Resistance

• Resistance to using computer games in the classroom comes from multiple sources: – parents, legislators, administrators, department,

and, most surprising, students.

Resistance – parents, administrators, legislators

• Parents complain that their kids get enough of that pastime at home either as a reward for doing their homework and chores or as a preoccupation that distracts them from their studies

• Administrators' and teachers' concerns lie one marked with a legitimate anxiety about litigation and pedagogical quality.

• Legislators prevail upon parents and teachers alike to beware the hazards of computer games that feature sex and violence.

Resistance - students

• Often students resist the idea of computer games as educational aids.

• Commonly voiced student criticisms include concerns about the edifying potential of games that are full of false information dressed up as "realistic," worries that games contain inappropriate material for a classroom, beliefs that games are just entertaining, not educational.

Overcoming students resistance

• Asking students to commit their arguments to paper - a preliminary exercise to: – have them explain why such arguments seem

necessary in the first place– lead students to critical examinations of their

unexpressed expectations of what is supposed to happen in the classroom generally and

– to challenge their own assumptions about how education is supposed to transform their lives.