God help us all

Gonna have to get my mum to go to that! :p

How did the exams go son?

Rubbish, I couldn't find the x buttom on my exam paper!

Don't be so quick to judge, see what they're doing in Scotland with Nintendogs and game based learning:

http://www.handhel...46/1/

I know. I still think its wrong.

If A = Run
And B = Jump
Then A + B = ?

Makes more sense than teaching kids powerpoint!

ths stry flls me wiv dispare. ver kdz seem 2 hav 4got how 2 spel proper thru the yoos ov txts. now we teech vem wiv games consoles.

stop the world, i wanna get off!

My mrs is a teacher, this will be the only thing she'll be good for this year... a free DS!

Sorry Miss, i couldnt do my homework because the battery died and i couldnt find the charger........

So that would be a bit like your laptop then Ant?

:-)

With the videogame industry in the regulation spotlight, with the likes of Tanya Byron and Susan Greenfield doing their bit, you'd expect some more imaginative responses here. This event could be a positive antidote, no?

Gamers typically solve abstract logic problems in real time, sometimes collaborating with many other players online whilst being continuously assessed. Aren't these the skills that young people will need to compete in the future or are we wanting to churn out call centre workers who read from a script?

Love it of hate it, Brain Training made mental arithmetic cool amongst kids. How many teachers have achieved that?

If you have a few minutes I found this video informative:

http://handheldlearning.blip.tv/#646028

Oh do be quiet! Please...

I teach psychology in a high school sixth form, along with a few other classes of younger students and I've yet to find any justification for the outright ban of any handheld technology in the classroom.

The Brain Training game includes a psychological test called the Stroop Effect (names of colours in a colour different to the word itself). This and lots of other games have proved useful to the young psychologists I supervise in their research studies, providing various cognitive tests that can be administered ethically to their participants.

Music teachers could load listening tasks on to individual MP3 players via a classroom computer, which would cause far less disturbance to other lessons nearby. Not to mention the potential usefulness of camera phones in scientific investigations, which again, could be downloaded to computers in the classroom for further examination.

The only thing stopping all this is actually not enough technlology in schools and the attitudes of some teachers and parents.

True, text and instant messaging may impact negatively on literacy, but we can all impose rules and set guidelines about expected standards. This goes for parents as well as teachers.

Well said.

Text messages are already being used by many schools and universities to keep in contact with their students whether it's for homework reminders or for collaboration.

Laptops and desktops are becoming increasing irrelevant to younger learners, (will they really be using Windows Vista in 2025?) so the use of gaming technologies with more advanced interfaces and problem solving to aid learning makes complete sense.

Game on!

Yeah the problem with schools (or atleast the one i went to) is that when they think of technology and learning they immediately think of £1000 laptops for a science class to do one experiement a year.

There's lots of smaller, more useful and cost effective ways to start bringing technology into school. Kids would definetely be up for it because its already part of their life, its the teachers who aren't whose minds we need to change.

Mr Whitle will be happy...