Educational games and puzzles are
being used to overcome one of the biggest drawbacks of teaching; how to
quickly grab the attention of the class at the start of the lesson.
Boys tend to take much longer to settle down and some children are
notoriously late. Ten minutes of the class can be lost before teaching
really gets going. But now there are options.
A daily dose of maths games can boost maths attainment according to a study carried out in Scottish schools.
Learning and Teaching Scotland (LTS) – the main organisation for the
development of the curriculum – analysed the effect of a "brain
training" game. It also found improvements in pupils’ concentration and
behaviour.
Less able children were found to be more likely to improve than the
highest attainers and almost all pupils had an increased perception of
their own ability.
LTS worked with Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education and the
University of Dundee to see if the pilot results were replicated on a
wider scale. Researchers found that while all groups had improved their
scores, the group using the maths game had improved by a further 50%.
The time taken to complete the tests dropped by five minutes, from 18.5
minutes to 13.5 minutes. The improvement in the games group was double
that of the control group.
The study found reduced absence and lateness in some classes. Derek
Robertson, LTS’s national adviser for emerging technologies and
learning, said the results offered the first independent, academic
evidence that this type of computer game could improve attainment when
used in an educational context.
He said: "Computer games help flatten out the hierarchy that exists
in schools – they are in the domain of the learner as opposed to the
domain of the school. "
"This intervention encouraged all children to engage and get success
in a different contextual framework; one in which they don’t know their
place."
The educational games used in the trial were one of the growing
numbers of computer games developed with education at the core. Modern
technology; harnessed to present a platform that is interesting,
appealing to the young mind, sets the challenge. A form of learning in
disguise acceptable to a wide range of ability, age and both girls and
boys is paying dividends in accelerating learning.
The games can be played in class and at home. They are having a
marked effect in settling the class at the start of the lesson, and the
number of late arrivals has noticeable reduced.
Technology in the form of a chemistry game or physics games generates the practice activity essential to learning retention.
Compared to conventional text and exercise book activity that can be
one dimensional, computer games have the major advantage of capturing
peer support. Children also learn from other children. How else do they
pick up the detailed operation of a mobile phone? Certainly not from
their parents or the school national curriculum. So the next time see a
child buried in a computer game on a PC, laptop or Nintendo take
comfort this is a great way to help them learn.
Settling the class down can be eased with lesson starters; computer
games that set a quiz based on the subject, or a combination of
questions and clues to open the next level of the game. Some games even
let the player design the next portion of the game.
The help of parents, fundamental in supporting the teacher to
enhance the schooling of their children, can take the form of
educational games as the easiest entry points. Playing the same game
or puzzle at home as in school is the most effective way to help. You
do not to need to be proficient in the subject background and you never
know how much you will enjoy the challenge. The reward can be enjoyed
by the child, teacher and you.
Alistair Owens keen2learn
