What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy

James Paul Gee

Palgrave Macmillan Limited, 2003 - Education - 225 pages

Addressing readers at the start of his compelling new book, James Paul Gee writes, 'I want to talk about video games-yes, even violent video games-and say some positive things about them.' With this simple but explosive salvo, one of America's most well-respected pro-fessors of education looks seriously at the unexpected good that can come from playing video games. Gee is interested in the cognitive development that can occur when someone is trying to escape a maze, find a hidden treasure, or even blast away an enemy with a high-powered rifle. Talking about his own experience learning and using games as diverse as Tomb Raider and Arcanum, Gee looks at major specific cognitive activities including: -How individuals develop a sense of identity -How one grasps meaning -How one evaluates and follows a command -How one picks a role model -How one perceives the world. This is a groundbreaking book that illuminates and de-velops a new elect-ronic method of education and shows the positive upside it has for learning.

What people are saying

Review: What Video Games Have to Teach Us about Learning and Literacy

User Review  - Allen Christianson - Goodreads

Unfortunately, while I find many of the author's ideas interesting, and I even agree with him on many points, his convoluted writing pattern and gross misunderstanding of how video game design works ...

Review: What Video Games Have to Teach Us about Learning and Literacy

User Review  - Susanna Nocchi - Goodreads

The book is a good read, as good as I expected. I have an interest in game based learning and this is one of the classics.

About the author

James Paul Gee is one of the most well-known professors of education in the United States. He teaches at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and is the author of several books.

Bibliographic information

• Title: What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy
• Author: James Paul Gee
• Edition: revised, reprint
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Limited, 2003
• ISBN: 1403961697, 9781403961693
• Length: 225 pages
• Subjects: Computers / Social Aspects / General; Education / Aims & Objectives; Education / Educational Policy & Reform / General; Education / Educational Psychology; Education / General; Games / Video & Electronic; Language Arts & Disciplines / Literacy