Dundee's Add Knowledge Develops Serious Games

Scotland's University of Abertay Dundee has established a new project known as Add Knowledge, which was founded as a means to develop educational serious games and provide game consoles to children between the ages of 5-12 to support the teaching of “key components of the Scottish primary school curriculum.” In addition, the project aims to generate a number of game development jobs within the region, with a European game studio providing custom-designed computer games to support the national curriculum. The project, which is currently in a two-year pilot phase, was created with the support Scottish Enterprise Tayside, the local subsidiary of Scotland's primary economic development agency. If successful, project organizers note that the pilot project could lead to the roll out of the concept across Scotland, providing 400,000 primary school children with their own learning consoles to use at home. Add Knowledge officials add that the project has also recently recruited Sandy Watson, former chief executive of Angus Council, to assist with the project. Watson has a considerable career in education, having served as education director and later chief executive of Tayside Regional Council, and as president and later general secretary of the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland. "By providing a technology with which children are already familiar, and focusing it specifically on supporting home study, Add Knowledge will, I am convinced, be making a major contribution to a key aspect of learning in the 5-12 age bracket,” commented Watson. “I am delighted to be able to contribute to this historic educational development for Scotland.”