IDEF08 Develop: Games for Education
Nov 27, 2008 Articles
During the symposium, a session was held by Derek Robertson (Learning and Teaching Scotland), with a very interesting topic.
He is the “National Advisor for Emerging Technologies” in Scotland, and during his session he discusses the current (and growing) use of games as a tool for educating children. (To see some of the great innovative stuff happening over there, click here) Although I was already familiar with educational titles, having played them myself as a child, what Derek presents to us is the use of existing mainstream titles like Nintendogs, and even Guitar Hero as a tool for motivating and encouraging students to participate and excel in activities.
As an example, Derek shows us how students poor in mathematics use Brain Training (by Dr Kawashiwa) as a tool to “practise doing their sums”, as well as clips of the students stating that the game actually helped them improve. Further on, we also see clips of students taking care of a Nintendog in groups, while keeping a detailed diary of their activities.
What we see here is the effective use of games to motivate students. And here are the reasons why I think it works.
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Tags: Develop, Education, Games, IDEF, Melbourne Exhibition Centre, Symposium
