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Games As a Way to Get Schooled. No, I Mean Literally.
Three cheers for David Williamson Shaffer, an Education Science Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Co-author of the book "How Computer Games Help Children Learn," he's been touring the media advocating the use of computer games in the classroom. There, kids can learn valuable skills that, in his opinion, make them more competitive and technology-savvy in the global market. Skills like blowing up cars (Kidding). His argument is that the current educational system was developed in the late 1800s to prepare kids for life in industrial America, and isn't relevant in a connected, multitasking, interactive world. As it turns out, Shaffer isn't the only person to think this way. Last year I was chatting with Nolan Bushnell -- yes, that Nolan Bushnell, the founder of Atari -- and he had a lot of the same ideas. A perpetual entrepreneur, Bushnell is writing a book about creating wired schools where the education is interactive and students plow through material at their own pace. Your reward for completing interactive learning assignments is "points" you can spend to, say, email your classmates. But if you use some of your new vocabulary words in the email, you can send it for free. Teachers would be available to monitor how everyone is doing and then to sit down one-on-one with individual students to help them along. I'm hardly doing the idea justice in a short paragraph here, but the point is that there are plenty of smart people out there who see games as something that can really help kids.
I think using games for education isn't just a great thing to do for students ... it's a great way to erase the stigma that games are "bad entertainment" and to foster better game development all around. I learned more about business from that Lemonade game for the Apple ][ than a dozen business books could ever teach me -- supply, demand, setting prices, planning ahead, marketing, etc. -- skills that I still use every day. Same with my lucrative blaster-sales business in Star Wars Galaxies. That's right: Games made me a better person! Thoughts on games and education? Mail me!
-Fargo
Today's Geek Stuff:
- Best-Selling Games: December 2006 -IGN
- Konami Games Not So Cancelled -IGN
- THQ Predicts $1 Billion in Net Sales -IGN
- Why Nintendo Releases So Few Virtual Console Games -Select-Copy-Paste
- Wii More Popular Now than on Launch Day -MCVUK
- Professor Pushes for Video Games in Schools -ExtremeTech
- EA Announces UEFA Champions League 2006-2007 -TeamXbox
- Gears of War: Love & War Tournament -TeamXbox
- Xbox 360 Outsells Wii and PS3 This Holiday -TeamXbox
- 2006 Record Year for Gaming: $12.5B -Next Generation
- WoW Exceeds 8m Players Worldwide GamaSutra
- Japan: 2006 Sets Record for Video Game Industry -GameDaily Biz
- Analyst: PS3 Stock Left in Channel 'Troubling' -GameDaily Biz
- Custom-Built Xbox 360 Laptop? Yes. -Submitted by Howard Tattrie
Mod News:
- Half-Life 2 - Earth's Special Forces Update -Planet Half-Life
- Battlefield 2142 - BF2142 Bloodgulch Map Released -Planet Battlefield
- Oblivion - 15 Added/Updated Oblivion Mods -Planet Elder Scrolls
Hardware Links Courtesy of Voodoo Extreme:
- Cases: Thermaltake Armor LCS Tower w/ Watercooling - Hardcoreware
- Cases: Ultra X-Blaster ATX Case - Modders-Inc
- Memory: Crucial Ballistix DDR2 PC2-6400 Kit - XS Reviews
- Memory: Patriot Memory Extreme Performance 2GB DDR500 DC Kit - Techniz
- Pads:XTracPads Pro & Pro HS - BurnoutPC
- Power Supply: Silverstone Zeus ST85ZF 850W Power Supply - Madshrimps
- Power Supply: Ultra Products 1025 VA 615 Watts Backup UPS - BTX Formfactor
- Video: ASUS EAX1650XT 256MB (Radeon X1650 XT) - Sharky Extreme
- Video: ATI Catalyst 7.1 Performance Analysis - Tweaktown
- Video: NVIDIA G80: Image Quality Analysis - Beyond 3D
- Video: Sapphire X1950 Pro Dual Spy Pics At CES - HotHardware
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