Game-based learning is so effective because the actual progress built into any game is the actual lessonóbe it the skill and dexterity needed to shot a precise arrow to the knee of your opponent in Skyrim, or the strategy and technique needed to maneuver an aircraft during a Federal Aviation Administration flight simulation to train new pilots. The truth is when individuals are actually engaged, for example with a game they enjoy, their minds experience the self-fulfilling gratification of coming to understand how to succeed regardless of the gameís entertainment or real life learning value. This is much more effective when you compare it to memorizing facts in cheap textbooks.

The benefits of delivering game-based learning to educate college students or train employees for a new job are huge when you consider the following stats:

• 72% of U.S. households play computer games or video games on a daily basis
• Approximately $25.1 billion was spent on video games, hardware and accessories in 2010
• 1 million+ subscribers spend approximately 23 hours a week playing World of Warcraft
• Surprisingly, 42% of all game players are women so there is (almost) equal motivation from both sexes

What do these statistics from the Entertainment Software Association tell us? That we live in a world where all ages, sexes and races are willing and motivated to learn specific skills if we engage their problem-solving skills via a well-designed game rather than the same old lecture in a classroom. For example, game-based learning is now being taught to train:

• Surgical students on proper laparoscopic techniques on virtual patients
• Pilots in training via flight simulators until they are ready to fly real aircraft
• New emergency responders to deal with callers under duress
• Fire fighters and police in simulated hazardous or dangerous, life-threatening settings

A well-designed game or simulation can train an individual and arm them with the proper techniques for their job in a safe settingói.e., pilots can be trained via flight simulators until they are prepared to take on a test pilot (or modified aircraft) and then move on to a Boeing with passengers.

Why is game-based learning so effective?

Weíve all been there, an employee training program, a college lecture, or a workplace safety meeting where we’re simply not engaged and not really paying attention to the techniques. During times like these, true and effective learning, which is acquiring the problem-solving skills and techniques necessary to respond under pressure in a variety of situations, is never effective. Games, on the other hand, simulate teach one the skills they need to use in the face of a real challenge. Games teach:

• Via interactive experiences that actively engage the learner in the learning process
• By drawing us in to the virtual environment that look and feel familiar and relevant
• By helping individuals see the connection between the learning experience and a present situation (e.g., be it by busting down walls with your Angry Birds slingshot or understanding how the skills you’re learning will translate into and improve your real-life job)
• Practical skills in a cost-effective and low-risk environment (e.g., safety training using simulated crane machinery)
• Learners to re-enact or practice a situation multiple times and exploring different actions and consequences  to truly understand how tragedy occurs (i.e., a patient death during a surgical simulation) and how to successfully overcome it next time
• Use the value of working toward a goal by challenging us to problem-solve, choose actions and face the consequences of our actions
• By allowing us to make mistakes in a risk-free setting by learning through practice and experimentation
• The practice of behaviors and problem-solving skills that translate from the game environment to real life

Compared to traditional, lecture approaches learning where students sit passively either in a classroom or training boardroom to learn the workplace procedures by memory without any real-life interaction; game-based learning lets individuals learn the facts by testing (via practice and failure) until we commit it, not only memory, but also understand the howís and whys of our success in a real-life situation.

by Brenda Ortega

Brenda Ortega works as both a substitute teacher, freelance writer and sometimes finds time to write her own blog The Educational Bar. She loves delving into the research side of writing, which mostly focuses on educational issues. She has written for a variety of material, giving tips for students on cutting university costs; to parents on saving money for your child’s education; and even hopes to help educate others with her learning enhancement-based topics.

“The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) almost seems designed to flunk an autistic person: it is a completely verbal, timed test that relies heavily on cultural and social knowledge. ” -Scientific American

Mainstream public schools supposedly offer educational instruction to everyone. However, children who think and learn in ways not accommodated for in public schools are often labeled uneducable, mentally retarded, or otherwise unfit to learn.  Several great articles chronicling the success (often outside the mainstream school system) and contributions of outside-the-box learners highlight their amazing potential.

