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Video Games in The Classroom Case Studies

Posted by Zonk on from the play-and-learn dept.

JavaTHut writes "Numerous ideas have emerged lately for how video games might be integrated into the classroom and why they are well suited to learning. Still, many challenges remain as most educators are skeptical of their value, previous failures at 'edutainment' have made the industry weary of such a market and a renewed focus on standardized testing has made it difficult to introduce new curriculum. In an effort to identify what possibilities exist for video games in education, MIT recently hosted a conference [video recording torrents available] bringing together teachers, game designers, industry execs, policy makers and academics - with case studies of classroom uses of Civilization, Neverwinter Nights, The Sims 2 and others."

4 of 30 comments (clear)

  1. Everything old is new again... by Glomek · · Score: 1, Interesting

    The MIT folks were doing this in 1981 and earlier. See ftp://publications.ai.mit.edu/ai-publications/pdf/ AITR-619.pdf

  2. SimCity by Reo+Strong · · Score: 2, Interesting

    My High School had a few copies of SimCity 3000 (or some such version). We were required to play for our government and economics class.

    For world history, we were expected to play Risk (both the board and computer versions were available, until someone figured out how to cheat on the PC).

    I also had a teacher who was a huge chess-hound. He let pretty much anyone play chess while he was 'guarding' the study hall or even PE if you wished.

    --
    "Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity." -Anon.
  3. Lemonade Stand by centauri · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Everything I know about economics I learned from playing Lemonade Stand. Everything I know about lemonade, too.

    --
    Don't blame me, I voted for Durga.
    1. Re:Lemonade Stand by DingerX · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Yeah, that was the problem growing up in California. Never did figure out what dewpoint was, other than when it was high, it was time to jack the prices through the roof.

      Anyway, I'm of two minds. Games can be useful, but teachers are lazy, so they'll probably use them like videos (aka, "Excuse me while I wheel in the Visiting Professor"). If one gets beyond using games to teach students about reality, and uses them as example descriptions of reality, then they can be useful. But, then again, you'd probably lose most of the class.

      I suppose multiplayer things are useful and cool. After all, you got 30+ bodies in a room, might as well take advantage of that. At the very least, you'll get some cool deathmatches out of it. Why shoot your fellow students in real life, then? It'd mean you couldn't shoot them again the next day.