Available online
Description
Most parents will have witnessed the magnetic effect of computer games on children. The combination of skill, memory and risk, leading to an eventual prize, can engage people of any age for hours a...t a time.Paul Howard-Jones is a psychologist specialising in education and neuroscience. He tells Sarah Montague why a better understanding of what makes games so compelling, could lead to more effective teaching.Research suggests that combining a reward with an element of risk-taking can increase the brain's appetite for learning and success.In classrooms this could mean pupils collecting a running score, as they would in a game, then risking some of their points on a chance outcome, such as a roulette wheel spin.Paul also discusses research into sleep, memory, and transcranial electrical stimulation - putting a low voltage across the scalp - and the impact these things have on our ability to learn.
Most parents will have witnessed the magnetic effect of computer games on children. The combination of skill, memory and risk, leading to an eventual prize, can engage people of any age for hours a...t a time.Paul Howard-Jones is a psychologist specialising in education and neuroscience. He tells Sarah Montague why a better understanding of what makes games so compelling, could lead to more effective teaching.Research suggests that combining a reward with an element of risk-taking can increase the brain's appetite for learning and success.In classrooms this could mean pupils collecting a running score, as they would in a game, then risking some of their points on a chance outcome, such as a roulette wheel spin.Paul also discusses research into sleep, memory, and transcranial electrical stimulation - putting a low voltage across the scalp - and the impact these things have on our ability to learn.
| Series: | The Educators |
|---|---|
| Episode | 5 |
| First transmission date: | 2014-09-10 |
| Original broadcast channel: | BBC Radio 4 |
| Published: | 2015 |
| Rights Statement: | Rights owned or controlled by The Open University |
| Restrictions on use: | This material can be used in accordance with The Open University conditions of use. A link to the conditions can be found at the bottom of all OU Digital Archive web pages. |
| Duration: | 00:28:00 |
| Note: | Radio 4 version |
| + Show more... | |
| Producer: | Joel Moors |
| Presenter: | Sarah Montague |
| Contributors: | Sarah Montague; Paul Howard-Jones; Charles Hulme |
| Publisher: | BBC Open University |
| Production number: | PEK07014685 |
| Available to public: | no |
