Games in the news
So, if you want a quick object lesson in how the media slants news about how kids use computers and computer games, look no further than this recent AP story about a new study (from CNN.com, originally available at: http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/09/27/kids.online.study.ap/):
Study: 1 in 3 parents say kids online too much
SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) — A third of parents believe children spend too much time online, and mothers worry far more than fathers about whether certain Internet sites are appropriate for kids, according to a new survey.
Researchers for the nonprofit Common Sense Media and education foundation Cable in the Classroom also found that one in four parents worried that time spent online kept children from exercising or enjoying the outdoors.
Now compare that opening to the study sponsors’ version of the results (from Common Sense Media):
New Poll Finds That Parents Are Taking Proactive Steps to Keep Kids Safe and Smart on the Web: Parenting Moves Online as Moms and Dads Balance Internet’s Benefits and Dangers
How real is real?
One more demonstration of the way in which experience in a simulated world can have effects in the real world–this time showing that playing a first person shooter video game can overcome the difference between men and women in some aspects of spatial cognition. From Feng, J., Spence, I., & Pratt, J. (2007). Playing an action video game reduces gender differences in spatial cognition. Psychological Science, (in press, October 2007):
We demonstrate a previously unknown gender difference in the distribution of spatial attention, a basic capacity that supports higher-level spatial cognition. More remarkably, we found that playing an action video game can virtually eliminate this gender difference in spatial attention and simultaneously decrease the gender disparity in mental rotation ability, a higher-level process in spatial cognition. After only 10 hr of training with an action video game, subjects realized substantial gains in both spatial attention and mental rotation, with women benefiting more than men. Control subjects who played a nonaction game showed no improvement. Given that superior spatial skills are important in the mathematical and engineering sciences, these findings have practical implications for attracting men and women to these fields.
The Economist (subscription required) has an interesting take on the issue, pointing out (rightly) that this not only suggests that video games can be an effective teaching tool, but that differences that we take to be genetic can often be accounted for by experience. Which means the right kinds of experiences–even virtual experiences, it turns out–can be powerful learning opportunities.
Urban Science press
The young planners at Urban Design Associates were excited to see their work in print this summer. Susan Troller from the Capital Times wrote this article about Urban Science, and the Wisconsin State Journal covered the game twice, once during a site visit and once during the mayoral presentation.
Innovation and the economy
I know it has been forever since I posted–more on that later this week, I hope, but the short version is it has been a busy summer with a new version of Urban Science up and running, a new game in development, several grants in the works, and so on. But as I say, more about that soon, I hope.
Meanwhile, I couldn’t resist posting a link to these pieces from the Economist last month. The first has a wonderful summary of why innovation is so important–and why the value of innovation represents a fundamental underlying economic shift:
Governments have good reason to foster innovation, for it is the mainspring of economic growth. Developing countries can grow quickly by investing heavily in new plant and equipment. But rich nations have already built up big capital stocks. If they are to sustain growth in the years ahead, they must be economic pioneers, pushing out the technological frontier through advances in knowledge.
The second argues that current measures of national productivity don’t do a good job of measuring this most important asset in a post-industrial economy:
ONE of the main snags in assessing innovation’s impact on the economy is that official statistics trail behind the pioneers. The national accounts are good at measuring capital spending on things such as plant and equipment that matter in an industrial economy. They are not up to speed in incorporating investment in intangible activities such as R&D.
In other words, it isn’t just that we don’t currently teach innovation, and that our tests don’t assess innovation–we don’t even measure it appropriately in the economy at large.
