Sony gives schools homework

PlayStation and playgrounds may not have much in common, but Sony is aiming to change all that with radical education plans.

The platform holder is launching a LittleBigPlanet 2 Teacher Pack – courtesy of developer Media Molecule – which it hopes will be ready by the start of the summer term in May.

These packs will feature instructions for teachers and demonstrations of National Curriculum-based in-game levels that other teachers have made.

Students will be able to use PlayStation Move motion controllers to play these custom-made levels within LittleBigPlanet 2. It’s part of a push to get PlayStation consoles used as learning tools in schools.

The pack will be a really useful way of starting to track and develop interest and involvement in games-based learning,” SCEE senior VP Ray Maguire told MCV.

We hope that Media Molecule will have this created by the start of the summer term in May.”

Sony is also running PlayStation Move courses for teachers, which explain how the motion accessory can be used in the classroom for mathematics. It can track the distance objects are thrown and work out landing times to calculate speed.

The platform holder has its own specialist education website ConnectED over at www.connectededucation.
com. Several schools already use Sony PSPs as media devices for PowerPoint presentations and as video recorders for class projects.

Consoles don’t just play games – they are sophisticated media players,” added Maguire. There is no reason why you can’t play open standard educational content such as videos, audio and web-based lessons through a games console like the PlayStation 3.

And it is not just video games. It is richer content too – including video, Flash and audio.

I think there is a great case for a national Digital Curriculum to complement the existing Curriculum.”

Read the full interview with Ray Maguire here