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What’s the Opposite of a Dumb Toy?
Posted on | October 6, 2009 | No Comments
Deep inside my head, there is a reasoning and justification behind every major decision in GeekStack. For instance, my personal vision for the future is a culture where education is revered and valued, not because of external pressure but because people have found joy in the challenge of thinking and creating. But that’s way, way to big to pull off in my spare time with no money. I had to narrow that down to something limited enough that I could actually accomplish but powerful enough to influence people.
That was the appeal of the trading card game model. It’s great as a business because you can offer people exactly as much engagement as they want or can afford (with online, there are even ways to engage players that don’t have or want to spend money). But it’s also a great medium for education. Aside from the obvious approach we’re taking of putting science heroes on the cards with facts and blurbs about their lives, actually playing the game teaches math and critical thinking skills.
A recent article called “Why Dumb Toys Make Kids Smarter” told a story about just that point. The author Po Bronson’s wife said while his son was small that he wouldn’t be allowed to play violent video games or Pokemon. They stuck to that pretty well until his friends started playing and he got hopelessly pulled into it. The parents were still reluctant until he learned showed fast math skills from calculating damage and resistance and improved reading skills to find out what’s on the cards. Then, just as quickly as he got into it, he dropped Pokemon as soon as he found about sports a few years later. The parents were originally worried about their son getting obsessed with a game, but eventually found out that it’s in kids’ nature to be obsessed.
The only problem I have with the article is the title. The dumb/smart contrast in the title is nice, but the author never defines “dumb” toys. I kept looking for the meaning, but had to figure out that “dumb” was a euphemism for non-educational. Dumb in contrast to feel-good toys like Baby Einstein. Let’s stop this tendency. In order for something to be called educational, it should be engaging, reward practicing, provide feedback, and teach something. Pokemon fit the bill, video games fit the bill, and let’s hope GeekStack does too.
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