of technology and devices students are current using and interested in- good home-school connection. This leads to retention too! Good current literature connections.

Laura,

I enjoyed reading your research article on Stealth Learning which discusses the current trend in successful student learning. To aid in the student success in the current generation the intellectual stimulation provided by different games aided by technology and acitivities are evidently more beneficial than the traditiional approaches as evidenced by the varying supporting research.  I have also personally found that a few of the games suggested by Murray (1985) have been beneficial while teaching Science which clearly is more old school in nature but game is a game and it serves the purpose of engaging them further. But with the advent of Technology we definitely need to give emphasis to using the stealth learning methodology.

Your article is well written, literature review is thorough with relevant references and supported with correct citations in text. The article is captivating and is a good review of the Stealth learning methodology highly used in schools, paving the way to explore further its use and application in the post secondary education and online teaching modalities to enhance student engagement and learning.

Using interactive tools help the students learn so much quicker and it sticks with them. As many of the other commentators have already shared, those of us with teenagers at home know just how smart they really are and how much they can learn from interactive games. There is so much problem solving going on when they are playing those video games that it is amazing. I sometimes think we need to incorporate more of those interactive skills in all of our classes. The interactve Smartboards are a great start to that end.