Double Journal Entry #1

A quote that I strong agree with in the article at http://www.academiccolab.org/resources/documents/MacArthur.pdf is:

"So the video games in which I am interested, the ones that I think are most
interesting for learning, are digital simulations of worlds that are “played” in the sense that a player has a surrogate or surrogates through which the player can act within and on the simulation and that have “win states” (reachable goals that the player has discovered or formed through his or her surrogate)."

I agree with this quote because simulations provide a background into the working of a real life system. Students learn the rules and advantages to be had within the game just as a scientist would use a simulation to address a problem. I found some justication for simulations at the website: http://www.creativeteachingsite.com/edusims.html

The reasoning I agreed most with is: "They simulate an activity that is "real", and so it can be said that they are "virtually real". They simulate the activity so well that there is little difference between the simulated environment and the real one, and the same kind of learning experience can take place."

I always believed that simulation style games could teach a student how a system works but these articles reinforce and give me better understanding of how the games benefit students. Students are informally introduced to the work that scientists have to do to understand a new system.