13 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
13 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

Do Educational Electronic Games Have Advantages?

by thunderbird
10 replies
  • OFF TOPIC
    • |
Although I restrict my 4-year-old son's access to electronic games (due to their addictive qualities), today he was allowed to play a math game. I saw him proceed to enthusiastically master the game, advance to higher levels with addition, subtraction, and division. Yes, this is Mr. Class Troublemaker himself.
  • Profile picture of the author seasoned
    If he loves the game, and you think it is at least slightly above his comfort level, I would say let him just enjoy it! It will DEFINITELY big a big help to him, ESPECIALLY at his age.

    THREE possible problems.....

    1. If he doesn't like it, it is unlikely to help. I take it that isn't a problem here.
    2. If it is TOO far above his comfort level, he may get frustrated and quit. It depends on the kid. I take it that isn't a problem here. Some kids will struggle at a challenge and get past it, and consider THAT part of the fun!
    3. If it is TOO easy, it may be just a game, and be simply a way to addict him to a game.

    If he likes it and it is somewhat challenging, he achieved by accident what good teachers always have trouble doing. He found a way to actually look forward to lessons and practice.

    Steve
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9175321].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author HN
    Banned
    [DELETED]
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9175861].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author thunderbird
      Originally Posted by HN View Post

      They might have advantages. Even the silly games that are meant to make children dumb can be turned into educational games. It's possible with almost any game. It's even possible to create games that will teach children without them even realizing it.

      I am currently researching alternative education. My particular interest is in creating games that have certain encoded information embedded in. It could be anything, historical facts (dates, names of people or places), math (squares and square roots of 1000 integers), chemistry (periodic table), literature (poems) or even foreign languages. After completing the game the child would have learned, let's say 1000 foreign words, without even knowing it, because the information was encoded. They would have played it just like another computer game. To decode the information and access the knowledge they'll need a key which you can give them any time later. The experiments that I have done show 93% retention rate for memorized information after 3 weeks. Compare it to Ebbinghaus' forgetting curve.

      Such computer games will replace some school classes in the near future. At least in one of the European countries. The same technology can be used in cartoons and movies.

      Please do not even try to figure out how this works. It has nothing to do with 25th frame effect or any sci-fi that you can possibly imagine. Yet, there's nothing new, thousands of people know how this works. Is was already known 5000 years ago in Vedic India. I simply incorporated the ancient knowledge into modern technology.
      Those are interesting projects. I've often picked up a lot of interesting factual information from reading novels. One advantage electronic games have over movies is that the experience is not entirely passive that way watching movies or TV is, so I can see how requiring a presentation of facts or skills to move to the next level could advance knowledge.

      I once toyed with the idea of a game that mimicked the modern challenges the ecologically-important Mexican Long-Nosed bat has to deal with, but it got too depressing.
      Signature

      Project HERE.

      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9176190].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author seasoned
    Yeah, BYKI hassome nice software(though the original version is not as good as the now free memory lifter), but they are boring. It is a shame. Unless you have like 100+ things to learn, they aren't worth it, and 30 could get boring.

    I like the idea of games, for this, but MOST are garbage. Not ALL, just most. But you can watch you child play it, and know what he struggles with, so YOU are the ideal person to determine if it is entertaining enough to hold his interest, and hard enough to teach him something.

    Steve
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9176235].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author KenThompson
    Article reporting research on your topic.

    http://www.nyu.edu/about/news-public...dy-shows-.html
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9597205].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author garyv
    My son started playing video games at a very young age. At first I was reluctant, but then noticed that some of the games were actually teaching him things. And there was a time when the gaming became addicting for him. And rather than restricting him from the games all together, we helped him to recognize the negative effects his addiction was having on the rest of his life. He was able to overcome it himself - with encouragement from us. And now that he's in college he easily recognizes when it's time to turn off a game and get to work.

    However - when he first entered college his first roommate was a kid from a very strict Indian family. He was never allowed to play video games at all. He failed out of college in his first semester, because my son said that he'd stay up all night playing video games, and then would stay in the dorm and sleep through his classes. My son later thanked us for letting him play his video games when he was younger.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9597523].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author socialentry
    Doom 95 is very educational.

    It taught me that IT administrators in schools were dummies.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9598008].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author thunderbird
      Originally Posted by socialentry View Post

      Doom 95 is very educational.

      It taught me that IT administrators in schools were dummies.
      I've found that they do a great job imparting that information themselves without the use of games.
      Signature

      Project HERE.

      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9598015].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author socialentry
    yeah, but Doom 95 provides the motivation to probe deeper.

    and unreal tournament 1
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9598051].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author swarner11
      Yes, there are many Educational Electronic Games which have great record history and these games are providing a good deal of benefits / advantages.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9716651].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author WalkingCarpet
    Banned
    Kid's should be encouraged to play video games IMO. When ur young ur full of energy and want learn and see new things.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9716689].message }}

Trending Topics