Learn As You Play
Games have been used for centuries as learning tools since the game of Chess was used to teach skills to knights in training.
Today, technology allows us to develop digital, interactive games that target specific skills, provide corrective feedback, and support young children until they master the skills necessary for completing the game.
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"Learning while playing is the best way to learn because it creates emotional attachments, and emotion is the door to learning." (Jensen, 1994; Dryden & Vos, 1997; Dryden & Rose, 1995). The core strategy of Umachaka Media's educational initiative is based on the principle of learn as you play. Rather than "learning by listening," all children learn best by doing. Interactivity deepens engagement with learning and encourages problem solving. Children at all levels can now play as they learn in a fun and exciting way using digital technology. And most importantly, they can learn at their own individual pace. For children with special needs, interactive games are highly effective adaptive learning tools. Various game elements come together to encourage learning, including game narrative, psychological immersion in gameplay, and the ability to start over when something goes wrong. Games provide a context for learning that makes it easier for new skills to transfer to the real world and can offer "just in time" information right when the player needs to use it. Game based learning helps learners develop a cognitive framework around the information they are learning, which makes it easier to remember information and to retrieve it at a later date, when it is needed. Numerous studies have found that interactive games are dynamic learning tools, and game based learning projects have been backed by organizations such as Microsoft and the MacArthur Foundation. Quest to Learn is a school in New York whose entire curriculum is built around games. |