Massively Multiplayer Online Math Game
by admin on Mar.01, 2010, under Games, Math
A massively multiplayer online game requiring players to employ mathematical concepts could revolutionize the teaching of mathematics at the middle school level, according to Stanford mathematician Keith Devlin. That’s the age when math and science proficiency plummets among U.S. students. Devlin says the game project would be so complex and expensive that the federal government would likely have to spearhead it. But, he said, a pilot project showed such a game would be do-able.
“We are at a moment in history where mathematics education, at least at the middle school level, could change completely and dramatically,” Devlin said.
For the past five years, Devlin has been part of a pioneering effort to create a massively multiplayer online game, something to rival “World of Warcraft,” but tailored as a tool for mathematics education. “World of Warcraft” is a wildly successful role-playing game that currently has more than 15 million players.
Devlin thinks the role-playing approach has tremendous potential, but based on his experience, he said, it may take a national initiative to make it happen. He explained his views, and exhorted his peers to work to promote such a project, at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting in San Diego. Devlin collaborated with a group from private industry to develop a prototype of such a video game to help teach middle school students math by fully immersing them in a simulated three-dimensional environment.
