Wii for Education

Recently, Pherrell Williams discussed with Steve Perry, a CNN reporter about the education benefits that the Wii can achieve.  I think Pherrell was talking very generally in the sense that today's young people are surrounded by fast moving, exciting things.  They are constantly engaged and are learning things outside of the schools by this constant engagement.  What kid would want to sit still in a classroom and learn about something, when they could play a video game and learn about it?  I understand that not all subjects can or should be taught through video games, but I agree that we need to bring that engagement into the classroom.  The fact is, children are surrounded by technology all of the time and if our education system doesn't find something to stimulate them like that and make them excited to learn, we could be in real trouble.  In my opinion, we as educators need to find different ways of teaching material that will engage the students and be up to speed with their 21st century lives.  This can only benefit them because if we expose them to the use of technology for learning, they are able to do so many more things.  We are not limited to pencil and paper.  We can help them to expand their learning and understanding, by showing them how to use things that they usually use for entertainment purposes, for learning purposes as well.  We need to be their guide and show them how to utilize the different gadgets that they acquire to aid in their education.  If this is accomplished, we are not only teaching them the material, but giving them the tools to teach themselves.

For more on the use of Wii in the classroom: Edutopia
This video gives more ideas of how Wii can be used in the classroom:




Image used with permission from pics4learning.com.