Screen shot of Nintendo's Super Mario BrothersMy friend Joe recently posted this comment on Facebook concerning learning and suffering:
” Pathein estin mathein, mathein estin pathein.”
To learn is to suffer; to suffer is to learn.
-Aeschylus, Agamemnon (paraphrased)
Does learning have to be painful, or can it be made more pleasurable?
This brings up an old debate about calculators or computers being used for math education. When is the computer useful for learning or when is the computer doing the work for the student? Personally, I think calculators are great for math that requires tables (logs) or excessive amounts of algebra, i.e. complex differential equations. Unfortunately, basic math like multiplication tables require memorization to grasp the knowledge. Significant amounts of work is involved. Repetition is what allows students to recall values in the future. Making the repetitious process less tedious would result in students being more willing to memorize.
Taking this into consideration, I think computers could be used for basic mathematics education in an interactive manner. The program would require students to follow a programmed series of scenarios with the student controlling the action in a video game. The student could have a customized character going through a mathematical world. Think Indiana Jones running through a jungle maze. Each step of the way through the game, a student makes one of two inputs answering questions:
1) answers with exact numbers
2) multiple choice numbers.
The method in which a student answers the question depends on the
question being asked. The game based on multiplication tables would present a question on screen:
5 × 5 = ?
If the student types in the correct answer of 25, the character proceeds in the game. The next question is presented and the cycle is repeated. Wrong answers would have the same question repeated up to three times after which a new question is posed. The character remains in place until a correct answer is given. In a more advanced level, the multiple choice option would be utilized with equations. The jungle landscape would then fit the equation’s plotted shape. The final touch would be to have students compete with each other within a multiplayer game. Keep students interested by getting the competitive juices flowing.
Have you ever heard of "Jumpstart"? Its a children's educational software program that integrates fun with learning. check out jumpstart,com. The problem is (i believe) getting companies to do this for the older crowd. If they do not believe something educational and fun will sell more than something fun and violent, then its probably not going to happen. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
ReplyDeleteberdie
There's a recent indie game that is intended to indirectly teach some basic addition and subtraction. You play a fox riding on a flying book, with a spinning "+" shield in front of you. Inside the strange cave ruins, various fish monsters fly around in different ways, each with a number on them. All "1" fish move in one way, all "2" fish move and look another way, and so on.
ReplyDeleteYour shield can absorb up to a value of "10" fish. You can fire a bolt with the current shield value at the enemies, although it briefly lowers your shield and resets its value to 0. Aim carefully, as a bolt can destroy up to its value in fish. The game gives bonuses if you hit enemies that exactly sum up to the power of the bolt. If the bolt should make it off the screen without being destroyed, it comes back as a negative-valued enemy that attacks you! You must use your shield or enemies to destroy the bolt-enemy.
Anyway, it's fun, surprisingly challenging, and its freeware. The discussion thread about Jirosum can be found at "http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=7712.0".