Edutainment
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A combination of education and entertainment, it refers to content that can both educate and entertain. The idea of edutainment is nothing new, and it has been around for years now, in the form of movies, television shows, museums, and a lot more.
This term was first used by The Walt Disney Company in 1948 to talk about the “True Life Adventure” series. Nowadays, edutainment is frequently used in many different settings and many different ways. Examples include:
- Elementary schools: Educational toys are a vital part of elementary education, which is the reason they have been included in modern school curriculums. Computers would not be considered as toys, however, as children of the elementary school age group do not play as much video games as a form of educational development.
- Universities: Edutainment is even effective during long lectures. University professors have found it helpful in maintaining their students’ interests, by using various methods of teaching such as videos, Power Point slides, demonstrations, discussions, etc.
- Video games: It can even be said that video games can better educate a student than a teacher can. Video games ensure that every person is playing at a difficulty level that they can cope with, are more engaging than classroom lectures, can teach problem solving and would provide a challenge for the students that they will want to excel at.
- Corporations: Edutainment is being used to create different types of learning programs for businesses. Power Point presentations are made more entertaining through the use of flashy graphics or animation, for instance.
- Radio: Several radio shows, as such as “The Archers” and “Soul City” are examples of shows that have educated its audience on various different topics.
- Museums, zoos, botanical gardens, etc.: In other words, public places. Educations places as such as those constantly look for new ways to make learning interesting, as botanical gardens and museums, for instance, aren’t typically considered to be fun places to visit.
Children in schools often do not know the purpose of education. Edutainment strives to teach the students effectively, setting up goals for them and clarifying the purpose of learning.
Although edutainment seems like a novel educational method, in theory, the reality is quite different. It has been found that edutainment is only used in kindergarten levels, as children at that age seemed to learn a lot more in comparison to older school goers, proving that edutainment is effective. Every other form of learning level, on the other hand, as such as high schools, universities and even corporate jobs are treated like rat races.
That said, there are still many people who are against edutainment, claiming that it has made a mockery of education, with many being suspicious of such teaching methods. That said, the teaching methods will evolve alongside technology, and currently, edutainment is the best teaching method until it is overthrown by something even more effective.