Recently in class we have been studying the Wild West and the people who traveled across the America Oregon Trail . As I got home and began playing I realized just how difficult the journey was for the families who chose to travel across the country. By the end of the game most of my virtual family had died and I was barely at the halfway point. This game showed me the common things pioneers faced everyday such as sickness, lack of food, extreme weather conditions, and death. Using games to teach students and children can be very effective because they are fun yet instructive at the same time. Let’s be honest, students hate it when teachers assign homework. As soon as the teacher says “the homework for tonight is…” the studnet's brains completely shut off. I think that if they were told to go home and play a game then they would be much more open to the idea of homework. Gaming could not only change student’s out look on homework, but it could also change their out look on learning. Instead of coming into the class room and being lectured to for an hour, teachers could give us games to play that would taught us that days lesson. Personally speaking, I would much rather play a game than have to sit in a boring class all day.
