Parents and teachers understand the value in games for kids to help them get a jumpstart on learning. Even early on, even before pre-school or kindergarten, games that teach math concepts (counting, money, addition, and subtraction), language (word recognition through pictures, phonics, word roots), problem solving and social interaction are valuable tools in not only teaching, but also in promoting the love of learning.
Choosing Appropriate Levels
One of the great frustrations is finding games that are age and difficulty-level appropriate. This can be particularly difficult when a child does not meet the average expectations of the game company's developers or marketing department. Children are sometimes especially exceptional in one skill area or not as good in others.
If a game is too difficult, it can cause disappointment or the "eyes glazed over" look. If too easy, kids can easily get bored and move on to something else. Some children like to play Backgammon, Checkers, and even Life with their siblings while their parents expected them to play Candy Land with their younger siblings.
To date, it has been very difficult to create games in which skill or difficulty level could be easily adjusted let alone adjust automatically in an adaptive fashion. With classic strategy games like chess, backgammon, or even Scrabble, level of difficulty depends on the player's opponent. Otherwise, it seems seemingly impossible to achieve any level of adaptively with traditional board and card games. Even the early electronic games consoles for children were limited in that the purchase of modules, books, or games for the console was required to increase difficulty.
The Turning Point in Technology
The technology to create adaptive games exists. The seeds for it began sprouting in the 1980s with the advent of machine learning algorithms. These mathematical algorithms gave computers the ability to "learn" - to make intelligent decisions in reaction to recognized complex patterns. In other words, the computer could learn how to avoid Fools Mate, checkmate in three moves in Chess, so as to not allow it to happen again.
It was a big to-do in geek circles. You can tell, because like every revolutionary technology, learning machines were made to appear evil in science fiction movies of the early 1980s. War Games and Terminator were both movies in which learning machines would bring the ultimate destruction of humankind.
Making the Change
While a complete transformation has not occurred, changes in educational games have. Providing your child with games for kids is not as difficult as it used to be. Now there are games available for the iPhone as well as traditional board games. You only need to do a simple search for what your child is interested in. You will find a plethora of educational games to match your child's interest.
by Marianne T. Carl
ezinearticles.com
14 years ago
