James Paul Gee's Argumentative Analysis

Every person goes through the process of attaining an education. Beginning at the age of five, children initiate learning through a system. They look forward to and are anxious about the first day of being taught. Children often imagine the academic experience ahead of time and act out what they believe their experience will entail. This behavior often leads to a game we call “school”. Games are more complex than the majority of us believe. Looking through the lens of scientific simulations, playing the game of school provokes children to comprehend real-life experience by evaluating the paragon of their future. A Simulation is the imitation of a process or system. According to James Paul Gee’s article, “Learning Theory, Video Games, and

Children acting and dressing as if they are a character would allow them to truly feel as if they are that individual. For example, children act as students. During this they pretend they are interested in education and behave as such by respecting their teacher and completing their classwork to receive better grades. The child playing the teacher would also perform as if they are well-educated and also caring and responsible towards the students. Acting as a character allows children to understand and practice moral behavioral qualities, such as, respect and responsibility. These moral behavioral qualities can then be applied and used in real life. Children that evaluate the paragon of their future, therefore, comprehend real life experiences (moral behavioral qualities) by

The game of school consists of days in which children learn about different subjects. More often than not children get through multiple days of school in one game. They get accustomed to the way they interact with the teacher and vice versa. These repetitious actions cause them to start developing procedural behaviors. A day at “school” would go as followed: first you arrive to class and complete an assignment, then you go to lunch, have reading time at the library, and have recess on the playground, after that you go back to learning and then you leave for the day. The kids playing the game learn what to expect in class because each day is similar to the next and would incorporate all of these activities. This creates a routine that provides a general idea of what a normal day in the real life educational realm would entail. Children are then able to apply the routine created in the game of school to their real life experiences and to further develop the paragon of their