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Adults Too Quick to Dismiss Educational Gaming?

Posted by Zonk on from the awesome-to-get-to-the-fourth-level-math dept.

netbuzz writes "A new survey finds that more than half of K-12 students believe that educational video games in school would help them learn (no surprise), although only 15% of teachers and 19% of parents agree. Adults might not want to scoff, however, because 11% of teachers are already using video games in class and they report great results. 'Only 3% of elementary school students say they do not play video games of any kind. Students surveyed say learning via video games would help them better understand difficult concepts, become more engaged in the subject matter and practice skills. There's no mention of the games being fun, but that goes without saying.'"

5 of 255 comments (clear)

  1. will someone please by OrochimaruVoldemort · · Score: 5, Funny

    think of the children

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    If people can get past, can they get future? Best way to confuse a stoner
  2. General Rule With Prior Generations by eldavojohn · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I don't know about your parents but mine were rife with "I didn't have it, why do you need it?" mentality. Luckily I convinced them to get a computer but it wasn't until I moved out that they had the internet ...

    It's about breaking down barriers and proving that games can be more useful than just leisure and entertainment. Collaboration, teamwork, and problem solving are just a few things that come from games without the edutainment factor predesigned into them.

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    My work here is dung.
    1. Re:General Rule With Prior Generations by MrSteveSD · · Score: 5, Funny

      Unless you are unlucky enough to be in Iraq, shooting snipers and throwing grenades is not much of a useful skill. You may also find that your skills are not actually so useful in the real world. Trying going to Iraq and rapidly jumping up and down in the hope of avoiding enemy fire :)

  3. Re:I didn't have it, why do you need it and not PE by hardburn · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Except that PE today consists largely of simple exercises and the most non-competitive games you can find, because it'd be a real tragedy to tell a child that they might not be good at something.

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    Not a typewriter
  4. Portal by bionicpill · · Score: 5, Funny

    I say make them play portal to improve their reasoning skills, and teach them to think of creative solutions to complex problems. Also to keep them paranoid of rogue computers and robots, since that is a future threat our kids will surely have to face.