Scientific American’s article on The Hidden Potential of Autistic Kids raises some very important points about how school systems view and evaluate autistic children. According to the article, researchers have long labeled autistic children mentally retarded. Yet, when researchers examined the data,they concluded that expectations for autistics is based on really bad data. Using test results from popular WISC tests, educators conclude that autistic children cannot learn. Perhaps they do not learn the same way other people do and non-verbal test results prove this. Instead of looking at what autistic people are not good at, schools can find where autistic students can excel and support these out-of-the-box thinkers.

Laurent Mottron, a psychiatrist at the University of Montreal, proposes that autism is not really a disease — it is just a different way of looking at the world. Let us celebrate autistic people for their differences instead of viewing them through the lens of a disease.

Jo-Ann Tracey shares her story on The Innovative Educator blog.  Her son, unable to read at age 9, was labeled uneducable by the school system, labeled ADD, medicated, and was “written off” by the system.  With  little options open to the Traceys, they began unschooling their son. Amazingly, Jo-Ann discovers her son’s love of reading (in spite of his difficulties in learning to read). As he progressed through unschooling, he learned to cook, repair and build computers,and  carpentry. When he realized he wanted to study planetary geologist, he used online tools to learn algebra, calculus, chemistry, and physics. Even though he had problems physically writing with a pencil, he obtained passing marks in a writing course and is now a college student. A young man label uneducable by the system is on his way to becoming a planetary geologist.

Too many learners are being “tossed-out” of education systems because they cannot learn in a mainstream way. Denying opportunities to learn based on strict, narrowly targeted test results is a shame. However, an even bigger disservice to these children is that they are often very bright, creative thinkers, and passionate about learning. Personalized learning environments, geared to how these learners think, make a huge difference. While schools may continue to label and limit “out of the box” thinkers, unschooling provides a personalized learning environment that nurtures confidence, passion, and a rewarding path forward for these learners.

Sal Khan, founder of the now famous online math and science video tutorial website Khan Academy, is thinking about expanding his online tools into the physical world and beyond. Although Sal already runs a small summer camp in Silicon Valley for science and technology middle and high schoolers, he is thinking about possibly creating a project-based bricks and mortar school. What a physical Khan Academy might look like and how it would differ from current public, private, and charter schools is not yet clear, but Khan Academy is definitely looking to expand its offerings.

The Khan Academy website is more than just videos.  It is a learning platform, complete with student progress monitoring tools. Khan Academy has plans to open up its platform to teachers and schools so that the platform itself becomes the product instead of just the Khan Academy video content.  The idea is to allow teachers and schools to upload their own video content and use the platform’s tools. In exchange, the uploaded content enters into the noncommercial public domain.

Whether a bricks and mortar school and crowd sourced content are the keys to successful Khan Academy expansion is not clear. However, Sal Khan has captured the imaginations of many teachers and deep-pocketed investors. Hopefully, Sal Khan can resist the temptation to model the future Khan Academy after the existing public education model. With so much funding and attention, he has a real opportunity to show us something new, refreshing, and different.

Photo courtesy of Adikos - Creative Commons Licensed

Alternative Education

Some children take to school like a duck to water. From kindergarten upwards, they just seem to fit in: they work hard, please their teachers and play well with their peers. Other children may start off enjoying school, but as the years progress, find they clash with aspects of formal education, perhaps beginning to find it difficult to keep up with their work or experiencing bullying. Others find school difficult right from the beginning. They might have a physical disability of special educational need which makes it hard for them to fully participate in school life, or they may simply not work well in structured environments. Many people will remember either being one of these children themselves, or who they were when they were at school.

