Ten Ton Hamster

As I research the world of kids’ online games, I stumbled upon one that I find has a very interesting and promising concept: A game that can become part of a curriculum in the classroom. What a great idea! Finally, someone thought of a way to harmonize with gamers! Instead of looking down on kids and thinking that they are losing their minds in games, IBM decided to accept this generation of gamers and create something educators can use. As the old saying goes, “If you can’t beat them, join them!”

PowerUp, IBM’s new MMOG, has a section for teachers with six lesson plans that are related to the games’ engineering. “The subject of the lesson plans are: What is engineering, the science behind diversity, solar energy, wind energy, hydropower, and an environmental research project with a localized perspective. The lesson plans have been mapped to the national state science standards and include a section on how the lesson plan connects to PowerUp.” This game is about saving a planet from ecological disaster using real engineering ideas. Does this sound hauntingly familiar?

This example led me to think: Will educators begin to collaborate with game developers to create future games modeled like this? Will the Board of Education realize the potential impact it could have if it embraced this gamer generation? Imagine if your kids homework included an hour (or more) of educational game play? There are so many interactive games for young children that involve computers (like all the leapfrog products). Why does that end when they go to school? If they love to play games, why not focus that passion into educational ones?

As an online gamer myself, I am well aware of the social aspect of playing an MMOG. I have made great friends over these past years and there is much more to it than non-gamers realize. These are people that I have never met, yet I feel a stronger kinship with them than some of the people I have met. With that thought in mind, it would stand to reason that children would/could learn a lot about working together to problem solve through gaming. How great would it be if a classroom in China could work with a classroom in the U.S. to solve a problem they have in common? They are already playing games together, why not learn together!

Many schools are already requiring that children have laptops. Some are even providing them. These laptops could come pre-programmed with all the educational games/lesson plans that a student could need from elementary through high school.

Games are being released faster than kids even have time to play them. However, very few are ‘education’ focused. I think there is huge potential for this kind of arrangement. Let’s see what happens. The future of gaming is wide open!