Computer games for children: a pedagogical view
The problem of "a child at the computer" from the point of view of parents, we have already considered in previous articles. Let us now turn to the opinion of educators, educatorskindergartens, primary school teachers, in general all people whose professionalism we trust in the upbringing and education of our children. It would seem that they must know exactly which development games a child needs at an early age and in preparation for school. It turns out nothing like this.
Theoretical views on children's computer games
Formed in the late 80-ies of the last century,when the game hardware, which in the current understanding and computers can not be called, was used at two experimental sites of elite kindergartens. The computer game boom of the new millennium brought the market of children's games to a new level, and the methodological recommendations of pedagogical science got stuck in the millennium.
Surprisingly, over 20 years of pedagogy and notI was able to find approaches to assessing the enormous developing gaming potential of modern information networks. Songs, literature, even TV programs fall under the strict expert supervision of psychologists and administrators, and the childish Internet space leaving the shores, including computer games, is not regulated in any way.
We analyzed the 16 most popularpedagogical sites, trying to find recommendations on the choice of developing computer games to prepare a child for school. The often mentioned game resources (IR) for their complex properties were suggested to parents and children according to SS Kobzev's criteria, which we mentioned in the article how to evaluate a computer game.
General assessment of games for preparation for school
The final protocol looked something like this (here we give only a fragment):
No. p / p | The name of the computer game. | Evaluation of the game resource | ||||||
Access | Site | Options | Quality | Comfort | Average | Children's | ||
2 | Merry Alphabet | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4.2 | 3.5 |
The program is difficult to install, has a number of technical limitations, requires considerable memory resources. It is interesting only at the stage of mastering tasks. | ||||||||
4 | Grammy. | 1 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3.0 | 2 |
A commercial product distributed by developers. Content and design is far from perfect. Children can only be forced to play this "game." | ||||||||
8 | Time tape | 1 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 2.6 | 1 |
Presentation on "The Seasons" with very poor quality illustrations. It is designed for children of middle preschool age. One view is enough for understanding. | ||||||||
12 | 3D shapes | 5 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 4.0 | 4 |
Children's portal "Sunny" presents a lot of good games for children. Their main trouble is a very weak design decision. | ||||||||
16 | Russian alphabet | 3 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3.0 | 2 |
The program is difficult to copy and install, and in fact is a set of carelessly made talking pictures. | ||||||||
20 | Compose picture | 5 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 3.8 | 2.5 |
A series of games from the site "Logosauria". Development of attention, sensory skills - and no more. | ||||||||
24 | The Great Tower | 5 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 3.4 | 3.5 |
An entertaining game that allows you to develop the logic and geometric representations of preschoolers. The main drawback is the whole service in English. | ||||||||
An entertaining game that allows you to develop logicand geometric representations of preschoolers. The main drawback is the whole service in English. We admit that the results were depressing. Out of the 25 recommended IRs, only 10 were able to reach a total of 3.5 points in the family play practice of the child.
A list of these children's developing games, like linksto the addresses of the "best" gaming portals, interested parents and teachers will be able to find out on our website. Moreover, as shown by our impartial analysis, in free online access there is a whole array of children's computer games that not only develop the imagination, memory, logic of the child, but also contribute to its adaptation to school instruction.
It is only necessary to help educators of children's educational institutions in the creation of the Toy Library, in other words, the recommended collection of IR, approved by the parental community and the children themselves.
It can happen according to the following scheme.
Here parents pre-school and junior schoolchildrenact in the role of the most interested participants in creating a full-fledged playing space for their children, because it is on their territory, i.e. at home, the first acquaintance occurs, and the child's further relationship with the computer develops.
It is clear that the objectivity of their evaluation will be somewhat arbitrary, since it inevitably depends on a number of factors, including:
- own competence of parents in matters of computer and communication technologies;
- the attitude of parents towards the computer game activity of children;
- personal taste and game preferences of adults;
- the degree of participation of parents in the organization of their child's leisure and the level of their interest in improving it.
And yet, at the present time it is the collectivethe parental evaluation of the children's gaming development environment should be recognized as the most reliable, since it can be based not only on the personal opinion of adults, but also on observations of the main subject of this environment - the child.
Author: Katerina Sergeenko
