Games do provide education
Well, you've changed yer tune!
The BBC is reporting that computer games could soon become part of the school curriculum based on the results of a UK study. The group Teachers Evaluating Educational Multimedia (Teem) is responsible for the research, which concludes that simulation and adventure games where players create societies or build theme parks developed the children's strategic thinking, planning, mathematics and spelling skills. The 700-strong test group consisted of children between seven and 16 years old, and also concluded that children prefer to play games in pairs or small groups. The Department for Educaton is examining the research. Meanwhile, Teem director Prof. Angela McFarlane told the BBC that "adventure, quest and simulation type games have a lot of benefit", but was quick to stress that the group is "not advocating arcade, shot(sic)-the-baddie type games." Teem aims to integrate popular forms of multimedia into the classroom setting, supplementing the curriculum where appropriate. They face stern opposition however, with many other researchers arguing that the multimedia age has put children off reading and produced a generation which spends too much time playing indoors. Some of the more well known games on Teem's list include Age of Empires II, RollerCoaster Tycoon, Sim City 3000, The Sims, The Settlers and the ubiquitous Championship Manager.