The author of the post was Robin Martin, a mother of three currently homeschooling her youngest son. Robin made some time to answer a few questions I had about games in her home and in education, generally.
EM: Generally speaking, videogames have been a pretty divisive subject in the context of parenting. How do you feel about them as a mom and a home educator?
RM: I'm sure that it depends wholly on the child. But for my child video games have been a huge inspiration for learning. He has a complete love of history and it stemmed from a PC game called Age of Empires. But he learns a lot from other games, too. Having an online educational game that you can use to supplement with is helpful because we all reach moments when we can see the light go off. We want that light on and we need to keep our children actively engaged. A game can impart the same knowledge but the application of that knowledge is valuable because the child can retain it and use it in context with other bits of knowledge that he has gathered. It's kind of a ripple effect: you learn a bit through a game, and it makes you curious, then you go to the internet and research what you've learned. Or you have a conversation about it. Either way, learning is definitely going on. And that is the point of an education, right? Why does it matter how they were interested, as long as they become interested.
EM: Does your son play conventional, commercial games? What are some of his favorites?
RM: His favorite console games are the historically-based ones, like Call of Duty and all of the ones that the History Channel has created for PlayStation and Xbox. Not being a history buff myself, I can't tell you for sure if these games are completely accurate, but he seems to have extensive knowledge of battles from the real wars and a sequence of events that we have not covered in our homeschool yet.
EM: We were really flattered by the praise you and your son gave Energy City on your blog. What other educational games and simulations have you guys tried, freely available or otherwise?
RM: We love looking online for any kind of educational game. In game format, my child stays engaged much longer than if we were sitting in front of a textbook or a web site. Recently, Cade's gone crazy for Stop Disasters, which is very much like [Energy City]. He enjoys 1066, Big Al, and Ant War, and logic games like Harry the Hamster. We find games that appeal to his interests by visiting major web sites and seeing if they have online games, like Habitat Adventure: Panda Challange, Sewage in Your Face, Bombarding Yorktown, and Friends of the Earth: Learning. He learns physics with games like Crush the Castle. Eco Quest was a great one, too.
I try really hard to find educational games that are free. And they seem to be more widely available than they used to be. We've tried so many that it would be hard to list them all.
His favorite games of all time seem to be PC games. He is fanatical over Rome: Total War and all of its expansions and sequels. He also likes Battlefield 1942.
EM: Are many homeschoolers supplementing their curricula with games and simulations?
RM: Every game site that I find, and Cade enjoys, I pass on to my fellow homeschoolers. And I have noticed a larger and larger response as people become more familiar with the powers of the internet. It's such a valuable tool for home education.
EM: A lot of people (myself definitely included) learn more readily when they can engage with a concept in a direct way. Hearing a word used contextually in a dialogue versus just reading its definition, for example, or baking a batch of cookies yourself as opposed to just watching someone do it on television. In your experience, do you feel like kids better learn to command concepts and ideas in real-life relevant ways (rather than just performing acceptably on standardized tests) when they learn in a more immersive, hands-on way?
RM: If you read any of my blog, you would see that my child is definitely a hands-on kid. He doesn't just want to read about things; he wants to experience them. And since you can't really go back to the early middle ages and it's not realistic to hop on a plane and visit the South American jungle, video games and simulations via the internet or game consoles are incredibly valuable because they give the child that experience. Experiences like that are retained longer. And he conveys many tidbits of knowledge into our day to day conversations that I know came from one of his games. We also try to recreate many things that we've learned at home. Last year we were studying medieval history and we made a helmet, chain-mail, a coat of arms, a trebuchet, a siege tower and many other things. And he'll never forget those things.
EM: Providing these kinds of immersive experiences has really emerged as a big goal in learning games. Do you think a well-designed game can provide these kinds of experiences?
RM: Oh, yes! My son learns so much and he's constantly calling me over to see what he's done. And sometimes he draws me in and I'll play, too. We both really liked Energy City, and even competed to see whose city could do better.
EM: Conventional school curricula often don't leave much room for experimentation and low-stakes failure. Do you think learning to take risks, particularly in problem-solving, is something we need to encourage more in kids?
RM: Of course! We learn so much more through our failures. Risk taking and problem solving via a game format is much less apt to damage self esteem. So, it can only bolster self esteem when a problem HAS been solved by risk taking.
EM: Are there certain subjects or types or problems that games are better suited to tackling?
RM: Well, we use games for math and logic, history, geography, science and language arts. So I would say that just about any topic is worthy of a game format.
EM: How do you feel about the future of games as a learning tool?
RM: I feel like the future of gaming as a learning tool is excellent and can only get better. And I believe that public schools will come around to the same thought, eventually. Homeschoolers are lucky that we have time in our schedules to be flexible. And that we aren't so tied into curricula that we can't take time to try other venues. Educational games make your child feel like they are playing, while in actuality they are learning.
Cade is really enjoying the TV series, Life, from the Discovery channel. He has also really liked Planet Earth. He's played some of the games on their website but is not impressed. They don't really follow the series. He'd like to see games where you choose a species and try to simulate its habitat and keep it alive.
EM: Anything else you want to add?
RM: I know that most parents don't believe kids learn from games, but I believe that to be a gross fallacy. In my opinion, gaming for learning is essentially the same as historical fiction reading. Even thought it's fiction, you still learn history because it's in a story format and is enjoyable. Gaming is the same concept. It isn't real, but it's fun, so you remember.
Much obliged, Robin, for taking the time to answer my questions.
