Video Games Added to Preschool Education（在线收听）

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 sectors in the UK, but there are fears that video game addiction 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 dominant 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 opposition 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 addicted.

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 Wan.