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Teachers Want Games In The Classrooms
eToyChest reports on a study indicating that over 50% of UK teachers would consider using educational games in the classroom. From the article: "The Poll findings also highlight some barriers to the use of games in schools, noting a lack of access to equipment capable of running the games as well as a lack of strong evidence of the educational value of games, an issue of focus for the Teaching with Games project. The appropriate choice and suitability of computer games to be used was also noted by respondents. Despite over one quarter playing computer games themselves, around two-thirds still felt, for example, that computer games may present stereotypical views of others and lead to anti-social behaviour."
...over 50% of UK teachers would consider using educational games in the classroom.
Of course they would. Anything to keep the little monsters occupied!
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~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey
I used to play some H games (hentai) that was imported from japan and some off new grounds and discovered the trivia and ones that had a great amount of mind puzzles were actually educating me despite my lack of intention too and great desire to just see the booty.
It then occurred to me that because of my natural desire to see booty, learning boring subjects became a neccessity and I found them to be a trivial task to master after a while.
Although, I'm not suggesting we should put H games in school, there is something to that primal urge for immediate satisfaction...
Think how people in MMOGs feel when they level. If we have games that satisfy this natural urge for gratifcation then learning will be immediate and desired by the students.
However, I have yet to find an educational game that gives me the stimulus in order to learn things as good as the H games *coughs*
"I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
-Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
I swear I just read an article this week that stated that the latest studies have shown educational games not to be effective in learning due to students being distracted by the "pretty graphics" and sounds.
Oh well, I always thought Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego was fun.
I was interviewing a principal at my old primary school last year as part of research for a business project (releasing educational CD-ROMs to schools and parents). He doesn't like educational games because the game factor often overwhelms the educational factor (case in point: the Magic School Bus series from MS Home), though he did approve of incorporating things like crosswords, etc inside the programs. I suppose if it's actually relevant to the source material and doesn't distract from it, games could work inside a academic environment.
On the other hand, I still have memories of playing the likes of FixIt and the Fleet St Ghost on the Apple IIe.
I had computer games in the classroom when I was in 1st grade in 1984. Perhaps the perception of games has changed? I rather enjoyed playing verb lift, and getting to shoot aliens every time I correctly answered some math problem. Maybe now the problem is that kids get to destroy demons and rescue princesses too young. Is the magic and motivational factor is gone by the time they are ready to learn?
You start a game of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas with $5000, but spend two thirds of that money on being serviced by prostitutes. A pedestrian carries an average of $20 - so how many pedestrians do you have to kill and rob in order to get back up to $5000?'
I would invite people to check out the Games Learning and Society Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. There you can see cutting edge research in the field of using games in Education.
My wife just because a high school math teacher a couple months ago, and she's always saying how she'd like some multiplayer computer or xbox/ps2/gc games for review days. She's looking for math related (Algebra / Geometry) games that the whole classroom can play together either on individual computers, or using the projector + a game console. She's bought some games from online that claim to have some of these features, but they're all really poorly done. She played the new trivial pursuit on the PS2 recently and liked how that was layed out, but it's not related to her topic.
If anyone knows or uses anything like what she's describing, please post a reply so we can check it out.
Interactive Learning Fails Reading Test
How does, "would consider" turn into "want"?
I'd like a machine to do my job, and continue to get paid too!
Conformity is the jailer of freedom and enemy of growth. -JFK
"it then occurred to me that because of my natural desire to see booty, learning boring subjects became a neccessity and I found them to be a trivial task to master after a while."
Learning about women bores you, too?
There is a Universal Life Value Check it
This may seem like an odd thing for a Slashdot reader to say, but I have a sneaking suspicion that we should get the computers out of the classrooms until, say, age 11.
There's no point having a computer if the kids can't read, write, add up, or concentrate on a task. The £1000 it would cost to kit out a decent computer and train the teacher to use it properly would buy much more effective basic educational tools made of paper and ink.
Or buy paper and ink and let the kids make their own educational tools!
Sean Ellis
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Dont forget Oregon trail. That thing rocked.