Video Games Belong In Schools Because Some Teachers Think They Might Possibly Consider Using Them, Maybe
from the there-should-be-some-better-research dept
Over the years, we've seen various reports that suggest how video games can be beneficial for kids, from increasing their ability to multitask, to improving confidence to making learning more interesting. However, mixed in with all of these are some questionable studies. The latest is a report coming out of the UK, saying that there's now "evidence" that video games deserve a place in schools. What's the evidence? A study, sponsored by video game companies including EA and Take Two, in which "59% of teachers would consider using off-the-shelf games in the classroom while 62% of students wanted to use games at school." That's hardly compelling evidence. In fact, it's not evidence at all. It's asking a bunch of teachers whether or not they would think about maybe using a video game if it was worthwhile. It's almost surprising that the number who answered yes is so low. If anything, the report seems a lot more damning for the game makers than in favor of their position. Of course, this isn't the first time that EA has pulled off this kind of non-study to support video games in schools. In January, they put out a similar study about whether or not video games were good for kids, where they simply asked teachers if they thought the games were beneficial, rather than, you know, actually studying to see if the games were beneficial. There very well may be a place for video games in the classroom -- but to support it, you would hope that researchers (whether backed by the video game industry or not) could find a bit more compelling evidence.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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there is enough distractions already.com
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Just say no to off the shelf games!
Of course they should be using educational games! They should have been using them heavily ten years ago. Get with the trends..sheesh, I guess that's what you get when you let someone else do the job.
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Re: Just say no to off the shelf games!
(from the teacher's point of view) The problem is that the games the students want to play are not educational enough.
Personally, as a student (and a gamer besides), I find that some off the shelf games do educate (in some cases more than actual classes), despite not being billed as educational games. For example, having not picked History as a subject (but going by the reporst of a close friend), and living in Australia where a lot of history is somewhat lacking, games like Europa Universalis (sp?) teach me a hell of a lot more about (European) history than a class would have.
Games are meant to be entertaining, and purposefully diluting the entertainment in favour of upping the learning is only going to stop people playing them.
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Re: Re: Just say no to off the shelf games!
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There are a lot of games like Capitalism that would definitely benefit students. When people hear off the shelf games they think of console games, but there is a lot of computer games that have very limited, yet educational fan base while retaining entertainment.
I still remember playing Oregon Trail in my first grade library class. By the time I hit 5th grade I already knew everything about the Oregon Trail and that subject was pretty friggin easy.
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Let them play GTA San Andreas
from the posting
from increasing their ability to multitask, to improving confidence to making learning more interesting
I can see the kids learning how to control San Andreas. They could play against each other and learn from world wide web how to multitask gang members together, fightin for their hood. It would improve confidence and THAT WOULD MAKE LEARNING A HELL OF A LOT MORE INTERESTING.
Seriously wal mart and stores alike carries all kinds of computer software for kids of all ages on every subject. I say why not let some kid see those and learn from them. Of course it could be worth billion$ of dollar$ for those companies.
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Re: Let them play GTA San Andreas
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What I find most appalling about games in schools is how freaking old their game software is. They want me to support DOS based games under Windows XP, because they have been using the same rubbish for so long.
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It's already happened...
There are many more games like this, for example the year two teacher (second grade for you americans), regularly plays games like 'Maths Rabbit' or the such like.
As far as I can tell, the students enjoy playing these games, and I can see the educational value of the games.
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my favorite childhood game:
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Games Not Good
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Doing it now
Like any other tool, video games can be be positive and effective when approached with an open mind. I'm not saying it would be good to put GTA in a 4th grade classroom, but something like a Robot Arena 2 design competition really does have a lot of benefits to it. It just takes a while for a lot of "classically trained" teachers to warm up to the idea.
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Video Games at School
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GTA 101
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Video Games 101
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Bad stats are bad stats, from anyone
Please stop it. Thanks.
Oh, and on the side-topic, Number Munchers FTW! The fact is, to be good at math you *need* to do math over and over again. There are basics that need to be continually repeated until they are instinctual, just like in reading. Do you think it would be fun to read a book if you had to look up every other word in the dictionary? No, and so you drill kids with words every single day. This is simply natural, though. Math skills have the same need to be constantly drilled in, though, and the lack of this is a big contributor to the hatred of math, imo. If you can't quickly and reliably multiply single-digit numbers, how are you ever going to enjoy algebra? It's like throwing someone a copy of Proust and a french-to-english dictionary, and saying, "Enjoy! He's a great poet, you'll see." The amount of work involved in just figuring out what he's saying will turn people off of putting in the work to *understand* what he's saying.
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Are You a Teacher?
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Are You a Teacher?
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homework
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bull
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Are video games good in school
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Have you been in a class that you cant stand becau
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VG's in a classroom?
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Anonymous Coward is an idiot
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