Additional needs

Children with difficulties at school can be helped in a number of different ways through homeschooling and other forms of alternative education. Keeping children who have serious problems with school attending day after day can cause them to turn off completely, leading to lifelong disadvantage and loss of opportunities. Mainstream school systems, by their very nature, tend towards the ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach. This is inevitable to some extent: in a class with, say, thirty children it can be very difficult for the teacher to give struggling children the attention they need. Some children may also have problems that the teacher feels (understandably) unable to deal with, such as psychological problems. In order to work smoothly on a day-to-day basis, schools demand a certain degree of conformity. That can mean that children who are not able to fit in at school are left behind. It is important that those children are given the help they need to have a fulfilling education, and a fulfilling life. It is important to remember that just as no two adults are the same, neither are any two children.

Homeschooling

So, what are the alternatives? Homeschooling is the most obvious one, either on a permanent basis or for a short period of time. Homeschooling can meet the needs of children on a truly individual basis. Children who felt ignored or who were unable to access the school curriculum fully are often able to thrive at home, where their own learning styles and interests can be taken into account. They also may feel much safer at home: many children are bullied for being ‘different’ in some way, and often find school a frightening place where they are unable to learn.

Homeschooling can be a wonderful way to help children gain or re-discover their love of learning, especially with the many home education groups and resources that exist today. However, it is not an option for everyone. Working parents are not always able to give up work in order to homeschool their children. Some children have particular needs that parents feel unable to meet themselves. And some children’s problems at school may originate in the home, and so for them, homeschooling would cause more problems than it solves. What are the other options for these children?

Alternatives

For the first two groups, alternative types of schooling may be available. Alternative schools run by local communities or groups of parents exist in many countries. Sometimes they even receive a degree of state funding, although others may charge fees and/or operate on a charitable basis. These schools often have their roots in the ‘free schools’ movement of the 1970s. They tend to concentrate on child-centered, learner-directed education, with small class sizes and a ‘family’ atmosphere. In many ways, they educate similarly to most homeschooling parents. Children with special needs can often thrive in these kinds of schools, provided they also receive whatever specialist help they need. They may also find private specialist schools to suit them, together with charity or sometimes state funding to cover their fees.

The last group of children, those with un-supportive parents, are harder to help. School systems are often simply not able to do so, although there are some examples of good practice. In the UK, there is a system of pupil referral units that teach disruptive children in small, informal settings. However, they work with the aim of returning children to the mainstream, and are not available to children who just don’t ‘fit in’ but are not disruptive. It would be wonderful to see school systems becoming more flexible, and therefore able to help those children whose parents won’t. If education is to be compulsory, it should always be suitable.

—-

Izzy Woods is a freelance writer specialising in travel and personal finance, but has previously engaged in teaching English as a foreign language to help fund travel and enrich her understanding of education both at home and abroad. These days she writes on behalf of numerous clients including a high interest current accounts service in the UK.

Elaine Hirsch is kind of a jack-of-all-interests, from education and history to medicine and videogames. This makes it difficult to choose just one life path, so she is currently working as a writer for various education-related sites and writing about all these things instead.

Kids are like sponges. When they’re young, kids will soak up anything that seems interesting. In this vein, catching their interest on financial literacy provides one of the best opportunities to teach a generation about how to manage money. In the old days, giving children piggy banks was thought to be the best way to teach them how to save. Everything else would just fall into place with enough money saved up. However, today’s children will be facing a world of complicated finance well before they reach 18 years of age. Young people don’t need master’s degrees in economics, but the piggy bank model doesn’t work anymore for basic financial literacy.

Many a critic and some parents will argue otherwise, emphasizing kids shouldn’t be worrying about money issues at young ages. However, by the time they reach high school, students will have already spent years with the thought that someone else will pay for everything, so they don’t have to think about it. One out of two teenagers in high school didn’t have basic financial literacy as of 2006. Sooner or later, as adults these students will suddenly get a bucket of water to the face when they confront the need to find jobs and be responsible. How’s that for being fair and concerned about children’s welfare?

Some schools and education programs take the wiser approach and incorporate a basic understanding of money at the grade school level. Even Sesame Street is in on the act. This kind of financial education doesn’t get too technical with stocks, investing, or complicated mortgage calculations. Instead, the curriculum focuses on budgeting, spending, and how to get things done with limited financial resources.

