Edutainment

I read the article titled Does Easy Do It? Children, Games, and Learning by Seymour Papert to get a better understanding of what types of computer-based games are best for children. He highlights a common type of computer game on the market nowadays – the Edutainment type of game. However, he believes that there are many pitfalls with such games including them being uninteresting for children.

While I can see the point of designers when planning these types of games; since children enjoy playing computer games why not incorporate educational aspects such as mathematical concepts into such games so they are having fun and learning, I also agree with Courtney who suggests that this just makes games boring.  

The author believes that the best games are ones that entice children, ones that develop a higher level of thinking and learning, not ones that just teach about the nine times tables!

He highlights three strategies for improving the quality of and learning gained from computer games. The first strategy that he suggests is for parents to talk with their child/ren about the games and their learning. His second strategy is to encourage children to design their own computer games and with the amount of child-friendly software out these days, I believe that this is easier than it sounds. The third strategy that he suggests is that the designers of children’s computer games should recognise their contribution to children’s learning and should, therefore, get more in touch with children’s learning wants and needs by producing better quality games that will gain and maintain their interest. 

My initial beliefs about the Edutainment type games that I had seen used within schools (such as Rainforest maths) were that they were a fantastic way for children to learn about maths rather than just learning from a textbook. However, after reading this article, my view has changed and I now see that computer games need to be more challenging and inspiring if children are to gain any valuable learning from them at all.

Reference:

Papert, S. (1998). Does Easy Do It? Children, Games, and Learning from:http://www.papert.org/articles/Doeseasydoit.html  

Phots sourced from:

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