Teaching with Video Games

By Virginia Prescott on Monday, February 2, 2009.

For a lot of kids these days, “hanging out” means playing Nintendo or Wii. Games like "World of Warcraft" have captured the attention of a generation – and a country.

For better or worse, these virtual worlds have become a huge part of the American experience, and of growing up. According to a study released by the Pew Internet and American Life Project at the end of 2008, 97 percent of teens and tweens aged 12 to 17 play games. That’s a lot of kids.

So these numbers didn’t escape the notice of educators. A growing number of them have begun to wonder if the technology that has captivated so many young minds could be used in the classroom. Dr. Merrilea Mayo is the director of Future Learning Initiatives at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. She joins us on the line from Washington, D.C.

Games that Teach Something:

Resilient Planet (ecology/ocean biology)

Making History (military/political/diplomatic/economic relations between nations prior to WWII) (demo)

Dimenxian (pre-algebra, algebra) (demo)

The ReDistricting Game (how gerrymandering works, and its impact on election
outcomes)

Immune Attack (immunology)

Cisco Binary game (very simple 2D game, teaching binary addition)

PeaceMaker (dymanics of the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict; you can play either side)

Wolfquest (habitat, life of the wolf)

CO2FX (global warming, science/economic/policy issues)

(Photo by Cedric)

Add new comment

"Edutainment" has been around for years. "Oregon Trail" and "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego" and others are familiar to legions of 30-somethings who probably encountered them in the classroom way-back-when.

Unlike those titles, however, today's kids are more...discerning in their entertainment. High def TV, high bitrate digital audio and realistic environments in video games means that any edutainment that seeks to capture the attention of kids needs to have more then a well meaning message. Unfortuately, as Dr. Mayo pointed out, edtainment developers are at a disadvantage financially when compared to triple-A developers like Electronic Arts and Activision-Blizzard.

But just because the non-gaming public retains it's distorted view that "video games rot the mind" doesn't make it true. There's plenty of education in non-education games as well. Online games like World of Warcraft teach goal prioritization (to complete quests) and -- believe it or not -- interpersonal skills. Games such as Starcraft require resource management and strategic thinking skills. Another online game, EVE Online, has an economy so realistic that the company which develops the title has a real economist on-staff who publishes economic reports each quarter.

What needs to happen is to formulate some sort of partnership between triple-A developers and educators in an effort to bring professional game developers with the advanced skills together with those who seek to use the medium as a more engaging tool for education. Already, many game developers include "mod tools" in their software (such as Half-Life 2's Source SDK) which allow end-users to create their own content. A notable example was the Arden Project, which used the Neverwinter Nights Aurora Toolkit to create a world build around Shakespearean London. Of course, educators only have so much time, and using these tools to their full potential often requires knowledge of 3D modeling and, in some cases, game programming, but there ARE certainly options that can be explored more in-depth for anyone serious about merging video games with education.

Submitted by Chris Smith on Mon, 02/02/2009 - 13:48.

Had it not been for one of my mentors suggesting selected video games to help some of our students with learning disabilities who are hindered by slow processing speed, I would never have given this segment of your show a second thought. I am not a video gamer, although I do enjoy board and card games. My adults kids (fortunately, in my opinion) never got into video games to any extent either. However, as a high school special education evaluator, I have to accept and work with what works for kids. Thank you for the list of games to add to that which I received from my mentor. I'll pass the information on to my colleagues. I hope game developers will hire educators as consultants to develop tools teachers can use in the classroom. The challenge to engage students, especially high school kids, seems to become more difficult by the day.

Submitted by Martha Kruse on Wed, 02/04/2009 - 13:54.

Is Obesity A National Security Threat?

About us

Word of Mouth is all about what's new. Online and on-air, the show looks at our fascinating and ever-changing world, and puts the latest ideas under a microscope. Word of Mouth investigates everything from science and technology, to health and the environment, to new trends in popular culture. The show airs Monday through Thursday at noon and is hosted by Virginia Prescott.