Games in the Classroom - The Multiplayer Classroom: Designing Coursework as a Game - page 13

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Games in the Classroom

Learning through play is not a new concept. It is the fundamental way young
mammals acquire knowledge of the world around them. In both the fields of
education and psychology, much research has shown that human children are
no different. Their sense of the world comes into focus during early play. They
develop the skills necessary to survive physically, mentally, and emotionally.
And because failure in play is rarely catastrophic, they acquire the confidence
necessary to try new approaches to the world around them.

Children experiment from the very first moment their senses are switched on.
They smell, taste, and touch. A child will be drawn to the heat of a fire, but once
burned will learn to keep her distance. The mistake has taught her more about
fire than any lecturer can.

So why then once children reach a certain age do we interrupt their play?
Learning becomes serious. Play is considered frivolous, at best a way to blow off
a little steam. We know what happens when steam is allowed to build up
without release, don ' t we?

Yet, we not only decide that it is time to get serious about learning, but we
regiment it. Lectures become rote. Tests are standardized. Measurements become
more important than knowledge. Failure is penalized with a big

“ F. � But what are

we measuring exactly? A child s ability to learn? Our ability to educate? They

were doing just fine before we decided to turn them into miniature adults like
those disturbing children in seventeenth and eighteenth century portraits, as

'