Situate Meaning and Learning

In this chapter, Gee discussed his experiences playing the video game Deus Ex and how he think it is related to real life situations. He decribed four steps process that Deus Ex can assist as a basis practice of how children learn. Gee also talked about how the human mind is so powerful at recognizing pattern. He give the example of how a child reflects in his or her action unconciously and from this experience the child learns to form a hypothesis about a certain kind of pattern about certain things, such as the meaning for book is "something like hard flat surface good fro supportating a piece of pape". As the children develop thier concepts they use patterns to create meanings that make sense to them (situate meanings).
Gee also said that not many player read the manual before starting to play the game. One may took a glance at the instruction booklet, but reading it doesn't make a lot of sense until one has already experienced it. Sometimes manual can be confusing and one wouldn't know what to do until one actually try to work it out. Like a biology book, it doesn't make much sense if one doesn't have a lot of background knowledge in the subject and haven't really been expose to its concepts. One will become to understand more and become better as one continue to practice and being exposed to it.
Overall, I think that situated meaing and learning is being activitly involve in whatever that one's trying to learn and be a part of it. This also include putting one's the mind and the body working together to make meaning out of the situation. By going through different experiences in life one also seek patterns to explain or make meaning out of things. Being a part of a situation in the world of experince, over time, these new things will eventually make sense and one will become better and better at it (like Gee playing Deus Ex).