Bingo has long been used for a wide variety of educational purposes. There are bingo games designed to teach almost any subject from foreign languages to math. Educational bingo games are now available for free online. Education experts have long known that the game of bingo is an effective teaching tool and have used bingo for decades.
In the UK bingo has been a very popular game since the 1960โs. Even the smallest hamlet has its own bingo hall and the bingo industry including online bingo, generates millions of pounds in revenue every year. The UKโs school behaviour czar, Sir Alan Steer, sees bingo as a solution to chaos in the classroom.
Misbehavior in the classroom has long been a problem on both sides of the Atlantic and educators have searched in vain for a solution for years. Sir Alan believes that discipline problems begin when students lose interest in their lessons. Bingo is seen as a way of maintaining concentration in the classroom.
A government report released in the UK recommends that students play bingo to foster positive behavior in the classroom. Sir Alan believes that playing bingo would help to engage disruptive students and produce positive behavior. Sir Alan stated, โBoth teachers and pupils have the right to work in an orderly environment. Schools should aim for the highest possible standards of pupil behaviour.โ
Although the report has been criticized in some quarters one major UK bingo provider has been providing teachers with material about the game of bingo. Possibly schools could use online bingo to teach computer skills. It will be interesting to see just how well this idea works.
