Samantha Levine
11/13/09
Current Event Eleven
How cool would it be if we went to school and played video games such as Nintendo, all day? I think it would be pretty amazing, but as we all know here in America that would be totally unrealistic. Better yet, how cool would it be if math was fun and there was an easy way to learn it? Our parents and teachers say it is educational and okay to play video games such as Leap Frog, however, in Ireland, educators have a different idea in mind about video games. On Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 in The Irish Times, based in London, UK, Louise Holden wrote the article How Nintendo can boost your child’s performance in maths. This article is about exactly what it says. Nintendo, the VIDEO GAME can help students in math class.
In Tallaght and Clonlisk, educators are thinking like the enemy and using the children’s games that they enjoy so much as using it as a tool to promote learning. Studies have been conducted and are still in process to present that these video games can help better a student’s math skills. Educators find Nintendo DS as the perfect way to do this, because kids love to play this little video game and it is cheap. Robbie O’Leary is the principal of Sacred Heart Senior National School in Tallaght. He has been using the DS in classes ranging from forth to six with mathematics. In response, O’Leary states: “You really have to see the difference to believe it. In my 30 years of teaching, I have never witnessed the level of concentration and application I have seen when the children are using the consoles.” As Gary Driver, a educator states “It’s not that a few minutes on the DS every day will radically improve test scores by itself, but it’s proving to be a very important component of math’s teaching here at Killinarden.”
Just by these two educators and the results of the finished studies, I would have to say if I was taught math with video games, I would have gotten A’s in all my classes, instead I struggled to pass, my teachers used to think my class and I were unfit, unfocused and easily board. As a result, like many people I know, math is not a subject that I would prefer over another such as English.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/education/2009/1110/1224258471192.html
1 comment:
The biggest concern with teacher children math through video games is that the game will not always be there. A child should not always have to rely on video games to keep up with their math skills. On the other hand it is a great idea because if studies can prove that it can keep children up in their math skills, that's great. Many of us did grow up with computer games that improved our math skills, my biggest problem with this would be that the children would be focused on video games and use it as an excuse for homework rather than focusing on other important studies
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