Schools test edugaming in classroom
We've spoken ad infinitum on educational gaming, exercise gaming and serious games. It's an important cause and one that can prove mutually beneificial. (For the educators, a new way to teach and motivate children; for the game makers, a feeling of civic duty and another source of income.)
Reuters has a rather lengthy piece (with an eye-catching headline) about current efforts to incorporate the interactivity of video games with schooling. Games requiring team effort are presented (Indiana University associate professor Sasha Barab's Quest Atlantis, pictured), as are proponents of using game-related technologies in grades six through 12. The latter, Katie Salen, is speaking at a Living Game Worlds symposium later this month.
The article tackles the other side of the issue, that games have been linked (and just as often unlinked) to attention deficit disorder and aggressive behavior. Everything good comes with some consequence. We feel that aspects of the video game technology can outweigh consequences when incorporated with the bad. That, and we're hoping to rekindle our love with a new generation of Math Blasters and Mario Teaches Typing.
