Reading: Students now play more games longer than ever before-averaging more than 13 hours a week. This is a huge educational opportunity-after all, games are one of the most powerful and natural ways of learning for children.
Many students have a sense of fear in their homework, and if they ask their parents, many parents may have a problem with homework. A recent study by Stanford University suggests that spending too much time doing homework can lead to anxiety, physical health problems and even antisocial behavior. The effects of homework stress on teachers, students and parents seem to be at a glance.
Unfortunately, there is no data to prove that homework is useful for learning or achievement, and that cognitive improvement cannot be measured in traditional ways. But now everyone should think not only the amount of homework, but also should imagine its form.
The students are playing games longer than ever before--averaging more than 13 hours a week. This is a huge educational opportunity-after all, games are one of the most powerful and natural ways of learning for children. Some game designers even think that games can create a better world. Educators and parents can and should let the game into the learning process, let the game become part of the assignment.
There are a lot of learning games, divided by subject:
Early literacy: Montessorium, Endless Reader
Math: Todo Math, mathbreakers, Motion math, Dragon Box
Code: Codemonkey,tynker,lightbot
Science: The Sandbox EDU, simcityedu, econauts
Introduction to finance: Thrive N Shine, collegeology
Creativity: Tinytap, Pixel Press, toontastic
A game designed with education as a goal is a great medium for children to concentrate on learning. Why do you say that? because they are learning systems designed based on clear goals, including rules for game clearance, face development, and feedback mechanisms that can support students to learn a broader range of knowledge. When developers and designers connect educational goals into the game, the game can provide a compelling personalized experience in individual learning. Glasslab's simcityedu, for example, lets players know how to solve a problem by observing how their decisions affect the city.
We have different ways of learning, and games have special effects on students who are not adapted to the traditional learning environment. According to data, about 80% of the teachers surveyed think that games can help students with low performance improve their skills in mastering subjects such as mathematics, language art and science. The game can provide personalized content for the majority of students, as well as the freedom to do experiments with confidence-because you do not have to worry about making mistakes.
For basic mathematical concepts such as addition and subtraction, the locomotive lab's TODO math offers different students a variety of exercises that won't punish them for their mistakes. Mindblown's Thrive N also gives high school students the freedom to practise financial decision-making in a risk-free environment, after which they can discuss their experiences with small partners in class.
With a wide range of schools integrating digital games into their curricula, the value of the game to learning is increasingly being accepted by educators. Some studies have shown that about 74% of teachers use some form of digital games when adding content and introducing new content. Games can also combine many concepts to make it easier for students to accept many points of knowledge at the same time. Games can also help students build the physical world and the digital World, and Pixel Press enables children to create their own games with paper and pens, and they can take pictures of the paintings and convert them into digital experiences. So you can play with your friends.
As we know today, games are certainly more interesting than homework. Most traditional jobs are "dispensable" because each student usually has the same homework. This kind of homework is easy to search for answers through friends or parents online, even with a special topic application. This work tends to widen the gap between children who enjoy parental support and other resources, and those who rely on their own students alone. And the game does not exist such a problem, because the job is personalized, based on the point of interest and knowledge of the degree of mastery to adapt to demand. There are still gaps in the conditions for students to access mobile devices, but the rate of ownership of smartphones and tablets is increasing.
A lot of parents are struggling with their kids in front of the screen, but the question we should really ask is: is the game worth playing? Perhaps we should concentrate on finding the highest quality learning games, so that the time spent on mobile devices will promote the cognitive and social development of children.