|
News 
British Kids Know Their Pokemon
- Posted By Michael
Loewer, 04.04.2002
Researchers in Britain recently decided to test the level of knowledge British children have of local plant and animal life. There was concern that the kids were lacking in such knowledge, and to test the hypothesis, an experiment involving Pokemon was devised.
A total of 109 children aged four to eleven were tested from two primary schools in Cambridgeshire. Using flashcards, the kids were asked to identify both 10 types of local wildlife and 10 Pokemon species drawn at random.
Dr. Tim Coulson, a member of the research team from the Department of Zoology at Cambridge, reported the obvious results. The average success at correctly answering the wildlife questions rose from 32% at age four to 53% at age eight. However, Pokemon recognition rose from 7% at age four to an excellent 78% by age eight. Boys tended to score higher overall, but only because girls tended to score lower on the Pokemon test and it skewed their entire average down.
Folks, let's get serious for a second and look at the damned obvious reason for this kind of result. What would children find more interesting and fun: memorizing wildlife or playing with pretend animal species that have special battle powers? Christ on a stick, I'm a legal adult and I'd much rather watch Pokemon than write another damn program or design another circuit. This is like having a study that shows people can more accurately name famous sitcom stars than they can our nation's presidents.
Duh. Duh and a half.
Videogames are not to blame for the world's problems. Neither are television, movies, or popular entertainment. All kids are stupid, it's how they establish natural equilibrium with their environment. I'm not sure if anyone has noticed, but most people in general don't really deserve to exist.
Play videogames. Play Pokemon. Have fun.
Editor-in-Chief Michael Loewer, out.
E-mail MTM Technologies for all your web needs.
Source: Cosmiverse
|
 |
|
2.gif)
