Nintendo DS goes to school
Japanese schools have the right idea. Rather than punish our children for their interest in handheld video games, why not take advantage of their interest and produce games that are fun and educational? I’m sure many adults from my generation have fond memories of learning geography and history from the Carmen Sandiego series of PC games. There’s no reason why that concept wouldn’t be valid today. The games should be tested by parents first, however, because if parents find them boring, their children will find them intolerable. We shouldn’t force children to endure anything we wouldn’t inflict on ourselves. The whole idea is to make learning fun. Cable networks like Animal Planet and The Discovery Channel have mastered this but educational video games are much more hit and miss in the entertainment department.
June 27 – Nintendo games are banned in most Japanese schools, but its DS console is becoming the latest Japanese teaching tool.
Teacher Motoko Okubo uses the handheld DS and textbook software and says after years of Super Mario Bros. and other games on the prohibited list, students weren’t expecting Nintendo in class.
