The use of a videogame in an afterschool program has at least one parent seeing red.
Madison Middle School in Albuquerque, New Mexico uses an unnamed game (but which appears to be DimensionM from Tabula Digital) that teaches math amidst what one parent is calling excessive violence, reports the city’s ABC affiliate KOAT.
“We are feeding the addiction of these children to videogames,” said fist-shaking parent Marlene Perrotte, who added, “They were all excited, and they were excited because of the violence…”
“Anything we can do to meet the kids on their own ground and educate them is to our advantage,” said the school’s Gary Bodman, who called the game “just like a 21st century flash card really.”
Tabula’s website says schools that use DimensionM will see students “enjoy all the action and adventure of commercial-quality video games while practicing and reinforcing the skills they need to succeed in math.”
Comments
Re: School’s Use of Math Videogame Under Fire
Huh, I can't connect the game to the server. Impressions will have to wait. :(
Re: School’s Use of Math Videogame Under Fire
Hmm, the pictures is almost like
"*fist shake* School should be boring dammit, like it was when I was in it!!!!111!!!!!!111!"
Re: School’s Use of Math Videogame Under Fire
I've downloaded the DimensionM multiplayer demo. I will comment on it later.
Re: School’s Use of Math Videogame Under Fire
It's been forever since I played a math game. The last ones I have a memory of are Math Blasters, Number Munchers and Donkey Kong Jr. Math.
Re: School’s Use of Math Videogame Under Fire From Idiot
I think the gargoyle whining about this needs to get her head out of her ass.
Geaux Saints, Geaux Tigers, Geaux Hornets, Jack Thompson can geaux chase a chupacabra. Hell will stay frozen over for quite a while since the Saints won the Super Bowl.
Geaux Saints, Geaux Tigers, Geaux Hornets. Solidarity for the Saints = No retreat, no surrender. Even through the darkest days, this fire burns always.
Re: School’s Use of Math Videogame Under Fire
RUN!!!! IT'S JACK THOMPSON'S SISTER!!!!
Re: School’s Use of Math Videogame Under Fire
LOL, that's what one person said on Kotaku, very hilarious!!
Re: School’s Use of Math Videogame Under Fire
If parents are outraged over this then they would be mortified at the things I used to do in Oregon Trail.
Re: School’s Use of Math Videogame Under Fire
Hah! It undermines the value of life every time you try and ford a river, an oxen dies, an axle breaks, and 3 members of the party contract dysentery, take a turn for the worse, and then die.
Re: School’s Use of Math Videogame Under Fire
Educational scholars have been advocating this kind of approach for years. Not surprising some reactionary elements would complain though I suppose.
Re: School’s Use of Math Videogame Under Fire
Anybody else think that "Marlene" looks eerily similar to Jack Thompson in that photo? o_o
Re: School’s Use of Math Videogame Under Fire
That's what I thought when I saw the picture, even someone at Kotaku (yes, this news made it to Kotaku) jokingly said that also. I don't know if that is coincidence or not.
Re: School’s Use of Math Videogame Under Fire
That's a woman!?!?!?
Re: School’s Use of Math Videogame Under Fire
My thought was more "That's a HUMAN?!"
Hunting the shadows of the troubled dreams.
Re: School’s Use of Math Videogame Under Fire
I'm glad someone else noticed that.
Re: School’s Use of Math Videogame Under Fire
Oh nos. They are teaching children to kill using Arthmatic and Algebra. Someone hide the calculators, they make guns look weak.
What is a game?(throws wine glass on the floor and it breaks to pieces) A miserable little pile of secrets.
What is a game?(throws wine glass on the floor and it breaks to pieces) A miserable little pile of secrets.
Re: School’s Use of Math Videogame Under Fire
"“We are feeding the addiction of these children to videogames,” said fist-shaking parent Marlene Perrotte, who added, “They were all excited, and they were excited because of the violence…”"
Well, clearly this fist shaking mother is an expert in the field of ... oh wait, no, she's just a mother who has no experience in any field that would give her knowledge on this subject. Big surprise.
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." -Albert Einstein
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." -Albert Einstein
Re: School’s Use of Math Videogame Under Fire
Sadly this is how large sections of the world work - based on the misguided belief that being able to spread ones legs and then not die for nine months or so somehow makes people authorities on every subject and issue that can possibly be talked about while 'Speaking as a mother'.
I'm pretty certain the educational establishment (maligned and dodgy as it may or may not be) is still far more capable of determining what does and does not make for good teaching methods than some woman who's likely done little more of note in her life than manage to not die.
Re: School’s Use of Math Videogame Under Fire
LOL How dare a kid be excited about schoolwork! That's terrible! Whatever next, people enjoying their jobs?
Everyone knows that a child, when sent to school, should hate every moment of it and learn as little as possible from it.
Re: School’s Use of Math Videogame Under Fire
This strikes me as the 'hazing' mentality. "This sucked for me, so I am not going to let it be better for anyone else".
Re: School’s Use of Math Videogame Under Fire
A good example of trying to make school what it tend to not be, interesting.
Part of why the school system fails, IMO, is because they fail to keep interest.
Re: School’s Use of Math Videogame Under Fire
That and these days school isn't about "Learning" so much as it is about rote memorization for those moronic Standardized tests for that pile of steaming bullshite NCLB. And my sister wonders why her daughter sucks at skills like oh say... Paying Bills!
Hunting the shadows of the troubled dreams.
Re: School’s Use of Math Videogame Under Fire
Actually, I've found this technique works rather well, try to teach a programming class to write a program that proves PI, and you won't get much response, try to get them to write code that detects whether an alien is in range of their laser gun and they'll go at it with vigor.
The amusing part is, they both require the same level of Math understanding to write :)
Same rules apply here, make learning fun and challenging, make rewards for success and penalties for failure, and young students will be much more eager to engage with the subject than a cold text-book with numbers in.