Pragmatic Pedagogy
The function of educational games may vary widely. They may teach deductive reasoning, they may nurture family ties and stimulate children’s development, or they may enhance awareness of cultural heritage.
Adventure Kit of Mathematics. New York: Golden Press, 1960.
A number of board games were designed to teach mathematics and science. Today’s children might be confused by this learning kit from the 1960s, with its cardboard calculator and scale.
African American Discovery Game. Empak Publishing Company, 1990.
Educational games can also help preserve cultural heritage and identity. The African American Discovery Game encourages pride in the achievements of African Americans by conveying important historical facts. While it was designed for use in the home, it may also be used in a school classroom setting with multiple groups of players.
Scrabble. Production and Marketing Company, 1948.
Scrabble, formerly known as “Criss-Cross Words,” was invented during the Great Depression by Alfred Mosher Butts. Butts was an unemployed architect who wanted to produce a game that combined words and chance. Scrabble has become one of the world’s most popular games, promoting instruction in vocabulary and spelling, as well as a lifelong passion for words.
Bradley’s Kindergarten Material. Springfield, Massachusetts: Milton Bradley Company, ca. 1930.
The modern kindergarten grew from the ideas of the German philosopher and pedagogue, Friedrich Fröbel. Fröbel believed that there was unity in all realms of existence. Beauty, science, nature and humanity, he felt, were all interconnected. He developed a system of kindergarten "gifts," or lessons, during which children used the same materials every day to construct different projects. Fröbel's abstract views of the universe are often identified as a major influence in the modernist movement; Frank Lloyd Wright, Piet Mondrian, and Vasily Kandinsky all attended kindergartens. These "gifts"are part of the American adaptation of Fröbel's ideas.