From Testing To Computer Games: Two Ends of the Spectrum

Standardized testing as a yardstick for educational success threatens to undermine U.S. kids' creativity and strengths of innovation writes Yong Zhao, a Michigan State Univestiy Scholar, in a new book. Zhao explains that "standards and high-stakes testing run the risk of ruining the advantages and great tradition of the system." Zhao has personal experience of the problems of testing, having pulled his son out of public school after his son explained that the best strategy to do well at the tests to stop being creative and innovative.

Meanwhile, some public schools are trying to reset this balance through video games — "parents and teachers recognize a kind of engagement children have with games and digital media that could lead to a new way of learning" explains the director of the Institute of Play. They quite simply want to create an atmosphere where kids love learning — and hope everything else follows.

[Photo credit: Popofatticus]