Entertainment Within Education: The New Frontier?

For a long period in the existence of both education and entertainment, no one would have thought that both sectors would possibly intersect. As a matter of fact, the latter was considered to impede the other. Educationalists proposed that entertainment hampered learning at the cognitive level. In the sense that entertainment contributed to decreased attention spans for learners. They also argued there was a direct correlation between learners who consumed entertainment media monstrously and low engagement in class.

The digital era is a disruptive one. One that has seen the human race undergo seismic shifts in how they conduct their daily lives. In the quest for more and better, we have seen industries that were once thought to be unrelated, come together with great success. Edutainment is undoubtedly among the top of the list.

Education has mostly remained a rigid system. Learners are subjected to a linear path of progression with little room to develop individually. The one-size-fits-all, as time has proven, is a substantially ineffective method that does not cater to the individual needs for most learners. Hence the need for a change.

Entertainment found its way in education from as early as 1954 when the idea to make learning a fun experience first took shape. As such, media was specifically designed to impart knowledge to the individual while also offering entertainment value. Various learning institutions and corporations have gradually adopted the concept in an attempt to shift from the traditional mold of education. Edutainment is undoubtedly on the move.

Edutainment In The Classroom

Learning in the classroom has two significant impediments. First, the pre-existing model of teaching is incredibly passive. An instructor will walk into the classroom, talk on, and on, as the learners merely absorb the content. This one-way model was probably suitable a few centuries ago. But in this day and age, where we appreciate the differences in learners, it is bound to be unproductive.

The second challenge was as a corollary of the first, whereby class engagement was increasingly decreasing. Learners were unable and sometimes unwilling to participate in class. Therefore, it followed that stakeholders found it necessary to make the learning experience captivating, hence the integration of entertainment in the classroom just as the paper writing service saw an educational gap to bridge.

Games And Toys For Young Learners

This approach mainly focused on elementary learning. The objective was to make the young learners enjoy being in school and education, by extension. Therefore, playing for educational purposes was included as part of the curriculum. These young kids, consequently, have an opportunity to acquire knowledge as they engage in enjoyable activities.

Most kindergartens, then, will have toys such as Lego blocks for the kids to use at their own will. Others will also include board games dependent on the academic level of the learners. Such methods not only immerse the learners in the education process actively but also hone their cognitive skills such as abstract thinking.

Interactive Learning

This particular approach is geared to ensure that students take an active role in the learning process. It seeks to incentivize students to take part in a lesson. The focus also includes integrating different teaching methods in the classroom to account for the varied types of learners. Several innovations in the Edtech sector have come up to provide the necessary tools for the shift.

When learning is fine-tuned to a learner’s capabilities, it follows then that they acquire a deeper understanding of the concepts. Besides the pre-existing teaching method, educationalists are also included:

• Quizzes and trivia that reinforce positive learning attitudes and beliefs. As the learner advances through the levels, they earn a reward for each objective they accomplish.

• Video games that are targeted to learners specifically. As the learner plays through the different stages, they acquire further knowledge of the concepts that are taught. This not only augments their understanding but also hones other mental skills such as decision-making and problem-solving.

• Interactive learning software is also finding its way into the classroom. In such a way that the instructor can make the concepts more relatable and vivid to the learners. It seeks to complement theoretical learning. For instance, when learning about lunar exploration, students can use Moon Toolkit, developed by NASA, to get a realistic idea of the concepts.

Numerous opportunities lie ahead, unequivocally. In the age of the internet, there is more to expect both in and outside the classroom. Time will tell; we have enough reason to stay optimistic.