American schools will reduce books, more ... games?

Among the proposed solutions to improve the quality of America's weak schools, an idea may interest many children, which is to reduce textbooks and increase video games in teaching materials. schools.

Need to change the way you look at games

Not all but at least some educators think that this approach will help children become more interested in school. In addition, the game is also a way for the children to cope with the difficult problems in real life.

Of course, no one mentioned the violent games like Doom or Mortal Kombat because of fear of making hooligans in school.

There have been many educators who, for example, are Indiana University's associate professor of training, Sasha Barab is building play-based games.

Suppose in Barab's game, players who play an investor must find out why the fish in the virtual parks are dying. Many different hypotheses are put in place, such as over-exploitation of timber, farm-based fertilizers, and players will discuss together information about water quality as well as many other theories. If they suggest eliminating loggers, the park may be bankrupt, this is a concrete example for students to visualize the dilemmas in real life.

Another character who has the same opinion with Professor Barab on this issue is Mrs. Katie Salen. As a game writer, Salen is currently active in the New Visions for Public Schools group (New vision for public schools). This group advocates the construction of a New York City school of classes from 6 to 12, which plans to bring video games to the entire course.

Ms. Salen said: ' Many people are still afraid of their addicting situation. Public awareness is negative and we understand it is necessary to change that. We are looking at the effects of the game and finding ways to create new perspectives. This is a completely unknown field . '

The world is not a game

A scene in Quest Atlantis game.Source Reuters .

The MacArthur Foundation is investing about $ 50 million in research to understand the game's ability to encourage learning. Last month, MacArthur also sponsored a seminar on this issue in Chicago.

' The kids don't just play, the game also makes them more interested in books. It's true that there are many bad games, but people tend to accuse them instead of trying to learn from useful games . ' That is the comment of Connie Yowell, education director of MacArthur fund.

Indeed, when placed on the correlation compared with books and other traditional educational facilities, there have been many questions about the practical educational value of video games.

Dr. Joshua Freedman, a neuroscientist at the University of California, Los Angeles, said that video games are always interactive, so children will have a clearer idea of ​​space. Even so, he remained cautious: 'But there is still some question about the validity of this method, the whole world cannot fully express in a game, so how can the children know all the problems faced in the real world '.

In addition, according to Freedman, games attract children to nonstop activities, playing to the point of being tired, thus increasing the threshold depending on the game.

He said: ' This is like when you give your child too much candy and wonder why they will not eat other foods .'

There are also many studies that show that video game play also increases ADD in children, and creates violent behavior. However, the cause as well as the consequences of this has not been proved yet.

Mr. Freedman cautiously said: ' I am not saying I should not add games to serve the education work, but I think we need to pay attention while implementing that method .'

Apply but be cautious

Shelby Levin, North Farmington High School 10th grade student in Farmington, Michigan, admits, he plays games primarily for entertainment.

Levin is a fan of sports games, action games. He said: ' I don't think people can learn anything from playing games .'

But Levin said that when he participated in Second Life virtual world, he learned many important skills from there. He said: ' In Second Life, I played with friends in France, Italy and Germany. We meet and hang out together in the virtual world. You will learn how to do business because then you have to compete with people to make money '.

This is also the reason for some people to recommend class hours to teach children how to build virtual worlds. Let them practice making archaeologists, engineers and many other professions, so that they can play with friends all over the Internet.

Professor Barab himself was amazed at the skills his son had learned from video games, but she only allowed her son Julian - to play the game for 6 hours a week so she wouldn't be addicted.

She said: ' My 6-year-old Julian was able to play video games and came to explore a world of rules and regulations. I will not be afraid of things that I have never known and will not fear failure. I think this is a very good point that games make. But I want you to experience life even more, especially in relationships outside these games . '

Do Duong