Having just recently picked up a copy of Big Brain Academy for the DS Lite, this article comes as no surprise: “Not playing around: Scientists say video games can reshape education.”
“The theory is that games teach skills that employers want: analytical thinking, team building, multitasking and problem-solving under duress.”
What is a surprise though, is to hear that there are still people who are skeptical about using games for education. I mean, where would my mad dance floor skillz be without Dance Dance Revolution? Ok, bad example.
Looking back though, I fondly remember going to my elementary school library to play typing tutors and Oregon Trail (which taught us the value of 4×4 vehicles.) But past elementary school, educational games went away. At home, I was slingin’LOGO and playing Zork, but my in-school computer use evolved into using spreadsheets and, eventually, programming Pascal.
The article does mention one important fact though:
“The gaming industry has already figured out that educational games don’t make money in the consumer marketplace. The new approach would instead market them directly to schools.”
This is key. You definitely don’t want some “education council” designing the games — they’re going to suck. You need professional game designers. And if you can organize enough of our tax dollars into funding such development, then you give the gaming industry a reason to take the educational market more seriously.
Tom Hoffman 6:40 pm on October 23, 2006 Permalink |
Realistically, this has to be done through open source development, with government and philanthropic funding.
erik 9:48 am on October 24, 2006 Permalink |
Hey Tom! It’s been awhile… I hope things are going well.
Developing educational games in the open would certainly be better (and what a great way to transition the kids into computer science), but I still think the money has to be there or you risk creating games that aren’t compelling enough to engage the students. (Or maybe the money has to be there just to help bootstrap the whole initiative so that the developers volunteering can at least pay rent.) You’re right though, the funds could be going to a non-profit rather then a traditional games publisher — or at least focusing on smaller shops (the kind that try to make a living off puzzle and card games.)
Alternatively (and I think this is more exciting), would be trying to harness the power of open-source-minded developers who happen to have children. It seems easier to get developers focused on solving technical problems — but there’s definitely an emerging generation of developers (those who hacked on computers as kids) who are starting to have their own children. For someone who’s spent their whole life playing with computers and video games, it’s a natural thought to expect computers and interactivity to contribute to education.
Perhaps the challenge then, will be how to get schools to pick up on the software that open source developers create for their own kids. It’s easy to see such software being used in one’s home — but how does it move into the classroom?
Marty Adams 11:19 am on November 18, 2006 Permalink |
Have you seen what Electronic Arts (EA) is doing with Alice? If not, go to Alice.org and see what has been done in a joint venture between EA and CMU.
There is a big push to get more girls involved in Computer related degree programs (CS/CE/CP) and this seems to initally have an impact. This was also supported by Microsoft’s Academic Alliance arm, but EA is continuing with financial support for Alice.
They are working on finishing Storytelling Alice, which will include even more characters and sandboxes that are attractive to girls.
The project was used to help students entering CS1, but has since taken a direction towards middle school girls, since it is believed that this is the age where most children make career decisions.
erik 12:40 pm on November 18, 2006 Permalink |
Thanks Marty! The Alice project looks quite interesting; and I agree that projects like this should probably focus on pre-college education since they can spark an interest in learning with computers while playing with a fun environment.