By Dan Ilett, 10 August 2005 15:30
NEWS
Three UK secondary schools are piloting the use of computer games in the classroom.
The research project, dubbed Teaching with Games, which is to begin in September, will explore whether consumer computer games, such as Medal of Honour, are beneficial to student learning.
Annika Small, MD of NESTA Futurelab, the lottery-funded organisation behind the scheme, said it had not yet decided which games to use in the classroom.
She said: "That's the $64,000 question. We are going to look across the range at role playing games and first-person shoot 'em ups, although I'm not convinced of that. We are going to look at three or four games so as not to spread it too thinly.
"It will be games already on the market. The main thrust of this is to see if there is a need for pure entertainment games. By involving the teachers we are hoping they will involve the game developers so [games] will have a greater place in the classroom."
A group of European educationalists, including representatives from Brussels, is monitoring the progress of the scheme.
The UK schools are situated near Brighton (near Futurelab), with a fourth school in Germany being tested.
In a statement, Futurelab said that the study will look at what children can learn from games, how to introduce them in the classroom and what changes might be required to make them relevant in education
The project, also backed by games publisher Electronic Arts, will investigate attitudes of teachers and students towards computer games.
Results of the trial are expected in August 2006.
Comments
There are 7 comments. Join the discussion
1. anonymous
Another stupid idea.
Medal of Honour is a great game, the multiplayer is fantastic, but should history be taught from computer games?
Still there's no point playing truant if all you'd do is play on the computer, go to school and play games there.
Then with the bribes they give kids now to stay at school they can buy their own fizzy drinks and crisps to consume whilst playing games.
At least SimCity kind of teaches kids to deal with tornados and planning cities. Which is handy for when they get a job in a fast food shop.
Why not just stop teaching completely and let kids play Tekken Tag all day? Then they can learn about team work. Or maybe bring back the BBC Micro's and Elite so they can learn to be astronauts.
Do people realise that you don't need computers to teach children. They are a handy tool if used properly, but is this the best way to use them?
2. Geoffrey Darnton
...this has also been done in India ... I was involved in training some consultants involved in a project to give PCs to farmers in rural areas ... games were added to the machines because the games were excellent for developing keyboard and mouse skills. Games were also useful to develop skills where sub-second response times improved cognitive abilities - once those skills were developed, the games were removed because the games also increased dysfunctional behaviour - spending too much time playing games! Also - be careful - some recent research suggests that the decline in interest in learning IT skills may be related to using products that convey the illusuion that the user has sufficent IT skills not to need to on to further study.... I hope points like these can inform any research related to these experiments...
3. Gary Jerrum
Why first person shooters - more like sim city, strategy games where the pupil has to develop understaning of building resources, structures and upgrades as they build resources...
4. anonymous
So childern will be taught how to play comuter games! What Bull S**T!!!!
Why not teach skills like reading and writing, simple addition and subtraction.
Why not have the govornment supply evey school child with a PS2 as well as a Mac laptop!!!!
5. anonymous
Oops forgot to say, don't the majority of kids have access to a home PC where they can play games in their own time.
I feel as though i could rant about this for a long time.
6. anonymous
Secondary school is way too late to derive any benefit from an initiative like this. My 4 year old plays computer games - supervised - for between 2 and 4 hours each week. At this age, it develops superior hand-eye co-ordination and reasoning skills. He's getting used to having a fixed amount of time to complete a task, and many games have literacy and numeracy elements too. These skills will provide him with the tools he needs to learn more effectively in a classroom environment. If children don't have these abilities by the time they reach secondary school, then half their education will already have been wasted.
7. Bruce Boomstick
Both my kids have Autistic Spectrum Disorders and associated learning difficulties. In order to assist them we try to turn every situation into a learning opportunity. Computer games have been invaluable tools in that the assist them with numerous skills - everything from hand to eye coordination and language skills. We've gained the most benefit from things like Flight Simulator and Auran Trainz - but even MOH has had it's uses.
Games offer a simpified view of the world - that's why they're useful for special needs. But I think there is value in mainstream school as well - providing they are used responsibly and sparingly.