I LOVE games consoles. Love them. I’ve used them quite a bit in some of my classes. Jay’s discussion about about his experience with gaming consoles in the classroom really resonates with me, as the issues he had to consider when making gaming consoles a part of his teaching have been exactly what I went through last year when starting my gaming unit with yr9.

Key takeaways from this session –
Kids can be the experts. Don’t stress too much if you don’t know how to use it – letting students know that their knowledges and experiences are valued in class is of far greater benefit than of you waiting till you know how to do it yourself!

Want to teach road safety? Put students on a driving game. Drive 2 laps, at or below a set speed, record time, number of crashes, and times over centre line. Repeat, getting students to change a song on their iPods, etc. Compare stats. On the third attempt, read and send one text message per lap. Meaningful Road safety learning without having to crash a real one!!

Feedback from gaming provides some essential rewards for students. Want to get boys engaged in a dancing unit? Get them to compete with each other to achieve the outcomes of the performance, based on choreography in a game like Just Dance. Winning!!

Kids by nature will become immersed in the world of games. They get drawn in to the learning outcome that you are establishing for the unit. Let them!!!

Great ideas for using consoles in PDHPE in particular, but Jay has some great thoughts about how it is applicable across all faculties. Certainly a discussion worth having!