Consolarium

October 9th, 2007

Games and young people review: get involved

Derek Robertson

Comments: none Tags:  : Categories Games and violence

A couple of things have caught my ear over the past few days in relation to games and learning. Firstly there was the debate about computer games that was on Radio 5 Live on Sunday morning. I almost phoned in to contribute because I was wholly dismayed at what I felt was such a negative and moral panic driven argument. The focus of the debate yet again was on ‘inappropriate material’ getting in to the hands of young learners and the debate revolved around the usual suspects of 18 rated games with no mention made of the games that we are using in schools.

Although we have some guidance on how our site about how parents and teachers can be informed about games ELSPA’s askaboutgames site is a particulalry useful resource.

Today, on BBC Breakfast there was yet another debate about games and young people but this time it was much more balanced and objective. As a result of this debate I became aware of the new Government review into the effect of games on young people. Tanya Byron (clinical psychologist of House of Tiny Tearaways fame) is heading this review and you can read her initial statement regarding this via this link. I have written in to let them know about the work we are doing with games and learning in Scotland but I’d ask colleagues who are doing the excellent work out in schools that is helping to inform and influence how games can be used in schools to contribute to the debate.

I do believe that there are issues about inappropriate games getting in the hands of young people and that there may be a concern about how this virtual world of nastiness and violence can adversely impact on some people however, I also passionately believe that informed use of appropriate games can be a force for good in teaching and learning and I sincerely hope that aspect is not missed in this review. We can’t allow this to continue without promoting the positive aspects of what we are finding in our classrooms.
If you have anything to contribute to the debate then please get in touch via this link [email protected].