
Digital Schoolhouse, a UK-based initiative from Ukie which introduces play-based learning to the school curriculum, has teamed up with Nintendo UK and Outright Games to expand its primary school Esports program.
After a successful pilot scheme last year, a new nationwide tournament consisting of Switch games like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Race with Ryan and Crayola Scoot has been announced for pupils aged eight to eleven. The tournament is described as "an immersive careers experience" that'll allow aspiring pupils to go hands-on in a range of lessons and activities based on real job roles within the games industry.
The activities involved are mapped to subjects already on the curriculum such as Computing, English, Maths, Design and Technology, and PSHE, and teachers will be offered resources which will allow them to use different games to engage the students.
Kalpesh Tailor, Head of Communications at Nintendo UK, has shared the following:
"We are thrilled in our role as lead partner for Digital Schoolhouse to be bringing yet another transformative and inspiring programme to young pupils across the UK with Nintendo Switch. In the past year our partnership has reached over 10,000 pupils and 1000 teams in schools & colleges across the UK with the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Team Battle tournament.
We have seen first-hand the positive impact this has had on pupils who have benefited from teamwork, strategy and social improvements. It is not only inspiring pupils but also helping to educate teachers and parents about the endless opportunities digital skills create.
It is great that we can deliver a tailored educational programme using Mario Kart 8 Deluxe so primary school pupils can also engage and get hands on experiences in a multitude of important roles developing and running a nationwide innovative tournament."
A Junior Esports Evaluation report showed that pupils who participated in the pilot Esports tournament were more engaged with activities in school; 84% of pupils wanted more lessons in school similar to the esports tournament, 55% of teachers reported that their pupils’ level of attainment was higher than usual, and 91% of teachers reported that pupils were either very or extremely interested in careers in games as a result.
Comments 13
My 8yr old is going to hoping it comes to his school!
Mario Kart goes to school ?! 😲
Ok this is not fair, I would have much rather played Mariokart than done football or cricket, but this isn't physical exercise, so what's going on?
"84% of pupils wanted more lessons in school similar to the esports tournament"
Lol...orly now? 🤣
For the record, I won the Super Mario Kart tournament at Patrick V's birthday party and I didn't even own a SNES. Beat that, 8 year olds!
If only this had been a thing when I was at primary school, back in the days of 64/Double Dash. I’d have mopped the floor with all my classmates.
Enough reason to bring those cool costumes from Tour over to 8 Deluxe! Right?
..... right?
That‘s how times change. Back in my day, a couple of friends and I were the nerds and were even asked by the teacher to play less video games, lol.
Is there a way to apply for this for schools?!?
"And 100% of teachers reported all their children now wanted their parents to buy them a Switch."
I think that's pretty obviously the real reason Nintendo are involved. It's like Coca Cola helping with special Coca Cola drinking lessons in order to teach kids social skills, and maths skills like how many delicious, refreshing cups of Coke can you get from one affordably priced 2 litre bottle.
@Bunkerneath Its for STEM and PSHE. You can teach kids a lot about society and how to deal with negative emotions when playing 4-player Mario Kart. Race tracks are also a good way to introduce the concepts of level design into Design and Technology and ICT lessons. You can then elaborate on this and talk about urban design and the challenges city designers face in taking transportation into account.
As a Design and Technology teacher I use videogames as a starting point for lots of concepts. I even taught a lesson on custody battles in PSHE using Street Fighter 2.
So much for Nintendo shedding the Nintendo is for Kids image! I'm not jealous at all. I didn't even want this when I was in school. This loser tournament is stupid.
@Matroska I remember when a a 2 liter bottle was $0.79 on sales basically all the time.... Can't even get water for less than triple that now!
@RadioHedgeFund At first I thought you were serious, then I thought you weren't then I thought you were. Hail Internet!
You can then use blue shells to teach about how anything you do in life is futile as the monopolistic overlords really control the results in the end anyway.
@kupocake and I clocked Mario Kart Circuit 1 under 1 minute, w00t 😎
Show Comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...