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These kids are way smarter than I am

By bioephemera on April 15, 2011.

How do you get kids to master science, math, and engineering? Ask them to make a video game that teaches it to other kids. Check it out:

One of these kids wrote a video game to teach himself his multiplication tables. Another calls his elementary school cousins his "user test group." I clearly am way, way, older than I ever realized I was. I learned to "program" by writing long strings of BASICLOGO commands for a "turtle" which could. . . drumroll. . . draw lines. Pathetic.

Video: winners of the 2010 national STEM video game challenge, "a competition to motivate interest in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) learning by tapping into the natural passion of youth for playing and making video games." They say it's an annual competition - so let's hope they do it again next year.

Me, I just want to have enough free time someday to design my neurotransmitter level in Little Big Planet. . . maybe when I'm retired and running Little Big Planet on some kind of VR emulator attached to my cryogenically preserved brain?

*Thanks to reader Mark Mierzejewski for gently pointing out that I'm prematurely senile it was actually LOGO we used on the turtle, not BASIC. Apparently I mixed up my turtle with my TRS-80. (Come on, they both start with T.)

Tags
education
Events
Science
Web 2.0, New Media, and Gadgets

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