[Edu-sig] re: Education Arcade

[Kirby Urner]

I always thought SimCity was a fairly good intro to 

(a) simulations in general and 
(b) city planning in particular

There's lots of infrastructure to think about, traffic problems, land
values, taxes...  I can't think of a better way to have these concepts sink
in.  Games in the same genre (SimAnt, SimEarth and even The Sims) likewise
lead to constructive concept development.

I think schools could have taken more advantage of it than they did.  So
kids learn something outside of school -- not the first time.

Zoombinis CDs exercise logic abilities.  Not that different from sitting
down to do some Martin Gardner puzzles.  Anything wrong with Martin Gardner
puzzles?

The Magic School Bus CDs mix some arcade-style games with lots of
information about planets, bodies, marine life, rock formations or what have
you (we have several).  I've never seen much of a downside to this kind of
exposure.

Arthur, until/unless I understand your view better, it sounds laughably
grinch-like, along the lines of: "since *I* didn't learn this easy/fun way,
why should *they* get this benefit?"

For now, my view is:  more power to MIT's Education Arcade initiative.

Kirby

> >EDUCATION ARCADE SEEKS TO MERGE LEARNING, GAMING
> >The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has launched the Education
> >Arcade initiative, aimed at exploiting the educational benefits of
> >videogames.
> 
> Funded by....
> 
> I'll be the Catholic church here, thank you.  An avowed enemy of this kind
> of progress. Avowed.
> 
> 
> Art