Dr. Ian D. Beatty

• Physics & Astronomy
• Associate Professor, 2015

What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy
by James Paul Gee

When I encountered this book in 2011, it upended my research agenda and my thinking about teaching. On the surface, Gee makes a strong case that game designers are better at motivating and facilitating learning than educators are, and that we in academe can learn much from them. What hit me powerfully, however, was the realization that teaching--even classroom-based university teaching--does not have to look like current instruction. Much of our thinking about education is stuck in a box imposed by historical, cultural, and structural inertia, and Gee's book helped me to see that box and challenged me to imagine and pursue possibilities outside of it.