Don't Bother Me Mom--I'm Learning!

Description

"Marc knows it all depends on how we use our games. He knows that if parents place good video games into a learning system in their homes they can reap major benefits for their children and themselves. They can accelerate their children’s language and cognitive growth."
—James Paul Gee, Tashia Mogridge Professor of Reading, University of Wisconsin-Madison

From Booklist
Prensky debunks the accepted wisdom that video games are harmful to children. Instead, he contends that games can teach a multitude of skills, including problem solving, language and cognitive skills, strategic thinking, multitasking, and parallel processing. He cites research showing the benefits of games in teaching skills children will need in a twenty-first-century economy, pointing to the military use of games to teach strategy, laproscopic surgeons who play games as a "warm-up" before surgery, and entrepreneurs who played games growing up. Better yet, Prensky details positive attributes of popular games, including the controversial Grand Theft Auto, and addresses parent concerns about children becoming addicted, socially isolated, or developing aggression because of games. He offers recommendations for particularly beneficial games as well as Web sites to advance parent learning, and provides sound advice on bridging the gap between what he calls the young digital natives and the older digital immigrants. Parents and teachers will appreciate--and enjoy--this enlightening look at video and computer games.
—Vanessa Bush Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

In the few short hours it takes to read this book, you will learn:

• What it feels like to be in the world of computer and video games;
• How to appreciate the breadth and depth of modern computer and video games and the ways they make your kids learn;
• How to understand the various USEFUL skills your game-playing your kids are acquiring;
• How to understand your own kids better and build better relationships using games as a base;

And, most importantly,

• How to augment and improve what your kids are learning by HAVING CONVERSATIONS THAT THEY WANT TO HAVE about their games.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Forward by James Paul Gee

Part I: The REAL news is POSITIVE
1. Of Course You're Worried: You Have No Idea What's Going On!
2. The Really GOOD News About Your Kids' Games
3. But Wait – What About All That BAD Stuff I Hear From The Press?

Part II. It's Not Attention Deficit, They're Just Not Listening
4. Our Kids Are Not Like Us : We're Immigrants, They're Natives.
5. Do They Really Think Differently?
6. The Emerging Online Life of the Digital Native

Part III. Today's Games Are Deep And Full Of Learning
7. Complexity Matters: What Most Adults Don't Understand About Games
8. Decisions, Decisions: What It Feels Like to Play Today's Games
9. What Kids Learn That's POSITIVE From Playing Computer Games
10. The Motivation Of Gameplay
11. Game Adaptivity: Truly Leaving No Child Behind
12. It's Not Just the Games, It's The System
13. What Your Game Playing Kid Could Become (It's a lot more than you think!)

Part IV. What Our Kids Are Learning (On Their Own)
14. Economics and Business Lessons for a 10-Year-Old
15. How Kids Learn To Cooperate In Video Games
16. Video Games Are Our Kids' First Ethics Lessons (Believe it or not!)
17. The Seven Games of Highly Effective People
18. “Modding” : Making Games of Their Own
19. Playing Video Games to Stay Healthy ( Yes , Video Games !)
20. What Our Kids Could Be Learning From Their Cell Phones

Part V. Games and Learning Theory
21. What Video Games Have To Teach Us About Learning and Literacy

Part VI. How Parents and Teachers (And Other Adults) Can Help (And Learn! And Play!)
22. Talk To Your Kids – Value What They Know
23. The New Language – A Digital Immigrant Remedial Vocabulary
24. How Parents Who “Get It” Are Educating Their Kids
25. Girls, Boys, Parents, Grandparents: There Are Games for Everyone
26. Moving Past “Edutainment” – Curricular Games are Coming
27. For Teachers: Using Games in the Curriculum and Classroom
28. Disintermediation: What Can Kids Learn On Their Own?
29. Are You as Brave as Your Kids? – Trying It Yourself
30. What to Do Right Now

Conclusion
Epilogue
Appendix: A Parent and Teacher Toolkit
Notes
Further Reading