Once these early building blocks are in place, later programs can focus on more detailed issues, teaching students not only the value of earning money but how to become entrepreneurial. Class examples can build on previous lessons by using a budget, income, and costs, and placing students in a mock business setting. The goal then is to make enough profit to meet a target or price, similar to the TV show The Apprentice. Those who win prove their business acumen. The rest learn a valuable lesson on how hard it is to make money as a business.

Finally, by mid- to late high school, students can learn the practices associated with personal banking, including managing a checking account, a savings account, and investing. Ideally, this stage should also bring in detailed lessons on cash flow and how to manage bills, or even family costs. It should also cover debt and how damaging loans and credit cards can be to personal cash flow on a limited paycheck month-to-month.

Unfortunately, such programs are in the minority in today’s schools still. Only a few states mandate financial education in high school. It’s still quite common for many students to make it to college or adulthood without ever having any training in managing their money with living expenses and debt obligations.

It’s no wonder so many credit card companies pitch aggressively to college students without any income. It’s like handing out a free pass to the spending store in their eyes, and they figure someone else will manage the bill payment later. That’s the perfect scenario for increasing debt and wildly profitable interest charges, which also happens to be the sure way into deeper national economic woe.

Author: Elaine Hirsch

Harry Potter fans may remember  the 5th Harry Potter Book (The Order of the Pheonix) when a government appointed teacher (Professor Umbridge) at Hogwarts School changes the learning process in her classroom so that kids only learn theory and not practice. Disappointed  students preferred to practice what they’ve learned and found the in-class reading and theoretical lectures boring and irrelevant. Although Harry Potter is a work of fiction, this situation is all too familiar in science and technology classrooms across the U.S. In a recent NPR Science Friday edition, learning experts talk about informal science learning to engage youth more organically with STEM (science, technology, engineering and math).

Because U.S. President Barack Obama recently noted that he wants American children to become makers and not simply consumers, lots of people are talking about how to make this actually happen.  Yes, it would be easier if teachers could just change an approach to a topic, bolt something on to the curriculum, or provide extra time for hands-on exploration.  But is this really transformational thinking? Will incremental changes really help improve the “success” and outcomes we seek? Why not take notes from informal learning experts, Unschoolers, who already appreciate learning outside the box?

According to one of the informal learning experts interviewed on this Science Friday, the U.S. ranks 27th in the world in graduating students with science, engineering and math degrees. Nationally, only 40% of all science majors graduate with STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) degrees. Underrepresented groups such as Blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans fare even worse, with only a 20% graduation rate in STEM fields. According to the experts interviewed in the NPR Science Friday show, learning experiences in out-of-school settings are especially effective for underrepresented groups. Among young women, out-of-school learning is effective because individuals from underrepresented groups feel safer being smart among others like them.

Hands-on learning is exceedingly powerful. Time to tinker, build things, take things apart, and explore science and technology one one’s own terms makes learning fun. Unschoolers learned this decades ago. Unschoolers have always valued providing a safe space for exploration, lots of resources, tools, mentorship, and support. Unschoolers don’t control and manage learning, they embrace it. Learning happens when a child’s spirit soars while building, exploring, investigating, and inventing. Unschooling parents definitely mentor, support, and facilitate learning, but Unschooling parents also connect learners with subject matter experts through camps, co-ops, museums, lectures, and the like.

As noted in the Science Friday show, it seems that higher education STEM courses’ primary motive is to  ”weed out those who don’t belong” instead of doing whatever it takes to encourage young future scientist or engineers. With this kind of thinking, no wonder we currently have such a small, homogeneous group of graduating STEM professionals. Unschoolers take the opposite approach by seeking lots of informal learning opportunities that feed the learner’s spirit. When the spirit is fed, the drive to continue learning grows naturally without force, bribery, coercion, or punishment.

