Computer games in schools
By Murray Bourne, 10 Sep 2006
An interesting study by FutureLab (the article has disappeared, unfortunately) of 2,300 British students aged 11 to 16 showed that
...three in five 11-16 year-olds would like to use computer games to learn in school.
It is significant that 2 in 5 don't want to use games in schools. One reason given for this was:
[Of] those who did not want to use games at school, 38% would rather play them at home - implying that they see education and computer games as separate activities.
Or could it be because the games they play at home are challenging, of high quality and perceived to be "worth it", while those played at school are little more than tarted up multiple choice quizzes?
Age is also an interesting factor:
Younger students were also most likely to want to use computer games in school: 66% of 11 year-olds compared to 49% of 15-16 year-olds.
We need to do similar studies here in Singapore, where it seems computer games are king - both in and out of school...
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