Education and Edutainment Essay

The idea that accomplishment can be fun, and fun can promote learning, is transforming attractions that formerly saw themselves as primarily either education- or entertainment-oriented. Its even spawned a new backchat edutainment.The American Heritage Dictionary defines edutainment as the act of learning through a medium that some(prenominal) educates and entertains. In that definition, learning is the key element. Wed suggest that when applied to the location-based entertainment (LBE) industry, the emphasis is switched.We define LBE edutainment as events, programs and attractions where the entertainment qualities are the primary draw, with the learning or education being a byproduct. We see edutainment as any entertainment that also delivers educational content in an entertainment format. It consists of two equally distinguished parts the format (entertainment) and the message/content (education).Our research indicates the first base use of the word edutainment was for educati onally oriented CD-ROM games used to teach children in an entertaining way. As best we can determine, our company was the first to apply the word in the LBE industry to describe the childrens play & discovery centers we starting producing for our clients in the mid-90s, which we called childrens edutainment centers. The articles we authored about edutainment centers published in industry magazines during the late 90s imbedded the term into the industrys lexicon. tending(p) a choice between just education, just entertainment, or a combination of the two, more LBE guests select the two-fer. A couple of examples One survey of videogame manufacturers and designers found that they believe that a game with up to 50% educational content will still be perceived as entertainment. And many informal learning institutions like zoos, museums and botanical gardens are adding entertainment elements to their offerings in recognition of the greater appeal of this combination.