Yes, it is tough to make learning fun in a classroom where safety and crowd control are part of the equation. So, why not rethink how youth move through and connect with learning by rethinking how home and school life come together? Why not Rethink the classroom completely? Remove desks, teachers, tests, and grades. Assessment is in the doing and creating. Instead of teachers controlling the class, mentors and subject matter experts interact as peers with the learners. The learners become the center of the action, not teachers. Unschoolers already know this. Perhaps systems seeking radical, effective change should engage Unschoolers in discussions. It is commonly known that disruptive innovation usually comes from outside of a system. If the U.S. Education system truly wants disruptive change in the way children learn, Unschoolers around the country are already setting the pace for meaningful, deep, engaged learning.

Related Unschooling Articles

• Unschooling and the Maker Culture
• Unschooling Gaining Mainstream Media Attention
• Unschoolers Learn on Their Own Terms
• A Prestigious Small College’s Academic Philosophy Mirrors Eclectic and Unschooling Home Learning

Unschooling Resources

• No Agenda Homeschooling
• UnSchool Me 
• Christina Pilkington
• Unschooling Emporium
• Yes I Can Write

An ambitious summer camp and tech school for homeschoolers in Mountain View, California, is fast becoming a full-fledged mainstream school. At Quantum Camp, youngsters dive into advanced physics, math, and technology. The founders, of course, are physics and math experts. Ryan Nurmela taught entry-level physics as a lecturer at California State University, San Francisco and Michael has a phD in materials science from the University of Wisconsin.

Ryan and Michael use inquiry-based learning to teach calculus and quantum physics to kids as young as 13 years old. Inquiry-based learning, like project-based learning, starts with real-world problems students understand. Students then formulate equations that model their observations using mathematics they already understand. In spite of early skepticism by some, parental dissatisfaction with public education has spurred growth at the school.

Right now, Quantum Camp is only in California, but it would be amazing to see this idea spread around the world. Kudos to Quantum Camp for recognizing that our children are incredibly smart and capable given the proper learning environment.

Check out Quantum Camp

View Related articles

• Teaching Calculus to Little Kids
• The Importance of Teaching Physics, Biology, and Chemistry Early

Back in the 1990′s, Constructivist Seymour Papert (father of Lego Mindstorms), wrote and spoke about  learning as opposed to being taught.  He showed how technology provides pathways for learning where  instructors learn right along with children. As brilliant as Seymour Papert is, his ideas haven’t penetrated the teacher->student relationship in public schools.  His visionary model for learning is safely held at arm’s length as teachers dominate rooms of submissive students who stop learning and start being taught. Fast-forward from the 1990′s to present-day where tablets and other mobile devices are the defacto standard technology demanded by children.  Instead of mobile devices being welcomed with open arms in classrooms across the country, teachers ban devices and punish students.

Now, more than ever, we need to embrace Seymour Papert’s vision for learning.  His vision for technology’s role in learning has never been more relevant.  Yet ,the broken education system still has teachers using the “sage on the stage” model.  Even many home learners slog through standardized curriculum to quantify and qualify what is important information.

Everything in the world is important.  Let children use their natural curiosity to decide where to start and what to learn.  They’ll read because they want to read, research because they’re curious, and calculate because they have a burning desire to build their dreams.  Let’s invest in kids’ natural curiosity, adopt a project-based, child-led approach to learning, and empower kids’s dreams with a helping hand and sound advice.  The alternative is to continue providing a one-size-fits-all, teacher-knows-all, last century approach best left to history books.  Thanks to The Daily Papert for sharing the following Seymour Papert video:

Papert on Teacher Training & Learning from ihor charischak on Vimeo.

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Photo by Phil Roeder, Creative Commons Licensed

 Written by guest blogger Natalie Hunter, who is a blogger for onlineschools.org.

Most public schools, especially high schools, function by a bureaucratic model designed in the early 20th century. Developed when the industrial age was at its peak, many educators refer to this as the “factory model”. College was not necessary for most workers to be able to earn a good living, so only the privileged few attended college. The factory model of education provided college-preparatory coursework for those few, and provided training in vocational skills for the many others. It mirrored the general working environment of its time, in which the managers and supervisors were well-educated and the rank-and-file workers did what they were told to do by the managers. In schools, teachers simply told students the information they needed to learn in the form of lectures and strictly structured individual assignments. Students were expected to regurgitate the information in examinations. If they didn’t, they were shunted into vocational training.

