Video Games Added to Preschool Education

A new term has just started in many preschools in the UK. What's different about this new term is that students will be taught using a new curriculum, one which involves video games. Do video games help or not? The issue has aroused heated discussion among experts and scholars in the UK.

 
For some people, video games are a hobby, but for others the hobby may have gone too far. The video games industry is one of the fastest growing entertainment sectors¹ in the UK, but there are fears that video game addiction² is on the increase.

However, a number of so-called brain training video games have recently been included as part of the preschool education curriculum by a number of schools in the country.

Although most students at preschool age are still unable to write their name, they have no difficulty in playing video games. What's more, they are much more interested in playing games compared to reading and writing.

Mr. Smith, a preschool teacher in the UK says allowing children to access video games earlier will contribute to their brain development.

"It's very prevalent and dominant³ in today's society, and it's not really going away anytime soon, so we feel very strongly that they should have an opportunity to learn and be educated, and investigate through these tools. We won't limit their exposure to the traditional methods of learning."

Some video game developers in the industry have long been aware of the potential market in preschool education, and have started to provide various preschool user-friendly tablet computers.

However, such commercial practice has aroused opposition⁴ from some education experts. These experts believe children won't be able to enjoy reading if they spend so much time playing video games, ultimately meaning that that the video games will be counter productive. Laura is one of these experts.

"If kids don't learn to self-regulate, learn to put off rewards at an early age, then they may not be able to take advantage of the education system. The point about new technology is it just gives you this instantaneous, quick fix rewards. The program rewards you every seven seconds."

Most experts in the UK insist that a balanced education is more important. Children should be encouraged to learn happily, and improve their skills in reading, writing and self-regulation, in the hope that preschool education may lay a sound foundation for future education.

According to data cited in the American Medical Association's report, up to 90 percent of American youngsters play video games and as many as 15 percent of them - more than 5 million kids - may be addicted⁵.

Video game addition has become a growing problem in China. Experts estimate that as much as 14 percent of Chinese teenagers suffer from some kind of video game or internet addiction.

For CRI, I am Zhang Wan⁶.

1 sectors   

n.部门( sector的名词复数 )；领域；防御地区；扇形

参考例句：

• Berlin was divided into four sectors after the war. 战后柏林分成了4 个区。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Industry and agriculture are the two important sectors of the national economy. 工业和农业是国民经济的两个重要部门。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 addiction   

n.上瘾入迷，嗜好

参考例句：

• He stole money from his parents to feed his addiction.他从父母那儿偷钱以满足自己的嗜好。
• Areas of drug dealing are hellholes of addiction,poverty and murder.贩卖毒品的地区往往是吸毒上瘾、贫困和发生谋杀的地方。

3 dominant   

adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因

参考例句：

• The British were formerly dominant in India.英国人从前统治印度。
• She was a dominant figure in the French film industry.她在法国电影界是个举足轻重的人物。

4 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

5 addicted   

adj.沉溺于....的，对...上瘾的

参考例句：

• He was addicted to heroin at the age of 17.他17岁的时候对海洛因上了瘾。
• She's become addicted to love stories.她迷上了爱情小说。

6 wan   

(wide area network)广域网

参考例句：

• The shared connection can be an Ethernet,wireless LAN,or wireless WAN connection.提供共享的网络连接可以是以太网、无线局域网或无线广域网。