Re: Hot topic games

Ana M. Shane (pshane who-is-at andromeda.rutgers.edu)
Sat, 11 May 1996 02:29:58 -0400

Dear Francoise,

At 02:14 PM 5/10/96 -0700, you wrote:
>
>Hi Ana, I was a little sceptical to tell you the truth when I read your
>post about hot topic games. While I agree with being motivated, and
>being engaged in challenging and fun activity and while I have seen
>games used in both a math and a foreign language class, I wonder
>whether one doesn't need some background to engage in the
>kinds of hot topic game that you proposed. But then I suppose that
>this is what is entailed surely. A lot of reading and perhaps writing
>of positions and arguments before the class debate.

The rational for using games in teaching is not just to have fun. The
rational is in the engagement in a meaningful social activity. You are right
that one does need some "background" to play games. In the instance of this
game, "background" is the goal - learning more in order to continue playing it.
The idea of using games in teaching is not new, but it should be given a
more serious consideration in the light of Vygotsky's theory. For instance,
Vygotsky claimed that the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) can be
established in play before it can be established in reality (his example of
the two sisters who when played "being sisters" could behave sisterly to
each other while still having a lots of problems in their reality as
sisters). Play and games open enormous possibilities for learning: from
social interaction and social motivation, to being able to structure
material according to rules, to being able to create different perspectives
and models of understanding various areas of life, etc.
This is why games *are* fun - not because they are relaxing trivial
activities, but quite the opposite, because they enable realization of our
potentials (ZPD) in a motivated and engaging (meaningful) way.
The "fun" in the game I described lies not in the debate itself, but in the
instance when one has to switch the position and not repeat previous
arguments. But of course there are other games and plays one can use, too.
Maybe Lois Holtzman (are you lurking) can describe some ways play and games
are used and their effects in a very special school in New York (Barbara
Taylor School) where everything is learned through play.

Ana

_________________________________________________________________________
Dr. Ana Marjanovic-Shane

151 W. Tulpehocken St. Office of Mental Health and
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E-mail: pshane who-is-at andromeda.rutgers.edu
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