ADD & NASA

I saw this on C|Net today and besides using two of my favourite games (Ratchet and Clank, Burnout) and being very similar to the Alert program aka “How does your engine run” (based on How Does Your Engine Run? A Leader’s Guide to the Alert Program for Self-Regulation (Williams & Shellenberger, 1996) I have noticed some of the same things myself.

The system looks to the performance in the game to determine the status of the player. I think we have all seen what happens to our own performance in games and any other task when we are tired, stressed or otherwise distracted. But this turns the game performance around and looks to help the player achieve by monitoring brain waves and manipulating the I/O system used by the game. I may be naive in thinking this, but it seems to me that you can likely do the same thing if you are able to spend short periods of time with a student who is having trouble focussing. Of course it won’t be the same as what the CyberLearning system has achieved but it would seem that if you have a child who is having focus issues, this may be another tool that you can adapt from what resources you have available.