Learning by doing

A couple of decades ago, I pitched an idea to the board of Dorling Kindersley, a publisher of educational books. It came about like this. I happened to get talking to the chairman, and he mentioned that their books weren't selling as well as they had in the '80s and '90s. My suggestion was to build in interactivity. Instead of just reading about a topic, kids would get to play with the concepts. The book would then have a focus. They'd read it in order to get better at the game -- which could involve rocket design, evolution, terraforming, history, or anything else.

I looked at one of DK's books that the chairman had in his office. It was about outer space. On the back it read, "Learn about the solar system in a fun way!" What's the subtext there? It's saying, "This is boring but we'll try and pep it up." SMH. Why not start with the idea that outer space is exciting? (The kids who would read this book all think so.) And then add the chance to play around with the ideas. It's just being lectured to that kids find boring.

People learn better when they can get hands-on. That's not news. As I said, I and a colleague went to present the idea to the DK board. I set up a PlayStation so we could look at a few games. The chairman walked in. "If you're all going to spend the afternoon gawping at videogames," he said, "somebody can come and get me when you're done."

The board members reacted like guilty children. "Oh, maybe we'd better not look at the games," said one as the chairman stalked off down the corridor.

"He's going to retire in a year's time," I said. "Do you want to move into the 21st century or not?"

Not, as it turns out. After the meeting (in which no games were demonstrated) one board member came to me and said, "We can't push this, but if you want to evangelize for it then we'll support you."

"I'm a freelance," I reminded her. "If you want somebody to champion a new initiative, you need somebody who's on your payroll."

Did they? Well, here we are more than twenty years on, and people are still talking about interactivity and learning as if it were a new discovery. And I expect Dorling Kindersley are still just doing books.