DragonBox is just one of the reasons I feel myself being dragged inevitably toward the tablet world. My reaction upon seeing my first tablet was that it was too big to be a phone but too limited to be a computer. How can it be a real computer with what passes for a keyboard on a tablet? Or without all my favorite software? Who would want one? But that's where all the cool new software is. :(
Stop the presses! The GeekDad article doesn't mention it, but DragonBox is now available for Windows! (Linux coming soon, they say.) And for only six dollars. (Twice the price of the iOS and Android versions, but there's more to it.) I already know algebra, but it's tempting to check it out.
I've been saying for years that educational software producers need to get together with gaming experts. The potential for computer-aided learning is enormous, but most games are not written for their potential to educate and enighten, and most educational software is barely beyond the flash-cards-with-glitz stage. Not that Joseph doesn't love my PowerPoints, of course. :)
Jean-Baptiste Huynh is a Vietnamese Frenchman living in Norway, who taught math for several years and was frustrated with the way math is taught in schools. He wanted his kids to learn algebra in a way that made sense to them, and with tablets and gamification of education he thought that there must be some way to create an app that would make algebra easier to learn. So he started up a company called We Want to Know, aimed at creating some user-friendly educational games that are (1) really educational and (2) really games. If DragonBox is any indication, he’s on the right path so far.
[Huynh] sees tablet computers as a truly disruptive technology that can change the way we teach and learn.
Thanks to DSTB for the tip. I can't wait to see what's next.
