Adults dismiss educational video games too quickly? |
Ó
In the world of education, formal (or rather, informal) instruction can come from all sorts of media, not just from schools. From TV shows like Sesame Street to board games like Scrabble, it's pretty much proven that kids can have fun while learning.
But after a recent survey conducted by the team from Project Tomorrow, a nonprofit education organization, it seems that today's generation of parents and teachers are not yet ready to accept another form of edutainment: the educational videogames.
It's really not that surprising, considering that videogames today have been getting quite the bad rap.
But with educational videogames today plainly distinguishable and obviously different from its more entertainment-focused brethren - yours truly is operating on the belief that nobody would mistake Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree for Halo 3 - the figures that the survey got are pretty dismal. Here they are:
- Only 16% of teachers, 15% of administrators and 19% of parents are on board with using videogames as an educational medium.
- Only 11% of teachers are actually using videogames in class.
- More than half of students in grades 3 through 12 believe educational gaming would help them learn.
Parents, teachers, consider this: Videogames can reach your target demographic - i.e. every kid in school no matter what grade they are - faster and quicker than letting them copy notes.
It lets them learn at their own pace, it presents the focus material in a way that is both informative and entertaining, and when you add the idea of competition - i.e. giving prizes for the top scorer - and you've got a classroom more motivated to learn than anything else.
The idea of education being entertaining has been around for quite a while, and videogames are just another way of doing it, except that it's more contemporary. Try it out - there's a lot of educational videogames out there in the market today, even on the consoles and the handhelds, and see if it doesn't work. Updates as we get them, and you can check out the actual study by Project Tomorrow in the via link below.
46 Jumps PSP homebrew - PSP live TV v0.3
35 Jumps PSP homebrew - PSP Live TV v0.4
18 Jumps PSP homebrew - QMixer v1.0
17 Jumps Buy two, get one free at Best Buy
13 Jumps Atlus now mass-recruiting debuggers
Contact Us:
The QJ.net Network |
 |
| Site | Feed |
| QJ.NET | RSS |
| Nintendo DS | RSS |
| PlayStation 3 | RSS |
| PSP Updates | RSS |
| Wii | RSS |
| Xbox 360 | RSS |
| MMORPG | RSS |
| Personal Computer Games | RSS |
| iPhone - iPod Touch | RSS |
| QJ.NET Forums | RSS |
Add QJ.NET
User Favorites - December
User Favorites - December
Categories
Archives
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
Comments [refresh]
Guilty as charged. But I do find that they are not really something high caliber.
Professor Layton is a puzzle game and I really find some of them to be hard. But educational such as brain age and big brain academy, I just feel like I'm getting too good too fast and after a couple of days i drop the game because I'm looking for another challenge.
that educational video games work well for kids, but im 18 now and i dont see any ideas for educational games that would appeal to me. unless they are teaching me what velocity a bullet enters the enemy's body, then i probably dont care.
But I grew up playing JumpStart!
Carmen Sandiego for me. And a little of Dr. Brain here and there.
i am a parent that grew up with atari and nintendo games, and i can say video games truly work for teaching. they also improve hand eye coordination and multi-tasking skills. and my daughter who loves her v-smile at 3 can count to 15 knows the difference between a triangle, a pyramid, and a cone, and the difference between a circle, a sphere, and a cylinder. all from a parent that works with there kid (theres key one) and a Videogame. btw dora is her favorite game but she learns more from the scooby-doo game. more parents should stop worring about the new violent video games targeted and 13+ ages and start looking at the wholesome edutainment games out there that they are obviously overlooking according to this survey.. i mean does no one remember number munchers
Like major battles, dates, who's involved, why they picked the location, what was the cause of the war etc etc. I think the Total War series did a pretty good job in the battle part. But then some kids thought Dynasty Warrior was real history at the same time *LOL*.
When did the word "Adult" stop including 18-35 year olds? I'm pretty sure you dont mean 'Adults' so much as 'Old decrepit people'.
Don't worry, its becoming a more and more common mistake.
While the statics of actual current usage are pretty sad, I think this review misses a lot of major positive points. For example, some quotes from the original report;
"Increasingly teachers are becoming interested in use of games to increase student engagement (65%), address
different learning styles (65%), focus on student-centered learning (47%), and to develop problem solving and
critical thinking skills (40%)."
"Over 50% of teachers said they would be interested in learning more about integrating gaming technologies into
teaching strategies and 46% would be interested in professional development on this. 11% said that they are
currently incorporating some gaming into their instruction."
I would recommend taking another look at the report in a more positive light. This report really is good news, not bad.
It was a little while later before I got into Dr. Brain.
I was playing Think Quick!, Midnight Rescue, Spelling Bee, and Operation Neptune on the PC before I got into other gaming systems.
There is no way that those games didn't help me learn. Most of us kids that got consistent good grades in elementary school grew up in a similar environment.