UW-Madison curriculum and instruction professors Kurt Squire and James Gee imagine a future in which video games play an increased role in education. Although computer games are already used in classrooms, they see massive possibilities for college and high school students to learn even more from video games.
They are working as part of a new initiative called Education Arcade spearheaded by UW-Madison and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to combine new video game technology with education.
\I think video games provide a potential to actually have students do new types of learning that are not traditionally done in the classroom,"" said Eric Klopfer, MIT assistant professor and director of the school's Teacher Education Program.
The Education Arcade has three main objectives. The first involves working with teachers to educate them on the uses of video games as learning tools and making them more comfortable with current technology.
The second is to take existing games and work to find ways to use them in school settings. Computer games like Sim City and Civilization III are currently used to teach topics such as history, urban planning and math skills.
Squire said he used the game Civilization III to help inner-city students in school. The game allowed students to take the perspectives of Iroquois Indians and Africans, which afforded them a different view of history.
""They got into [the game],"" he said. ""They were much more interested in doing history than they were normally.""
The third goal is to develop original, educational games. The group has already finished two games. One computer game teaches physics and places students in the role of a charged particle.
Another game uses portable computers and global-positioning technology to simulate students searching for a toxic spill.
""It's a much more participatory style of learning than sitting in a lecture and ... a lot of small classrooms are engaging in at this point of time,"" Klopfer said.
Games such as Revolution, the game set in revolutionary Williamsburg, Va., give students a deeper understanding of history than could be achieved by simply reading a textbook.
UW-Madison freshman and video game player William Sharpee said he saw some potential for video games in education but was largely skeptical.
""I'm sure it'd be fun,"" he said, ""but I don't see a video game preparing me for a test.""
Gee and Squire will teach a seminar on educational video games Feb. 12 at Best Western InnTowner, 2424 University Ave.
