Post by jdaddy on Dec 14, 2007 16:15:06 GMT -4
[MA] High Stakes for Poker as a Learning Tool
by Gary Rivlin, New York Times
Not so long ago, poker was just a game. A few years back it emerged as a fad. Then, largely because of television, it morphed into a national phenomenon, if not an industry.
Is it any wonder, then, that some are aiming to turn it into a higher cause?
A Harvard Law School professor and a group of his students formed an organization this fall — the Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society — dedicated to demonstrating that poker has educational benefits. They argue that the game, which is probability-based and requires risk assessment, situational analysis and a gift for reading people, can be an effective teaching tool, whether for middle school math or in business and law classes.
“I see great advantage in hitting kids as early as sixth grade, when they’re dropping out of math,” said Charles R. Nesson, the Harvard Law School professor who began the society with a group of his students. “I’m thinking of kids who are into their video games but instead of Halo-3 and World of Warcraft, we lead them into a game environment that has real intellectual depth to it, and feeds their curiosity rather than snuffs it out.”
The society has been working to establish chapters at campuses nationwide. This semester, it has sponsored seminars at Harvard featuring academics and authors to evangelize the wonders of poker. In the spring it plans to hold a workshop on using poker to teach math to children, to be held at the Smith Leadership Academy, a Boston charter school for at-risk kids in the sixth through eighth grades. “We see great potential for reaching our students in an innovative way,” said Karmala Sherwood, the school’s headmaster.
Others see great potential for creating gambling addiction. Chad Hills, a gambling analyst for Focus on the Family, the conservative Christian group, described as “moronic” any policy that encourages more school-age children to gamble.
“Kids are extremely vulnerable to gambling addiction,” said Mr. Hills, who likened poker to a “gateway drug” that leads to the harder stuff like craps and slot machines.
Professor Nesson, who also helped to found the law school’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, said that even before creating the society he consulted with Howard Shaffer, director of the division on addictions at the Harvard Medical School, to better understand the downside of the game. “I don’t intend to push these problems away,” he said.
by Gary Rivlin, New York Times
Not so long ago, poker was just a game. A few years back it emerged as a fad. Then, largely because of television, it morphed into a national phenomenon, if not an industry.
Is it any wonder, then, that some are aiming to turn it into a higher cause?
A Harvard Law School professor and a group of his students formed an organization this fall — the Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society — dedicated to demonstrating that poker has educational benefits. They argue that the game, which is probability-based and requires risk assessment, situational analysis and a gift for reading people, can be an effective teaching tool, whether for middle school math or in business and law classes.
“I see great advantage in hitting kids as early as sixth grade, when they’re dropping out of math,” said Charles R. Nesson, the Harvard Law School professor who began the society with a group of his students. “I’m thinking of kids who are into their video games but instead of Halo-3 and World of Warcraft, we lead them into a game environment that has real intellectual depth to it, and feeds their curiosity rather than snuffs it out.”
The society has been working to establish chapters at campuses nationwide. This semester, it has sponsored seminars at Harvard featuring academics and authors to evangelize the wonders of poker. In the spring it plans to hold a workshop on using poker to teach math to children, to be held at the Smith Leadership Academy, a Boston charter school for at-risk kids in the sixth through eighth grades. “We see great potential for reaching our students in an innovative way,” said Karmala Sherwood, the school’s headmaster.
Others see great potential for creating gambling addiction. Chad Hills, a gambling analyst for Focus on the Family, the conservative Christian group, described as “moronic” any policy that encourages more school-age children to gamble.
“Kids are extremely vulnerable to gambling addiction,” said Mr. Hills, who likened poker to a “gateway drug” that leads to the harder stuff like craps and slot machines.
Professor Nesson, who also helped to found the law school’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, said that even before creating the society he consulted with Howard Shaffer, director of the division on addictions at the Harvard Medical School, to better understand the downside of the game. “I don’t intend to push these problems away,” he said.