At Issue: Using Gaming to Motivate Today's Technology-Dependent Students

Abstract

In the past several decades, technology has become a big part of American society. It has changed the way people interact with one another as well as how they proceed with everyday life. However, K-12 educational systems have been resistive to change, with most American schools still using traditional instruction in the classroom, consisting mainly of lectures and textbook readings. Lectures are focused on the teacher with minimal student interaction in the discussions. Research has shown that outdated traditional instruction does poorly in motivating the students. However, motivation is a very important factor in academic success. This paper will talk about the use of games in the classroom to increase the students' motivation.