Learning and Identity

Gee, John Paul. Learning and Identity, Chapter 3, "What Does It Mean To Be Half-Elf?" Arcanium: Learning and Identity, pages 51-71.

Mr Gee's chapter provided the same learning curve for me that he describes video games using.
The educational system in this country provides ample groundwork for debate. Those administering it claim that it is getting better and just needs more commitment (usually money) to be fixed. Those whose children are in it look for hopeful signs of improvement. School administrators tout "Blue Ribbon" awards and rising grades, but what do these really mean and do they really indicate that our children are really becoming better, more critical learners? What is behind this "Blue Ribbon" accolade and how difficult is it to earn an "A"? Standardized tests, for all their flaws, do provide some benchmark for improvement and level of accomplishment for individual students and school systems. But I cannot remember a discussion on how to engage children in their education and improve their skills. This chapter by Mr. Gee does that in a very concrete way for me.
I, like many other parents, have always been concerned with how easily and thoroughly children can immerse themselves in video games. John Paul Gee draws some interesting parallels between what motivates children as they learn and excel at these games and how this motivation could be applied to classroom learning. He reminds us that to learn and master something we must be drawn into it, be able to adapt and try this new learning with minimal risks, have input that is amplified at the output and the learner should discover new insights or powers about themselves as a result of the effort. In video games, Mr Gee describes how we take on virtual identities in the virtual world of the game. He contends there are three identities at stake when playing games. The first is the virtual identity, "one's identity as a virtual character in the virtual world". The second is that of the gameplayer, the real world identity. The third he called the "projective identity". This is a combination of the gameplayer's identity with the virtual person as someone he has chosen and is creating within the limits of the game and a projection of what the gameplayer may be and feel. This is the "interface between the real-world person and the virtual character. While the real person must live within their own limitations, they can project onto their virtual character things outside these personal limits but within the limits of the game. What is tried or done in this virtual world does not have serious consequences in the real world. Additionally, good video games draw the player into them, playing becomes just that as the player learns and masters new moves, techniques and knowledge. This learning is part of the game, not extra work and in the end the player is rewarded with accomplishment and a sense of new value while the game encourages him to go farther. The real person participates in this reward through projection into his creation-his virtual character. As John Paul points out, this identification with one's virtual character is not felt for the characters in books. While we may identify with what those characters are or have done we don't feel personal pride in them or personally associate with any loss they may have suffered. In virtual reality, they are characters the player identifies with personally because of this projected complex. The virtual character develops because of choice made by the real person and effects the future choice of that real person by the way this virtual character develops in the world of the game.
Mr. Gee goes on then to parallel this three person personna and role playing into a very useful tool for the classroom. To learn, children must be enticed into actively participating in a classroom and putting in a lot of effort. Any success they have must be meaningful and encourage them to further expand their efforts. As they enter classrooms not as writers or scientists but children, they must be drawn in and create a personna they can operate through and connect with. This interface gives them the opportunity to choose new tasks and ideas without fear of failure. A classroom must provide learning that draws the student into it, give them the opportunity to choose and learn not only about a subject but project this to learn about themselves. Mr. Gee offers six principles found in good video games that he feels should be applied to classroom learning. they include; providing a space where risk-taking can take place with low real world consequences, students must commit to their learning and this requires an educational world they find compelling and are drawn into, the connection between who a student is when he enters a classroom and who he becomes must involve real choices on the part of the student as they strive toward an identity they have earned from their time in a class -who they are capable of being, a little input should give learners a lot of output and at all levels learners should receive intrinsic rewards for their mastery and achievements.
One of the most important ideas reinforced by video games is the basic principle that "learning for humans is, in large part, a practice effort", we learn most by doing. But if what we are doing is boring, we will resist doing it. Certainly we can't expect any more from children. While educators complain that"video games are compelling and school is not", they repeatedly try to enforce learning by practicing skills which gives no meaningful context or goal to learning and is anything but compelling to students. This learning by practice in video games results in mastery but good games don't leave things there. A player is rewarded for mastery but 'disrewarded' if they remain there. The next level is just around the corner and better then the one you're in. Video games give players an opportunity to operate at the outer edge of their skills without making them play beyond them. Schools would do well to practice the same. Students should be given the opportunity to learn to the edge of their potential but not repeatedly asked to operate beyond their competence. This would require much fine tuning on the part of educators but would benefit students in the long run.
I was a little bit skeptical when I first started reading this chapter. Don't we all agree that children should get their homework done before they play? While this may be true, it belies the fact that playing is very often learning that's fun. John Paul Gee is not encouraging us to let our children play video games all the time, he is enlisting some very basic principle that have made these games as successful as they are and recommending the use of these principles in education. I couldn't agree more. While learning can't always be fun, learning needs to be engaging and purposeful. Learning needs to engage students and draw them into a subject. Humans learn by practice, by doing, but when it is simply repetitive motion there is no learning curve. Children should learn at least as much about themselves as the do about a subject when they are engaged in learning. None of this is easily accomplished but teaching is not an easy job. It is perhaps one of the most important jobs and is worth the extra effort.