What is the purpose of K-12 education these days, anyway? Social Studies teacher Dave McDivitt cuts right to the chase in a cogent post on his blog this week. He writes:
1. Education needs to leave the “factory†model behind. The system was set up and work well for our country 65 years ago but today we need something different.
2. Students use very little of the information that they learn in school. Who really knows that the 100 years war was 116 years? And who really cares. I think about my high school experience. Physics…not using it. Pre-Calc…not using it. Chemistry…not using it.
3. Students do not need to be hindered by “grade level.†We are way to caught up in some kid reading at “grade level.†And if they are at grade level…..then we basically leave them alone instead of encouraging them to excel.
4. Consider what the business world wants from employees. Employees must be able to think creatively, to communicate both verbally and in writing, must be able to organize, must be able to allocate time, allocate money, to multi task, work cooperatively and many more. Where do most kids get these kinds of experience in school?
I’ve heard this argument and the conclusion McDivitt comes to before and I keep arriving at a similar answer. Not that games, simulations and computers are the only solution for all subjects and all students, but applied intelligently and in the right teacher’s hands they can be a powerful learning tool. For more, Bill MacKenty digs into this meme with Discernment and EdTech on his blog as well.
While I’m at it, one thing software product developers may want to keep in mind is that many techniques games employ can be applied to the information architecture and user experience design on all kinds of applications — an approach I think of as gamer-centered design — all the better to engage users and meet them on their own terms. Isn’t that what great product design is all about?
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