5 Games that Paved the Way for Educational Gaming

Guest blogger Jill Gordon offers the following great post. Be sure and visit her site, linked below.

Finding a fun way to teach children the skills they need to know has always been a problem for educators who have constantly attempted to keep the attention of a class full of 30 4^th graders.  The concept of educational computer games was a revolutionary method in which to teach important math and reading skills while still making the process fun for students.  Additionally, allowing the game to be played on a computer rather than a board game was added incentive since at the time of many games’ inception, computers were still a brand new technological feat.  The Learning Company was the main manufacturer of children’s educational games, and therefore the majority of the early games were designed through this company.

Munchers

One of the first educational computer games, Munchers had both Word Munchers and Number Munchers which worked on different educational aspects.  Created in the early 1980s, the game flourished as the player controlled a muncher character which sought to “eat” all the boxes which contained certain information according to the criteria set.  This was especially educational in Number Munchers, in which most of the criteria revolved around harder math sets.  As computers progressed, more games were created such as Super Munchers and Fraction Munchers which were meant to keep appealing to students of all grade-levels.

Midnight Rescue!

One of the later games within the Shady Glen series, Midnight Rescue helped to develop children’s reading and problem solving skills while allowing them to follow a story line.  In this game, the Master of Mischief wants to make the Shady Glen School disappear through invisible paint, and it is up to you as the Super Solver to determine which robot has the invisible paint.  You as the player only have 9 minutes to stop the Master of Mischief, but you get to uncover clues and eventually stop the character from painting the school.  Additionally, different classical pieces such as In the Hall of the Mountain King and The Sorcerer’s Apprentice are played throughout the game, giving students a taste of classical music.

Outnumbered!

Another in the “Shady Glen” series, this game serves to teach children mathematical computation and problem solving, as the character must navigate through the Shady Glen Television Station in order to find the Master of Mischief.  Once again, the player has 9 minutes in which to find the Master of Mischief, as clues are given after every problem that is correctly solved.  Additionally, more classical music by Rachmaninoff and Mozart are played throughout the game to continue introducing children to the classics.

Spellbound

This was a unique game in the Shady Glen series since it allowed students to participate in a Spelling Bee of sorts, even allowing the player to input their own words into the flash cards.  This was especially helpful when students were preparing for spelling tests, since this offered them a fun chance to study.  The player competes once more against the Master of Mischief and has the opportunity to move up in levels from the Classroom to the National level.

Reader Rabbit

In an attempt to promote a higher reading level amongst younger students, Reader Rabbit was instated in order to provide these students with an incentive to read.  This game caters to younger children, from infancy to second grade, and teaches them basic reading and spelling skills.  Appealing to many young children at the time because of the helpful rabbit, this game helped produce a mass of sequels to it which allowed kids to take Reader Rabbit on different adventures to boost their reading skills.

–+–

This post was contributed by Jill Gordon, who writes about the online colleges. She welcomes your feedback at Jill.Gordon25 at yahoo.com

1 Comment

• 

  By Spanish in Spain, August 17, 2009 @ 3:07 am

  Educational games should be promoted so that students can gain some knowledge related to education.

Other Links to this Post

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI

Leave a comment