Learning to Snipe Is Useful Too Though

Previously on DLOG, we've discussed the fact that there are those who see the potential of video games as educational tools. It would seem that this idea is gaining momentum. The Federation of American Scientists has releases a free game called Immune Attack that uses a first person shooter type system to teach about advanced immune responses.

This is really interesting to me for a lot of reasons. First, because of my lovely wife's research into learning styles, I am at least slightly more aware that not everyone can learn about something by sitting down and reading about it or listening to a professor/teacher talk about it. There are a lot of different ways to learn information, and this seems like an engaging way to do so.

What really intrigues me though is when I combine this information with what I know about gamers. See, if a game is good, a gamer will dedicate themselves to learning every intricacy of a rules system in order to gain an edge in their play. A good example of this is those who truly engage themselves with role playing games (RPG). I'm as guilty as any of them - if a RPG is well written, I will dedicate myself to figuring out the best combination of armor, what weapons work against which enemies, and which skills to advance in to best suit my character's current development. The point is, the rules of these games are complex, and if you're into it they're worth learning.

Now imagine a situation where that rule set is molecular biology, or chemisty, or particle physics. It's all in the way it's presented. If you can build an engine that makes it engaging (and I'm not talking about that letter blaster junk either) then you can make it worth someone's while to learn these rules. The D&D kids could be learning how to build better nanomachines in place of the interesting but largely non-useful rules that they are currently memorizing. Add to that that games are built around a system where you advance when you're ready, and you have a self-pacing learning system. My God people, with the right software, we could be building an army of uber-geeks.

Seriously, I think there's real potential to help people who have trouble learning advanced topics (or even non-advanced topics) in a traditional classroom setting, which I personally believe is most of us. I don't think this would replace traditional classrooms, but it could provide people who don't excel in them another way of approaching information. In our brave new, "no child left behind" country that we're striving for, it seems like we should be putting the information out there any way possible.

Which makes me wonder - has anyone ever attempted educational porn? I mean for a topic other than biology.