Video games help learning

A Canterbury teacher has taken video games into the classroom to get pupils switched on to history and the environment.

Jan Anderson, the information and communications technology (ICT) teacher at Methven Primary School, is using Xbox 360 games to help teach pupils.

A visit from a Queensland school that used the games and Nintendo Wii in the classroom prompted Anderson to start using the consoles last year.

She has used three games so far – Viva Pinata, a life simulation game, Thrillville, a theme park simulator, and Civilisation Revolution, a strategy game that begins in ancient times.

Anderson said Viva Pinata taught the children to look after their environment, while Thrillville saw them design and manage their own theme park.

The year five and six pupils, aged nine to 11, learnt about history on Civilisation Revolution, she said.

Anderson uses online games and tools to teach children throughout the school.

"They are highly motivated. We have them watching movies and playing games and we recognise popular culture," she said. "But the biggest thing is that they are engaged."

Anderson recently returned from the Asia-Pacific Regional Innovative Education Forum in Singapore, where she won a Microsoft 2010 Innovative Teacher Award.

She will compete at the world event in South Africa this year.

- © Fairfax NZ News