Gamer Dad—Part 7: Edutainment
As I continue the Gamer Dad series of blogs, I am reflecting on helping my kids with their homework. Many of the assignments are just busy work with little instruction on what they need to do. So, I have to look at the worksheets and try to make sense of it and then share my knowledge of all things with my kids. Some of this homework is given just for the sake of homework. I don’t think my kids learn much from it other than to hate homework. If only there were some way to engage them in the learning process at home which would be educational and entertaining at the same time. Kids need edutainment!
I remember in the early 80s playing Oregon Trail in school on the Apple II computers. The green monochrome screen brought to life the life of pioneers crossing the plains to get to the Pacific. This was the first exposure I had to edutainment. Since that time, there have been many attempts to create games that also teach. Some have been good while others not so good. When my oldest children were younger and beginning to read, we got them Leap Pads by Leap Frog. These interactive readers allowed you to put in a book and cartridge and then use a stylus to help you read as well as play simple games. Placing the stylus on a word would cause the device to read the word to the child—thus helping them with difficult words. The down side was that the novelty soon wore off and the books were limited in number.
We have tried other educational toys and games and not really been impressed. Often the graphics and playability is nowhere near playing a game on a next gen console. Therefore, my kids didn’t really get into them and the lessons again were limited. However, recently we have found something that our kids are using to learn.
During the after Christmas sales, we picked up a couple of Leap Frog Didj. These look like large Game Boy Advances—the old ones, not the SP. They were on clearance at a warehouse store so we got them for close to 70% off! The nice things about the Didj is that you can connect them to your PC via a USB cable and customize the lessons for your child. So while they are playing Star Wars or Indiana Jones, they can be learning math or spelling. Each time up plug them in, the Didj downloads a report informing you of your child’s progress so you can see where they need more practice and when you need to increase the difficulty. The spelling is really great since I can choose the spelling words. So every Monday night after my children bring home their weekly spelling list, I customize the spelling lists for them on the Didj. Then whatever game they play that has a spelling feature will quiz them on those words they need to know for Friday’s test. I have seen a big improvement in my younger son’s spelling since he is engaged and has to learn to spell these words in order to progress through the game. The same goes for math. If they are working on their multiplication facts for 7s and 8s, I select that for his math lessons and the math games will test him on those problems.
In addition to education specific games and systems, you can even use just plain video games to help engage students in education. There are several titles that deal with history—especially World War II. While they may not be historically accurate, they can spark an interest in history that will lead kids to then watch the History Channel and then maybe even eventually pick up a book about historical events. Or if you happen to read one of my strategy guides for a game with a historical basis, you are more than likely to find some historical facts, sidebars, or even a chapter that helps bridge the gap between entertainment and education.
Do you have some edutainment ideas you use with your kids? Share them with us. I am always looking for new things to help not only my kids, but also my students. (I love those emails from parents checking to make sure that Johnny really is supposed to be playing Call of Duty for homework. Yes, but he also needs to be researching the actual battles as well.)
Until next week, keep gaming Dads!