In the information age, many educators now believe that the factory model is inadequate to prepare students for the workplace. It is no longer possible to easily earn a good living with only high-school level education; for most jobs at least two post-secondary years are required. Workplaces have changed as well; there is much more emphasis on collaboration and teamwork, and far less top-down management. Workers are responsible not only for bringing problems to the attention of managers, but for helping to solve those problems.

In response to the changing times, many new educational theories and methods have been developed. Unschooling, attending school online, and the concept of Personal Learning Networks are all solutions that have arisen in opposition to the sorely outdated factory model. One of the most prevalent solutions is known as PBL, for Problem-Based Learning (or alternatively Project-Based Learning). PBL was first developed in medical schools as a method of immersing future doctors in the thought processes they would need to use later, at an early phase of their training. Students were presented with actual patient situations and expected to find solutions by researching the observed problems and coming up with answers on their own. Often they worked in groups instead of individually, and everyone in the group received the same grade on the project.

Project-based learning has been implemented in many public schools around the world, particularly in science classes, though it has also been used in other subjects such as history. As PBL is used in secondary schools, proponents argue that students are more engaged in the learning process because it is tailored to their interests. They further argue that its focus on group work models and teaches social and teamwork skills that students will eventually need in workplaces. Critics of PBL argue that if students are allowed too much freedom to choose their projects they might miss basic principles and have difficulty meeting mandated educational standards. Also, students need to have a certain grounding in basic skills in order to be successful in PBL. For this reason PBL has been used only in a very limited way in elementary classrooms. Basic reading and math skills are difficult to acquire by the PBL method.

A typical PBL approach begins with the teacher presenting the general subject area–for example acid-base reactions in chemistry. She or he would then give examples of how such reactions are used in “real life” and encourage students to find other examples relevant to their interests. Thus a student with an interest in cooking might study the chemistry of baking soda and vinegar. One with an interest in art might investigate the chemical composition and manufacture of different types of paint. After identifying areas of interest, students are guided as they plan and carry out projects related to their interest within the general topic. The budding chef might experiment with different proportions of various ingredients and compare results; the artist might analyze paints and try to relate their composition to their appearance in a painting. At the conclusion of the project, each student or group of students makes a written and/or oral presentation of their work to the teacher and to the rest of the class, and then ideas for future projects are considered. The paint project, for example, might lead into a project on the physical properties of light and color.

One thing on which all educators agree is that all students must be encouraged to do the best work they can to be prepared for future workplaces. The goal of many educational researchers is to find the most effective ways to help them to do that

Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter, never graduated from college.  He dropped out of Northeastern University and University of Massachusetts.  Yet, University of California Berkeley’s Haas School recently named Biz to an Executive Fellowship. The Wall Street Journal recently  interviewed Mr. Stone and published excerpts.

Although Biz works with MBA students, his advice really applies to all K-12 and Higher Ed. programs. Moreover, Twitter is a microblogging platform where computer programming and business skills are certainly necessary.  Yet, Biz credits entrepreneurial success to “softer” skills.  The keys to his success lie not within memorized facts, formulas, and dates. Like Steve Jobs, Biz Stone credits the arts as the linchpin to successful entrepreneurial ventures.

Here are a few quotes from the interview:

“When I studied graphic design, I learned a valuable lesson: There’s no perfect answer to the puzzle, and creativity is a renewable resource.  Also being playful, less structured, less hierarchical. Aspects of that playful approach I’ve taken can be added on to classes.”

“You can show people how to unlock their creativity and their empathy. These are things that are present, but not everyone knows how to access them readily.  Approach it as an artist first, entrepreneur second.”

“You extend trust first if you want trust back. . . . tell everyone in the company, let them all in on the truth. The only way to deal is by being honest and open and truthful.”

Read the entire Wall Street Journal interview