We wrote a post about some new features at FunnelBrain.com. Today I want to take a few minutes and share some thoughts/ start a conversation about gaming in education. It’s interesting to me that people tend to be very polarized on one side or the other on this issue, because to me education is about engaging students and getting them to want to learn. Again, this is just my opinion and I would encourage you to leave comments if you disagree with me but I think education can and should be fun. I’m not suggesting we should all be playing Halo 3 in the classroom, but if we are creative we could and in my opinion should be using games like Halo 3 to help students learn important concepts like Physics, problem solving, teamwork, and strategy. I’m always happy to see teachers trying to teach kids in a way that will engage students. A few days ago I posted over on our Facebook Fan Page a link to a project called Wow in School that is using tools like Moodle and World of Warcraft to teach a 7th grade language arts course. Is this the way we all learned in school? No… Does it make it bad? I do not believe it does.

As responsible educators, we need to put a focus on making quality research based decisions, and the fact is there is a great deal of evidence that education based games like those on FunnelBrain, Starfall, and KidsSpell are valuable tools that can increase engagement and help to foster students who are life long learners.

For conversation:

Teachers do you currently use games in the classroom? Why or why not? Are there ways you could be using technology to improve engagement?

Students, would you like to see teachers using games or other interactive technologies in the classroom?

American sports fans are known for unreasonable devotion to their teams.  The very word, “fan,” is short for “fanatic,” a person whose devotion to a cause tends to lunacy.  And surely Boston Celtic fans are as fanatical as any, right?  Well, perhaps not.   No, none of the Celtics have taken a bullet for Thursday night’s missed rebounds.  That would be crazy.

There are other places in the world where the term sports “fan” is taken a bit too literally.  In fact, in the competition for the world’s most crazed fans, the Americans don’t even place.  Let us hope they never do.  In that competition, South American soccer fans claim first place.  If you doubt that, consider the case of Columbian footballer Andres Escobar.

US World Cup Victory Ends in Murder

The basketball murder of the headline, happily, is fiction.  The soccer murder, however, is established fact.  A U.S. victory in a World Cup match has led directly to the murder of a player on the losing team.  If you are paying attention to the 2010 World Cup, you may protest here.  The U.S. record so far this year is 2 draws, 0 losses and 0 wins.  That is true.  The murder in question happened in 1994.

Every four years the U.S. is reminded that the rest of the world plays “football” with a round ball.  We pay a little attention to the World Cup for a month, then we get back to baseball.  “Football,” which Americans insist on calling soccer, is by far the world’s most popular televised sport.  Promoters salivate at the billions of dollars that could be made if only the Yanks would take to it.

The year 1994 saw an all out effort to turn Americans into soccer fans.  That year, the U.S. hosted the World Cup.  The promoters were not successful.  Americans did not embrace soccer, in spite of record attendance numbers at the matches.  They did, however, learn something about the passions of South American fans.

On June 22^nd of that year, in Round 1 of the World Cup finals, in front of a Rose Bowl crowd of over 93,000, the U.S. managed a surprise victory over Columbia.  The U.S. was  aided in their surprise win by Andres Escobar, a star player on the Columbian team.  As Escobar attempted to block an American kick, the ball careened off his foot and into the Columbian goal.  U.S. 1, Columbia 0.  The U.S. went on to win 2 – 1, thanks in part to Escobar’s infamous own goal.  Two weeks later, Escobar was dead.

On July 2, 1994, after his team’s humiliating first round elimination, Escobar was back in Columbia.  He was having a drink at the El Indio bar in Medellin when three men accosted him.  The three took Escobar outside to the parking lot and shot him twelve times.  One of the shooters reportedly shouted “GOAL!” after each shot.

How Much Do You Know About the World Cup?

Are you as uninformed as most Americans about the World Cup and the passionate world of soccer fans?  We have put together a short quiz to help you find out.  Give it a try.  But don’t kill yourself if you do poorly.  It’s just a game.

CLICK HERE FOR QUIZ

You may find some of the answers to some of the questions surprising.  For longer answers with explanations, see the companion flashcard deck here:

CLICK HERE FOR FLASHCARD DECK

Stay tuned for my next post:  World Cup Losers Commit Suicide.