Tuesday, May 17, 2005

Everything bad is good for you

Cory is enthusiastically recommending Steven Johnson's new book, Everything Bad is Good for You: How today's popular culture is actually making us smarter.

"the beneficial elements of videogames and TV arise not from their subject matter, but from their format, which require that players and viewers winkle out complex storylines and puzzles, getting a "cognitive workout" that teaches the same kind of skills that math problems and chess games impart. As Johnson points out, no one evaluates the benefit of chess based on its storyline or monotonically militaristic subject matter."

This is not a new thesis, of course, and many educators have been aware of the potential of new technologies in education for years.

No comments: