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Push cars and the future of learning


Push cars is one of the new game app on the Apple Store. We downloaded this quite by chance.
It takes off where "Unblock me" (video above) and its parking counterpart (same game using cars) left.

Myself and the little one have been playing this with gusto for the past few weeks (except somewhere during the iOS5 upgrade, the game went kaput). There are versions of physical unblock mes available - and are used quite widely in schools as part of their co-curricular (usually paid separately) activities.

Where push cars scores is making the whole damn thing so mobile, and just so simple. The bad cars have to crash while the good cars have to escape. Every city introduces a new car (good or bad) with slightly complex features and keeping it all in mind, one has to ensure that the good cars escape and the bad cars crash.

The levels are not simple. And require quite a bit of contrarian thinking to make it work. And yes, they are far better than mindless single person shooting games - there is no exposure to mindless violence.

I believe that playing such games enhances childrens (and adults) thinking skills - far more than when they are taught about thinking skills. It is self driven, quite challenging yet solvable, the mind is open and receptive as well and they learn by doing. Unbeatable combination!

Is this the future of learning?
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