Games can make kids more interested in school
Many teachers dream about coming to a classroom full of enthusiastic students, that show an interest in learning. However, many more teachers wonder about how they could make this happen.
Well, it turns out that the way to make kids care is to make school fun again. Undoubtedly, playing games could play a big role in that.
Why wouldn’t they? After all, games bring out a sense of concentration in people that many other activities just can't provide. A great game can bring a lot of fun into someone’s day, and this sense of fun could be channeled into an educational purpose.
Diana G. Oblinger, a researcher and current president of EDUCAUSE, believes that there are many advantages to bringing “play” back into school.
According to Oblinger, games are very good at getting our attention. Because of this, she believes that games should be explored as a teaching tool. This makes sense, because games can keep concentration levels up for hours.
Richard van Eck, from the University of South Dakota, says that fun is a great bonus for students who learn through games. He argues that games are great learning environments because of a number of reasons.
Richard van Eck believes that since players are required to make important decisions often (like in Farm Frenzy 3, they are forced to have clear goals in mind. To add to this, they often have to learn to deal with their peers (especially in games like The Triads. This gets them more involved and interested in working with people.
Students are more likely to respond to more “modern” methods of teaching. There’s no reason that gaming shouldn’t be one of these methods. An increasing number of people are beginning to see the benefits of trying this approach, and hopefully it will be a regular sight in the future.
Carlo R. Coloma
