Here’s Why We Need Video Games In Every Classroom
Video games teach critical thinking, problem solving skills, and perseverance while building metacognitive skills.
Game-based learning can provide systematic, data driven teaching in a way that forces creative problem solving rather than rote memorization. And video games can do that in a way that is replicable, scalable, and increasingly affordable enough that we can distribute it globally and equitably.
In this talk (video below) that I gave at the Global Education And Skills Forum in Dubai on March 16, 2014, I explain how video games can move us away from an educational culture that’s driven by extrinsic competition and commodified rewards. Instead, video games can move us toward a culture of intrinsic motivation, self-reflection, and mindful interaction with the world.
The talk, entitled “Critical Thinking And Video Games: Scalable Pedagogy For The Future,” covers a ton of concepts including: game-based learning, gamification, Socrates, Jacques Lacan’s signifiers, systems thinking, iteration, metacognition, and “scaffolding for emptiness.”
Watch to the end to see how I respond to questions from George Papandreou, former Prime Minister of Greece.
Want to know how the video games of the past shaped the conscious attitudes of the present? Jordan Shapiro is author of FREEPLAY: A Video Game Guide to Maximum Euphoric Bliss. “A book like ‘Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance’ for a generation raised on Pac-Man & Space Invaders.” For information on Jordan’s upcoming books and events click here.
