I’ve been critical of President Obama’s attitude toward the industry in the past, so I have a responsibility to point out that the administration seems to be getting it. Last week, he announced the National STEM Video Game Challenge. It’s the latest in a line of very worthy programs that challenge young students with designing an educational video game.
With some brilliant minds behind it and an excellent group of sponsors, it’s a great program with national scale. I just hope there’s more where that came from. It kills me to hear about the plummeting interest level in math and science among school-age children, and then hear “these darn video games” blamed for it in the same breath. Game development is not only the most sought-after career for young people in this country, it’s also a very demanding pursuit of math and science based disciplines. Harnessing the passion for this industry should be a no-brainer for educators.
My own alma mater, Michigan State, launched an ambitious game design program only a few years after I graduated. Of course, I’m envious of the lucky Spartans that came after me. Many, many other universities are currently offering or exploring a similar program. We still haven’t seen a University establish itself as THE game design school in the US, so there is certainly some work to do in marketing these degree programs to prospective students. And it’s up to high school and middle school administrators (throw in K-8 while you’re at it) to make sure their pupils are prepared for them.
I find it odd that people are so quick to chastise videogames for corrupting the education of youth when they should be embracing it for the facts you mentioned above.
I used to have pipe dreams of being in game development, but seeing my brother tackle things that are beyond my comprehension make me glad I didn’t pursue it.
I’m happy opining with the written word…
Exactly. I think everyone that’s spent as much time as we do with games has, at one point or another, thought about what a career in development might be like. I certainly never had a shot, but I wonder what might have been if my high school had been able to direct all that youthful enthusiasm and free time I had as a teenager into learning how a game comes together.
things are awful out there with all the cutbacks i cant believe they would cut things like law enforcement, education, and fire rescue and emt.
Thanks for reading, Jason. Very true – it’s a tough, tough climate for a lot of public school districts to keep instrumental music and nutritional lunches in the budget, much less a resources-intensive program like game design. But I see freeware resources like Game Maker and have to believe a worthy curriculum could be cobbled together with the existing computer labs in most schools.
Also, I wonder how much has been explored in the way of corporate sponsorships. It would seem to me that a hardware manufacturer like Nintendo would see plenty of upside in goodwill PR from donating some debug units. Heck, they could use last generation’s hardware.
Great points, Rich. Check out this great little post from a teacher, who uses Art to teach the 3 R’s:
http://mylastyearofteachingornot.blogspot.com/2010/09/integrated-lesson.html
It wouldn’t take a lot of creativity to use video games as an inspiration to kids who aren’t sure that they’ll need math in their lives, or even to use games as source material for a lot of different subjects. Probably, great teachers out there are already doing it; as usual it’s the politicians/pundits who are behind the curve.
Thanks, Matt. That’s a really good point. I’m sure there are great teachers already applying games to the classroom. While I wouldn’t say I went to great high school, I was lucky enough to have a school newspaper adviser that let me start a video game reviews column, and it shaped a lot of what I do to this day.
Occasionally the wisdom of the internet shines a light on stuff like this, like the choir director who worked the song from Portal into a recital.
The site looks real slick, Rich! Impressive as always.
This is an interesting article and a good point as one would expect from you. I think the “those darn video games” is like anything else in this world when used in excess. Everything is bad if you don’t have it under control!
While I think too many kids are playing too many video games and not having the kind of childhood I had, “playing stick ball in the front lawn, etc” obviously the skill set it takes to produce games and creative gusto used are only acquired with education, skill and hard work.
Those are things everyone can get behind. There should be more support for this type of creative output.
Thanks for stopping by, Zerf. I was hoping an educator would weigh in on this. Obviously, balance is as important in a media diet as in a regular food diet, games included. Unfortunately, they’ve been singled out as this generation’s media bogeyman far too often, joining the ranks of comic books and at different times, rock, metal, AND rap music