Thinking about it now, I probably learned more from video games than school teachers when I was a kid.<\/p>\n
Well, the relevant stuff anyway – in fact, I remember learning the wonderful new word “glean” from Space Quest III when I was about 9 or 10, a discovery which may well have been responsible for my entire career, and I learned all my obscure capital cities playing ‘Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego’.<\/p>\n
I don’t know anything else, but I’m sure I don’t need to – words and obscure capital cities got me everywhere already, so it’s not like I need to count past five.<\/p>\n
And that’s an idea Intel is getting behind, apparently.<\/p>\n
“Today’s learners are the gamer generation. They have grown up with technology and social networking. That’s why it’s only natural that today’s more tech-savvy educators are recognising the potential of using games as a teaching device in their classrooms,” Intel marketing manager Ntombezinhle Modiselle told iAfrica<\/a>.<\/p>\n The article goes on to talk about a school in Vryheid, KZN, where Kinect-powered learning is helping children get “more involved with each other and their lessons through creative gaming exercises”.<\/p>\n And presumably not accidentally punching one another in the face.<\/p>\n “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not for a moment suggesting we should stop reading to our children. But my point is this: technology offers parents and teachers a new way to enrich our children’s skill sets and help prepare them for a global economy,” said Modiselle.<\/p>\n “I don’t want technology to take over the classroom. But there is no doubt that it can provide our teachers with a useful tool to be used to enhance learning and benefit the students who need it most. And if everyone has a little fun along the way, that’s fine too!” Modiselle concluded.<\/p>\n