Virtual Reality and Video Games: the Future of Teaching Our Children?

I was listening to NPR on my way to work this morning and heard a very interesting segment. It was an interview of E.O. Wilson, "Darwin's Heir," conducted by Will Wright, creator of video cames such as The Sims and Spore. Both are very knowledgeable in the areas of biology and evolution and they spent most of their time talking about that. However, there was a brief period where the topic turned to the way teaching our children will evolve in the future. It went a little like this:

"One of Wilson's goals has been to "unify science with disciplines such as the humanities," Wright said. "He is one of the few scientists who really has the guts to do that."

 So the first question he asked Wilson was if he saw a role for games in the educational process.

"I'll go to an even more radical position," Wilson said. "I think games are the future in education. We're going through a rapid transition now. We're about to leave print and textbooks behind."

ilson imagines students taking visits through the virtual world to different ecosystems. "That could be a rain forest," he said, "a tundra — or a Jurassic forest."

Wilson said that for the most part, we are teaching children the wrong way. According to the biologist, "When children went out in Paleolithic times, they went with adults and they learned everything they needed to learn by participating in the process."

That's the way the human mind is programmed to learn, Wilson said.

But he believes that today, virtual reality can be a steppingstone to the real world. It can motivate a child to exploration.

Wilson had a very different experience growing up. He explored the real world — and its creatures and plants — from a very young age. He credits his permissive parents and the schools he attended for allowing him to "disappear" into the forest."

I find it very interesting that someone who went to college in the 1940s thinks that something as controversial as video games can be the future of eductaion.

Personally, I don't think that anything can replace a teacher. The human contact is something I think our children benefit greatly from. I do think that a portion of our children's education should be taught through this type of technology. It is, after all, a major part of our world today.

Thoughts?

I think teachers are an intergral part of the learning process, but I also think the students would benefit greatly from the chance to "experience" the learning, instead of just reading about it. I don't see why it would have to be one or the other? Teacher guided virtual reality tours of the Louvre for Art Class, would have been amazing!

I also think that over the years we have started to focus entirely too much on the book side of learning anyways. Some kids excel at this type of learning, and others get left behind because they learn differently. My son is a completely hands on type of learner... He gets bored sitting in a desk 8hrs a day which then gets him in trouble, but at 8yrs old, he can change the oil & the tires on my truck. Something that I'm pretty sure that his 35yr old teacher can't do...

I'm like your son. I'm a hands-on learner and benefit from actually DOING things rather than reading about them. I feel like I would have had much higher grades in school if this kind of technology/learning had been around then. I always excelled at physical sciences while floundering in history.

My sister-in-law has a master's in education that she earned in 2004. They were never taught to take advantage of this type of technology and I think that's a shame. I hope that in the near future, something like this will be a permanent part of education. 

I wonder what the cost to implement this would be.

I'm sure the cost would be insane at first! But like with anything else, as it became the norm, would be more reasonable. Look at computers in schools, when I was in elementary, there was 6 computers for the entire school to use, so you got 15 mins/week. Now, my kids do their advanced reading tests in the computer lab daily.

We live in a very small town, but thankfully, seem to have forward thinking teachers and staff.  Our teachers suggest math quiz websites for our kids to practice on at home, and use different sites to view science experiments that would be too costly to try on their own. I guess in some cases it's really no different than the films that we used to watch on projectors, but now the sky's the limit as to what they can find to use as teaching aids!

My husband is a college professor and his school is encouraging the professors to stop lecturing and let the students learn "hands on".  Teachers are to give assignments, point out where to find the answers, and answer questions, no more.  He teaches math and computer science. 

At first it seemed kind of crazy, but then I thought about what happens to the student when they get out into the real world.  In computers (my field as well), you get handed an assignment and they point you to the docs (or you find information on the net) and leave you to figure out how to do it.  I have had employees who still wanted to be spoon fed like in school.  They were fired.

So, teaching computers this way is probably a good idea.  I am not so sure how you teach math this way though.

No video game can take the place of human interaction. 

Like another response mentions, though, education is definitely going towards a more "exploratory" approach to problem solving and learning, especially when it comes to math and science. 

I teach kindergarten and we use a very interactive approach to all of our teaching.  We do things called mini-lessons in order to introduce a concept and then children are encouraged to explore the concept on their own while the teacher walks around encouraging them, offering guidance, answering questions, etc.  If we see a student who is struggling then we offer one on one help, if we see that a student is grasping a concept well then we can offer ideas for more advanced exploration.  After everyone has given it a whirl we come together and talk about what they did, what worked, or what didn't work, and what they learned. 

Here is a sample math lesson:  Let's say I want to teach about an ABAB or 1212 pattern, like circle, square, circle, square, etc.  I would have students line up each holding either a circle or a square.  I would put them in order, read the pattern, and then ask the students what they think would come next.  I would tell them that this is an AB pattern and then ask them what they can tell me about it (it uses two shapes).  After that "mini lesson" the kids would then be asked to use small shapes to each make the same pattern on their own.  After each child has copied the pattern I would encourage them to make their own pattern with different shapes.  After everyone had made their own patterns then we would get together and share them with each other and talk about how they are all AB patterns even though they look different.

It's really a good approach.  No one is singled out if they don't "get it" right away because everyone is mostly paying attention to their own work.  Everyone can work at their own pace and the kids get to be hands-on and really gain an understanding of the whole concept. 

BUT...no video game can replace a teacher.  They can enhance the learning experience but that's about it.