Video Games - Positive or Negative Influence?

The amount of negative press that children playing video games have received in the past decade has made me as a mother first and teacher second question the usefulness of them. The reality however, is that no matter how much we as parents and teachers try and ignore it, video games and the electronic devices attached to the games play a significant role in our children's lives.

I find myself counting the number of children I see with DS's in stores, restaurants, on airplanes, in cars, or sitting around the playground and unlike what many people believe, it is not only boys playing on them. What strikes me is the intensity that the children are playing these games with. Each child is actively engaged in solving a puzzle, conquering a new world, or in the case of the Pokemon video or DS game(s) capturing different Pokemon, befriend them and 'level them up'. With the reality of this sinking in, I find myself dialoguing with my own kids and students about what makes these games so enticing to them. I get a few answers: they're exciting, challenging, provide an escape, require strategy and following a story. One aspect that is very important especially to my son is the social aspect that is associated with gaming. There is most definitely a comradeship that develops among children when playing the same DS/video game. Each child uses a language common to the game and that allows them to exclude the 'commoners' or those that do not speak the same language. As several researchers that I have read have noted - if allowed students (in particular boys) will include aspects of these video games in their creative writing. Since reading some of this research, I no pay more attention to the types of stories my son and other boys write during their writing blocks at school. At times I see role play with their story's main character taking on similar traits as themselves and Ash (the famous Pokemon trainer) or other mythical creature from a video game. There is a sense of power that pervades their stories - almost as if the boys are escaping the control of the classroom and the teacher. In these stories they are able to be anything they want, they can create anything they want, and they can socialize while they do it. "Hey Dude, take a look at this. I have him flying through the air, using his penetrating sound wave to attack the opponent". (Overheard in a grade 2 classroom)

Recognizing the importance that video and DS games play in our children's lives and opening my class to them has enabled me to encourage otherwise reluctant writers to write in class. My son, who hated writing, has come alive as a writer since his teacher game him the freedom to write about anything including Pokemon. Surprisingly, Pokemon (as one example) can fit many different writing genres - non-realistic fiction, biography, procedural, and essay forms. For example students can create new Pokemon and write stories or develop new games with them; write about the life of a Pokemon; write a how-to-lay guide; or write about the Pokemon's habitat. If you haven't already let your student's unofficial world into your classroom, maybe you should.