BBC NEWS | Technology | Games help you ‘learn and play’: “”
Pretty interesting article on using the Sims to teach language skills. The actual paper that caused the article is an interesting read – I love the idea of a SIM falling asleep because the player didn’t learn the correct language terms.
Learning through play is incredibly powerful, and kids spend hours in these gaming environments, so it would be great to see them extended in this way. Mind you, I think games like the SIMs develop a number of key skills anyhow, so I don’t agree with the (bbc article not the author’s) assertion that games have no value unless extended in this way.
The article outlines the use of Civilisation to develop a sophisticated understanding of historical events:
“…Earlier work with a colleague on using Civilisation III to teach students about history showed that it could be a powerful way to get them to realise that solving a societies problems can not always come from making a single change.
A report on the experiment said: “Students began asking historical and geographical questions in the context of game play, using geography and history as tools for their game, and drawing inferences about social phenomena based on their play…”
Lovely stuff. Of course, in my day it was all Chuckie Egg