The Power of Video Games

I was reading an article the other day about video games and how educators can learn a thing or two from video games when it comes to teaching. Here's an excerpt from the article "Games Help Kids Turn Failure into Learning":

One of the reasons video games are so compelling is that you fail a bunch of times before you "win." Without the struggle there's little satisfaction. You try, find out right away that you failed, adjust and repeat the process likely several more times. And when you finally figure it out, it feels pretty good. That’s because the brain’s reward center provides a satisfying dopamine hit to help validate the effort. We could call this failure-adjustment loop “learning,” and fundamentally it's nothing new. Thoughtful (and not so thoughtful) trial-and-error is a tried and true mechanism for learning across the animal kingdom and always has been. Well-designed video games, though, provide a vehicle for really focusing and scaling learning through failure in lots of disciplines.

As we are in development of creating games, albeit Math-related games, for Abacus Prodigy, we have to tread very carefully between having the child learn through wanting to challenge the game's difficulty level and wanting to get better scores to simply having fun. We all know how addictive gaming can be but I feel that gaming in the right environment can help trigger children to push themselves harder to do better without even realizing it. What are your thoughts on allowing children to play video games in the name of education?

Innovation starts at a young age!

Design studio aruliden, together with Bernhardt Design, conceived Tools at Schools as an initiative to teach eighth graders the value of design as a problem-solving tool at The School at Columbia University. Forty-four eighth grade students were immersed in the entire design process, from research to ideation to 3D modeling and ultimately launch. What started as a simple effort to get involved in the community grew into a much larger realization that design has a role in the classroom. Their success was not only in their concepts, but in the awareness each student gained in the process. The result was a collaborative vision of today’s classroom – designed for kids by kids. Wouldn't you love to see programs like this at your local schools?


Tools at Schools : Introduction to Project from Tools at Schools on Vimeo.

Tools at Schools : Research and Big Ideas from Tools at Schools on Vimeo.

Tools at Schools: Final Design and Mockup from Tools at Schools on Vimeo.

Tools at Schools: 3-D from Tools at Schools on Vimeo.

Tools at Schools : Modeling from Tools at Schools on Vimeo.

Tools at Schools: Final Project Launch at ICFF from Tools at Schools on Vimeo.

Algebra on the IPad

Students in Riverside, CA are learning algebra on iPads and the school is saying their grades are improving.  Check out the video clip.