Playing Video Games in the Classroom is ‘Logical’

UCC’s new educational programme, ‘UCC Brings Boole2School’, aims to introduce over twenty thousand students around the globe to the research of George Boole through the video game medium.According to Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at UCC, Patrick Fitzpatrick, "The Government should provide dedicated support to teachers to help them incorporate new technologies such as video games into their lessons". Fitzpatrick continued that "Teachers should be trained to exploit technology, such as MinecraftEdu, to increase their students' ability to use logical argument".While practical learning has been commonplace in classrooms for as long as is remembered, the recent rise in interactive game implementation in classrooms suggests that the educational potential of today’s game industry has been realized as an effective option. “The overwhelming majority of school students play computer games,” said Fitzpatrick, “and these provide an avenue for the study of elementary logic in an environment that is both familiar and enjoyable.” As a result ‘UCC Brings Boole2School’ will utilise games familiar to its students, such as Candy Crush and Minecraft, to encourage logical thinking. “The key challenge is not to reduce the use of computers or the internet in Irish schools, but to show how this technology can be used more effectively to train students in problem-solving and collaboration”.The programme is not the first initiative to use Minecraft as an educational tool. Mojang’s ‘MinecraftEdu’ is an education-focused special edition of the game intended for schools, which was made available to all post-primary Northern Irish schools just this year. The Viktor Rydberg school, situated in Stockholm, has gone as far as to set its students compulsory Minecraft lessons as a fully-fledged portion of its curriculum. It appears that the possibilities created by Minecraft’s satisfying blend of logical thinking and fun, coupled with its accessibility and popularity, are becoming universally recognised by education boards around the world. While traditional approaches to education are as essential as ever, the next step is interactive.