Accepting Games Into Education

Thanks to Ludology.org for pointing to a Chronicle Of Higher Education article discussing the emerging use of games as an academic subject and educational tool. Although there are sceptics, such as David Breneman from the University Of Virginia, who says: "Horsing around with these games might teach problem solving, but you don't learn anything about the world", it's suggested that educators could modify existing games: "An instructor who knows something about games or computers could customize The Sims or Civilization for a study of, say, Roman history", but that few game designers truly understand what makes a game educational: "People seem to think that anything you click on is a game... designers come out with products that have a shellac of quizzing on top of a game."

Comments

This is kind of old news...

[kasparov]

Didn't these people ever play Oregon Trail or the Carmen Sandiego games? I mean, come on! I'm 26 years old and I rememember playing these games in elementary school. And (I know, it's not a game--but it did have a cute turtle) who can forget LOGO programming? Tons of fun for everyone.