Earth viewed from Apollo 17. Image courtesy of NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Scientific Visualization Studio.
The world is constantly changing. The way people absorb information now is different from the ways in the past, and innovative educators are realizing this. Just as how living creatures have to adapt to the environment over time, so too do teaching methods have to evolve to cater to new generations of people.
Public education is often ridiculed for robbing the imaginations of children. It is no surprise that students find school boring and tedious when they are not encouraged to be creative in the classroom. As students shift their interests from academics to the wonders of new technology, many teachers found the need to develop more modern ways to engage youngsters. Organized schooling like Quest to Learn emerged as an answer to this problem.
Students are more engaged when games are involved. Image by Nico Cavallotto.
Recently, educators are looking into implementing video games into the classroom. One notable example comes from Valve, an American video game development corporation. They invited elementary school students to their company to help design levels for their video game, Portal. The game involves concepts of physics such as momentum, spatial reasoning and engineering, allowing students to apply their knowledge outside of the classroom. On September 20th of 2011, Valve offered the game for free digital download to promote the learning of science.
Are video games necessary for education? Ali Carr-Chellman of Penn State University thinks so. In the TED talk she gave in October 2010, she argues that teachers’ attitudes are important when it comes to teaching boys in school. If teachers can be more open-minded about gaming and design better games, boys’ interest in school can be renewed at a young age, helping them succeed in the future as they pursue their educations further. Watch the full video here:
Video games carry negative connotations such as “childish” and “time-wasting”, but perhaps this will change when educators effectively integrate them into the school curriculum in a fun and educational manner.
Sources:
Ali Carr-Chellman: Gaming to re-engage boys in learning. Ted Talk. Accessed February 19, 2012.
Corbett, Sara. Learning by Playing: Video Games in the Classroom. The New York Times. Accessed February 18, 2012.
Kuchera, Ben. Portal is used to teach science as Valve gives game away for limited time. Arstechnica. Accessed February 18, 2012.
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