Don’t Forget the Fun Factor in Educational Games by Audrey Watters

Too often, educational games are neither fun nor educational, and there are plenty of educational games that fail on both those counts. Without an exhaustive study of games and game designers, it’s hard to pinpoint why. Do those making educational games have little experience in game design? Or do those making educational games have little experience in instructional technology? Or has the bar just been set incredibly low?

A kid's Dream of School




But the audience is changing for educational games, in part because of the explosion of mobile and Web technologies. Parents are buying more educational games, and kids now have a larger say in what they want. And as a result, games are becoming more engaging, more whimsical — more fun.

Take, for example, the creators of Motion Math, available on the iPhone and iPad. The founders, Jacob Klein and Gabriel Adauto, graduate students in the Learning, Design, and Technology program at Stanford, are both 32 years old. They’re bringing their background in education and cognitive science to the design of the game.

Photo: MindShift

Motion Math has won rave reviews from those who are watching the industry closely.
The Children’s Technology Review, for instance, gave the app 4.5 stars for being able to “bridge the concrete and the abstract.” The creators plan to expand to other platforms, including Android soon. Klein says they’ll also add new subject areas beyond fractions and even beyond math.
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Here’s a fun video of a 7th grade class in Oklahoma competing in Motion Math

Source: MindShift and Motion Math Inc