As a parent, I admit I have an ambivalent relationship with videogames. So when Gabe Zichermann’s 2011 TEDTalk “How games make kids smarter” hit my radar, I was intrigued. His fast-talking, humourous approach was drawing me in when he said two things that made my heart sink. First, “maybe our world is just too freaking slow for our kids”. And second, reading on a sunny afternoon? He doesn’t “think our kids will ever be doing that”. Now he had my full (cynical) attention.
I get it. Games can make life more interesting, and yes, they can be powerful forces for good. One example shared in Zichermann’s talk reveals the profound impact of teacher Ananth Pai’s unconventional approach using gamified learning in his 3rd grade classroom. Zichermann attributes much of the students’ academic success to the fact they were having fun and it was multiplayer.
My 18 year old gamer son concurs. A favourite multiplayer game requires a leader for each mission. This game element, he said, is teaching him how to lead when he’s the leader, or how to take direction as a team member. He’s right when he points out this is developing valuable communication and interpersonal skills. Further substantiating Zichermann’s belief that videogames are making our kids smarter, I’m often awestruck by the degree of tenacity, complex problem-solving and critical thinking I observe my son bringing to gameplay. In fact, when he’s struggling with a “real world” problem, I tell him to put on his gaming, critical-thinking hat to identify potential solutions.
But contrary to Zichermann’s zealous endorsement of video games and gamification in digital spaces, I still see some of the most interesting applications and benefits of play in the physical world. My son inadvertently watched John Hunter’s “Teaching with the World Peace Game” when I shared the link to Zichermann’s TEDTalk, and he said it was awesome. So (in yet another example of serendipity at work), I watched it too. This is an example of a game designed for learning that thrills me to the core:
Hunter’s 4th grade students “play” on a multilayered gameboard designed from plexiglass and myriad game pieces. He thrusts his students into specific roles and a complex matrix of 50 interlocking crises (including elements such as environmental disasters, ethnic and minority tensions, and water rights disputes). Hunter’s students read and, yes, understand Sun Tzu’s Art of War.
Interestingly, both Hunter’s and Zichermann’s TEDTalks were in 2011. Even though they have games in common, their foundational beliefs are quite different. Zichermann believes the world is too boring for our kids, as their brains are now hard-wired for multi-tasking and major doses of stimulation. In contrast, Hunter believes by opening up space for face-to-face creative thinking, problem-solving and kindness, this generation can literally solve the world’s problems. Where Hunter is reading Art of War with his kids, we have Zichermann seeming to suggest dumbing-down is perfectly acceptable when he says:
Other gamers may think FarmVille is shallow, but the average player is happy to play it…Two and a Half Men is the most popular show on television. Very few people would argue that it’s as good as Mad Men, but do the people watching Two and a Half Men sit around saying, oh, woe is me? At some point, you’re just an elitist [expletive].
But, is our ultimate goal to simply make kids smarter? Or should we be changing “the rules of the game” to help us become kinder, more empathetic, open-minded and understanding at the same time? Should we support continued speeding up of the world? Or a slowing down?
Personally, I vote for more of what John Hunter’s World Peace Game is teaching. So I went looking for something similar in the digital realm, and may have found it in the work of author and award-winning videogame designer Ian Bogost. Instead of going with what is easy and popular, Bogost sees the power of videogames as “tools to educate and enlighten, to “disrupt and change fundamental attitudes and beliefs about the world” as he put it in his 2007 book, Persuasive Games”. To this, I say, amen.
In closing, I provide this photograph, taken of my 14 year old daughter (devouring the latest Tamora Pierce novel) on a Sunday afternoon, as proof that actually, Mr. Zichermann, kids still like to read too.
‘Til next week,
DLM
This week’s musical reflection is Tracy Chapman’s reminder to avoid the temptations of shiny apples.