I liked reading this and on topic I know a LOT about history, in particular scandinavian and mediterranean history, but my grades do not reflect this at all, in fact I got rather mediocre grades compared to how well I know the subject. Why? Well, because when the teacher droned on about this and that swedish king I found the ages of Alexander, Ramses and Gaius Julius Ceasar to be more interesting, and likewise when she finally touched upon that subject I already knew it and had my eyes and mind wander back to follow the fate of vikings and goths throughout history instead.A pretty stupid decision of me when it comes to getting good grades, but I'll be damned if I didn't learn more by reading as much as I could about what I found interesting at the time and only enough to get a passing grade on what we were supposed to be studying rather than dedicate myself to something I found bland and boring just to get better grades.Actually, my teacher in 5th grade noticed me doing this and tried to get approval of letting me do the history tests in the order I preferred, but swedish school policies being what they were at the time she was basically told that I would learn more by conforming. She didn't agree at the time and I'd say she was correct.Edit: Language.
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Truly an interesting read and sadly as a student myself, I believe that it is true. Still, I hope teachers everywhere read this and take something away from it like I and many others did.
Am I the only one who finds it really offensive that when comparing types of students to types of PvE players in wow you guys think that "idiots" equate to "people who farm heroics and level alts"?
Interesting read for sure. Educating our children in this day and age has never been more important. Some people might think it's a stretch to say this but our survival as a species depends on it. We're very new to the scene on a grand time scale. 95% of all species that once roamed the Earth are extinct.We're the first to actually do something about it one way or another. We can detonate every thermonuclear device on the planet and wipe ourselves out. We could also study the cosmos and develop technologies that allow travel over vast distances. I like the second option, personally. :)That is a long term issue but it starts here today. In the short term we may have to deal with asteroids or comets. It might sound unbelievable but if we saw a comet headed towards Earth; we are completely unprepared. A nuke would be the only option and it's a long shot. That doesn't even account for pandemics and other natural disasters. All of these things require knowledge to prevent and overcome.Children today in school get the standardized stuff rammed into their minds. They get utterly traumatized by this stuff. Learning isn't fun to our kids; it's a job. My second grader comes home first day of school with multiple homework assignments. Second grade? multiple assignments? This stuff isn't engaging and thought provoking. Still, he's in second grade and still learning fundamentals. The point is you can teach fundamentals while also engaging your students. But, the standards in this country (U.S.) are really doing more harm than good, I think.Educational games aren't new but in your writing there could be some innovation in that area. It can't be the cheesy and lame low budget stuff either. It has to pack a punch. That gets attention and keeps attention.I like what NASA has done with a sort of pilot game. It's a step in the right direction I think. You can check it out here. It's called Moon Base Alpha. You're an astronaut that has to perform several tasks to get oxygen flowing again. You have to do them in the most efficient way before time runs out. Nothing highly technical about the game but it forces you to make quick decisions. Think of a really long and slow WoW boss fight, in slooooow motion. ;) It took me 2-3 tries before I learned the best route to take and methods to use.So, I'm all for integrating education into video games. I'm also for changing the education system entirely. Right now, it's just in sad shape. I have tons of relatives that teach so I hear about it regularly.I'd ramble on more but I'm at work and I must perform the skills that pay the bills. :DGreat post. :)
Both of you are starting to go off to a tangent. Stop it.
If I may attempt to put the tangent to bed...Heroics are the equivalent of Basic/General Mathematics. Raiding is the equivalent of Advanced Mathematics. To be good at raiding, you need a level of commitment significantly higher than that required to be good at heroics. But that's not to say that the people doing heroics aren't as awesome as the people doing raids - there are some pretty crappy people doing Advanced Maths, and there are some really good people doing General Maths who, for whatever life reasons, choose not to do Advanced.So with that tangent resolved, let's move on....ArgentSun, I suggest that you look up some of the older edutainment games from the 90s. They're not modern, but a critique of those games and understanding how they worked and why they worked might assist in coming up with ideas on how the gaming and education value chain (from the designers and education regulators to the players) can move forward on more productive edu-gaming.
I am the Technology Director for a High School district in New Jersey and I constantly bring up this topic. Not only will gaming bring a level of interactivity to education that it sorely lacks, but it will also peak the interest of a large segment of disinterested students who would jump at the opportunity.As for why education (and I can only speak for public education) is not implementing gaming in schools:
i might add some story of myself ... to underline that there's a lot of truth in this article.when i was 6 or 8 i got the chance to sit in front of a PC for the first timewithout any doubt games were the more interesting stuff for me (huh ? excel, hardware, regedit ... is it eatable ?)and there was stuff like diablo (yes the very first one) or master of magic (1989 oldschool &*!@)but these were english games and english isn't my mothertonguesince i practically knew nothing besides english was some other existant languagei had to either learn words or quit playingit turned out my parents helpfulness was limitedand after a couple of times asking "what's that word, what's this word"my father was so genious to explain basic "how to use a dictionary" knowledge to me.by now my skill using the english language is one of the (qualitatively spoken) best skills i haveand being able to speak english is like being able to speak to 75% of all people availablebecause everyone knows few english at leastso with no further ado computergames educated me pretty well :)...cool articel, nice to read !