Video Games Don't Have To Be Educational To Spark Learning

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Video games — even the non-educational kind — can help kids get interested in learning. Just ask our video gaming columnist, who once aced a pop quiz on the Caribbean thanks to her 'Assasin's Creed' habit.

series, I definitely wasn't looking to learn things. But with 11 maingames all set during different times and places in history — like ancient Egypt, Greece, and America during the Revolutionary War — I was bound to learn something, even if just by accident. And I definitely did.

One day, my history teacher passed out blank maps of the Caribbean. Surprise: It was a quiz I had forgotten about. We had to label countries and major cities. Luckily, I'd been playing a lot of, set in the Caribbean during the golden age of piracy in the early 18th century. So I was able to draw on my life as a pirate to fill in the map, and I got an A.

I think that if you're able to get your head around it, video games — even the non-educational kind — can help kids get interested in learning something. It worked for me — when I was seven, I learned to multiply quickly through a purely educational game calledwhich had me solving math problems to progress up a mountain and collect treasure in a neverending loop. And then, of course, there waseducational potential, with very cool results.

You can learn about the Olympic Games, and how Sparta trained its soldiers in ancient Greece, with real historical figures acting as your tour guides. Or jump over to ancient Egypt to check out mummies and climb on the pyramids. There are also points of interest scattered around the map if you want to do some extra reading. The tours are free with the purchase of a base game, but you can also buy them separately.

If you're looking for some other options, both Minecraft and Roblox are incredibly popular with kids of any age, and they're currently offering free educational resources. — previously available only to schools and educators — is free for everybody with a student email until at least June 30, and features over 500 pre-made

 

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The past 3 AC's have been excellent as far as exploring historical environments. Spark curiosity and it can fuel a person's desire to learn into perpetuity

Lesson from Pac Man? Eat or be eaten. It set up the 80s quite nicely. This has been my TED Talk.

cats2cats Pressure's on for game designers to get those details accurate now!

There needs to be laws against certain types of violence in video games . . . it contributes to the violent culture in our society and 'normalizes' violence among kids.

No joke, years ago the game StarCraft taught me the words 'Reave' and 'Arbiter'. I believe there were a few others, but it actually, honestly enriched my vocabulary a little.

Humans need stimulation. Sitting in a boring classroom with a monotone teacher reading a boring textbook students have no interest in is obviously counterintuitive. They'd learn more camping in a forest for a week than they would listening to the same tired lecture for a month.

Ahh yes - Karate Kid method... but more fun. Play the game (sand the floor) and then later your knowledge is brought out that you gathered / perfected in the game (low kick block)!

Or perhaps part of the problem is what is considered “educational.” This is an example of integrated learning, which is a paradigm shift American education is desperately in need of.

This is true!! I didn’t know about Sainte Chappelle in Paris until I played Assassin’s Creed: Unity. Last year I went to Paris and impressed my friend when I forced her to go there!!

Anyone who plays Age of Empires knows a ton of history

This is true. I got very interested in the Sengoku Era due to Sengoku Basara games. I kept looking things up as I played to see how it compared to real history.

No wonder USA ranks near bottom on educational achievement in the world!

As someone who loved video games while valuing education, I appreciate this. 🙂

Several major cities in our Country are burning due to civil unrest and your reporting on Video Games? Why haven't you received your Scripts? Don't tell me SecureDrop is down, how else can the Script writers safely give you the Script?

Ваши твитты очень полезны для меня

Just stop

And in mobilizing against authoritarian and totalitarian regimes such as the HKSARG and the CCP ... AssasinsCreed

Age of Empires II FTW

Looking for a good math-based video game for a rising 5th grader I’d anyone can recommend one.

Black Ops helped me get through a history powerpoint presentation in my freshman year of high school

NBC News: Where does the phrase 'When the looting starts, the shooting starts' come from?.

Wait, what? NPR has a video gaming columnist? gtoppo

Yes!

Corona virus prophecy fulfillment Is an alert to the church that The Messiah is coming and there is need to prepare for our names to be in the book of Life

DLJGameReviews

I played, Dynasty Warriors 2 & 3, which is based on the chinese Novel 'Romance of the Three Kingdoms.' I asked my parents for a copy of that book. Out of the many times of fact checking, is this a real thing, that one stuck with me.

The revolution will be televised.. (always be charging) it is your right to record & document police activity..it is your civilduty Body cams and iPhone are now the lens to see truth. whatmovesyou peacenow

Assassin's Creed is so great for introducing players to history. It's like Wishbone.

I learned a lot about the three kingdoms period of china - a period i never knew about previously - from total war: three kingdoms. Same with the napoleonic era with tw: napoleon

Sure - historical accuracy peppered amongst mass murder. Fortnight: 21C colors, butterfly wings and dance moves — while you commit mass murder. Murder. Murder. Murder. Yeah, way to teach the kids

Learn what? Humanity?

Brotherhood was a complete nerdgasm for me personally, and I started playing golf because of Tiger Woods PGA Tour.

Not productive learning for My young son who plays video games. We are constantly looking up names of countries and different types of animals to see, what’s reality. Yes, it spurs learning, but by questioning truth. Blurring this line can be damaging.

Sid Meier’s Civilization 5 is literally what got me interested in both international relations and world history. The beginning of what was a long evolution from a naive, ignorant youth to a slightly less ignorant but still pretty naive (considering I was 14 then & 23 now) youth.

I strongly disagree w/ this. Plez learn the harm & lives destroyed by gaming. More harm than good.

Similarly, I learned about the geography of the Caribbean through the old Pirates video game....

And playing Fallout 76 is going to help me pass a pop quiz on nuclear physics. 😁

I feel like this a good time to mention that there are educational versions of the last two Assassin's Creed games that are essentially virtual tours of Ancient Egypt and Greece and are fantastic and only $10

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