The original version of WolfQuest completely slipped under my radar upon release two years ago. I was probably too occupied with either saving for, or playing, my shiny new PS3. Wolfquest isn’t really like most games however, it’s been developed in partnership with the Minnesota Zoo and eduweb. The game aims to “teach wold behaviour and ecology through its exciting gameplay and social interactions.”
This title is among the first to seriously use the videogame medium as a learning tool, and raises the debate of educational gaming all over again. In fact just thinking about the possibilities throws up so many genres that could be used as learning aids.
The first question that is raised is “can a videogame, designed to inform as well as entertain, really help kids?” Well it looks like they can; according to the WolfQuest website: “In 2009, a comprehensive summative evaluation run by the Institute for Learning Innovation showed that player interest in, connection to, and knowledge about wolves increased significantly after playing WolfQuest. Throughout the evaluation, WolfQuest was shown to be highly effective in achieving its goals and providing a rich and rewarding learning experience for the players.”
I remember speaking with my high school history teacher about a game called Rome: Total War, and how he would love it since all he went on about was great battles throughout time. Eventually he saw the game in action on a Youtube video and has since used his laptop, connected to the class projector, to get students to discuss how they would approach battle and best use the soldiers at their disposal. He said that in conjunction with the sometimes dull textbooks, he could breathe new life into a lesson.
The same thing has happened in Priestsic primary school in north Nottinghamshire, where teacher Tom Barrett has used games to brighten up a subject I absolutely hated in school, maths. My hate of maths is quite deep rooted, unless it’s working out how many hit points I can get in total for a character in Final Fantasy 7, then I’m not interested. However Barrett, has managed to get Wii Golf into the class to teach his students about subtraction.
I’m pretty certain that a round of Wii Golf would have piqued my interest as a primary school child quite quickly. He has also used Big Brain Academy to help his students with matching 3d and 2d shapes. It seems that the possibilities for improving participation and engagement in class lessons is dramatically improved when games are involved.
A study as far back as 2007 found that children in a school in Dundee playing “More Brain Training” for at least 10 minutes a day had a “dramatic” improvement in concentration. According to the study there were three groups who were given a maths test at the start and end of the project, of the three groups, it was the Nintendo DS playing group with the best improvement in scores. While all the groups saw some improvement, the DS group had an average improvement of around 10 points, with their average jumping from 76/100 to 86/100.
One day we’ll see our own children in class using the likes of Project Natal to interact with historical figures for their history project, going into their bags and bringing out their Nintendo handhelds to start a maths lesson, and playing through Metal Gear Solid to learn about storytelling for English. Ok, maybe not the last one, but the rest could change the way our kids engage with their education, and for the better too.
swallow
Civilization taught me more about history and places than any other medium when I was a kid. Alpha Centauri taught me that Leonard Nimoy would do anything for money, as well as leading me to believe that cold fusion is not only possible, but inevitable.
February 8th, 2010 at 10:24 am
Nick Simberg
Kessen taught me Japanese history, which was cool. And Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree not only makes me use brain muscles I haven’t used since school – years ago – but also forces me to focus and sharpen my reflexes a little bit.
Lots of “games” are used for training already, the one that comes to mind first is Microsoft Flight Simulator. My friend’s dad was a pilot and that was how he practiced when he came home after work to keep his flying skills honed.
February 9th, 2010 at 9:25 am
The Weekly Recap: Valentines Day Massacre | Gamer Limit
[...] week, Grahame is asking us who said games couldn’t be educational. My guess would be old people who are scared of new-fangled technolergies like phones that [...]
February 17th, 2010 at 7:39 am