Learning about Learning

Today I want to take a look at education. In order to make a successful game we need the game to provide education to the players.

I tried looking at many different videos, but this one was the one that I really felt a connection with. I really feel that the current system of teaching is by far less effective as it can be. For me a multimedia approach to learning can end up building very strong connections in our brains.

Important Notes:
-Learning by Doing
-Take you away from distractions
-The more you use a skill the stronger the neuropaths are
-When you experiment with new ideas or solve a problem you create new cognitive maps
-New pathways need to be reinforced, otherwise they vanish
-Reinforce with Positive feedback, practice using skills, mental rehearsal of using skills

My Thoughts
-Interactivity involves many parts of the brain and it can help create more paths
-A focused student can really improve their learning, I remember spending long hours in school thinking about anything but what the teacher was talking about, if I had focused then I could have learned a lot more.
-Repetition makes perfect, you see how NBA players make amazing shots, but in reality they practice those same shots hundreds of times per day.
 -I wonder if there is a way to make kids associate new things they are learning with things they do every day, maybe that way their ideas would be reinforced daily..
-The idea of having the user take their knowledge and think of how they would use it in real life sounds like a great idea, I was always amazed at how many kids would ask their teachers a very simple question "When am I going to need this?" it seems like an instinctive question to me.

Learning about Educational Games

Educational games are the future of education, there is much to learn about them, but if one thing is certain, is that they have the power to change the way we view education. Here is a list of some of the key goals educational games have:
 1) Engage students and increase their desire to learn.
2) Entertain kids and allow them to explore their knowledge.
 3) Test kids with new and improved methods.
4) Adapt quickly to a fast changing world.
5) Connect the students using social media elements.
6) Become powerful tools that teachers can use to manage their classrooms.

As you can see, it is a very complex goal, this is why I decided to make this blog. I know that each element is crucial to creating a successful goal and the only way to achieve success is to work together and explore all kinds of possibilities.