Module 5b-- Learning by Exploring Microworlds and Virtual

I will be the first one to admit, I am a bit of a virtual world geek. I love to explore and play video games, I love on line environments like chat rooms and things like "second life".  I very much agree with Baninder when she says that she likes the way that the virtual world includes the shy.  For those of us who feel a little uncomfortable in the outside world the virtual world is an amazing place. 

I will give you an example.  I have a disability.  It sometimes makes it hard to get out of the house and meet people.  It also, often makes me feel uncomfortable in my own body.  In the virtual world I am not disabled.  I am who I am in my head.  I am the girl who is able to run and play like everyone else.  I am not bedridden or sick.  I get to be for just a while what I have always wanted to be.  I also think that for children it is a world where rules do not apply to their imagination.  If they want to be a superhero they can, of they want to pretend they are the smartest person in the world they can.  It gives children an outlet for creativity and to explore parts of themselves that they very rarely let anyone see.

One thing that I do not agree with in Baninder's blog is her dislike for video games.  Now granted there are some that I just don't understand, and I think that often kids can get a little obsessed, but there are many video games that are giving kids skills that they don't even know that that are getting.  For instance not to long ago I read an article that tested the average kid who loved video games, against some of the best trained pilots in the American Air force.  Hands down the kids beat the pilots at flight simulations. It is because they are playing video games.  They now have amazing twitch reactions.  In this article they talked about that these games were literally training the pilots of the future.  It makes me wonder how this could be taken to other levels.  Consider for a second the new game-boys that are available the Nintendo DS systems.  Some of the games available like "Trauma Centre: Under the knife" where you play a doctor and get to operate, or "Phoenix Right Ace Attorney" where you play a lawyer.  Are these perhaps ways that we can train children?  Why not.  and if so what else could we do with video games?