Beyond Textbooks #2: Computer Games as Textbooks?

A field headquarters in the War on Schooliness.

Beyond Textbooks #2: Computer Games as Textbooks?

From Epistemic Games, a review of David Shaffer’s book, How Computer Games Help Children Learn:

‘Like Dewey, Piaget, and Papert before him, Shaffer challenges us to rethink learning in a new age. He uses vivid examples - backed by solid research - to show what education should look like in the 21st century.‘ [emphasis added]

It only makes sense, if you think about it. A good educational computer game* would incorporate the unit’s declarative knowledge (facts) and processes (teamwork, critical thinking, problem-solving, whatever) into the computer game, and the students will incidentally pick those things up while . . . playing. And if the game is good enough (or the grading

incentives high enough), computer games offer this advantage over traditional classroom games and simulations: students can play the games at home obsessively (which they already do, instead of homework, with commercial games) to raise their scores and reach higher mastery levels.

Here’s the link to Epistemic Games’ write-up. Well worth a read. It makes me want to open a mental unit-planning file for how to incorporate computer-gaming elements.

And to suggest this idea: any school that wants to position itself as a high-tech, 21st century school should create a professional learning community focused on staying abreast of the latest breakthroughs in educational technology and research, and periodically reporting its findings and recommendations for short- and long-term technology initiatives and visions for the school.

Because technology and computers no longer mean Powerpoint and Word, or even web design. On the first day of 2007, it bears stating that we now live with a “Brave New Web”–at least, outside of traditional schools.

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*Note: “Good educational computer games” are being designed by forward-thinking educational researchers at MIT, UWisconsin Madison, and many other places. Teaching a science class about the moon or other planets? Play a game that incorporates NASA imagery from Mars Rover and other space-travelers, and literally (in a virtual sense, anyway) “go to Mars” and explore in a game environment. One among many examples I’m reading about.

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