Borderless thoughts on Politics, Public Affairs, the media and anything else that matters from Conall McDevitt, SDLP MLA for South Belfast
RSS icon Email icon Home icon

  • Nintendo is your homework!

    Posted on November 10th, 2009 Conall McDevitt 3 comments

    nintendo-ds-liteIf I could tell my nine year old boy that he had Nintendo DS for homework  he might even begin to relish the late afternoon revision.

    Now, at least two schools in Ireland are starting to view the pocket gaming device in a more positive light. In urban Tallaght and rural Clonlisk, lateral- thinking adults are using the children’s own channels for learning, and the Nintendo DS is proving a profitable platform, the Irish Times reports today.

    Unlike a laptop computer, which costs hundreds of euro, poses numerous technological and security challenges and cannot fit into your pocket, the Nintendo DS is small and easy to operate and thousands of Irish children have one.

    Business, Corporate Communications, Current Affairs, Politics, Technology, The Media
     

    3 responses to “Nintendo is your homework!”

    1. Jonny November 10th, 2009 at 13:52

      Sorry sir, but my nintendog has eaten my homework.

      This is a great idea.

      I always have found that young kids, whoever they are, really want to learn. We’re maybe not great at facilitating this.

    2. Stephen November 11th, 2009 at 11:22

      I’m amazed the DS hasn’t already been considered as a serious learning tool.

      With voice recognition, a big screen for writing on, video playback capabaility and clear speakers, it’s the perfect device to help children develop new languages.

    3. Paul Evans November 12th, 2009 at 11:06

      My wife is trying to make me buy my 11 year old son a laptop – he’s reasonably bright at school but his handwriting is really holding him back and the school have indicated that a laptop wouldn’t be a bad idea.

      I’m resisting this because I’m fairly certain that he’ll break it or lose it within days and £3-400 doesn’t grow on trees.

      BUT if the DS had a plug-in keyboard, could handshake with a printer and you could use it for basic wordprocessing, it would be job-done.

      AND our Máirtín loves his DS – he’d never lose or break it.

    Leave a reply

Search

Powered by WordPress