No exams, Yes video games

The psychological studies on the subject of self esteem show that when children are criticized at an early age for their behavior, it affects their self esteem negatively for the rest of their lives. If that's the case, what effect does it have on children when they are told that their answers to the questions in the exam were wrong. This obviously leads a child to believe that he/she has done something wrong. Moreover, they find that they have done things "wrong", while others have done them "right". Although, all that has happened is they haven't understood the concept of the subject matter sufficiently. An adult can appreciate how minor this small lack of understanding is; but for a child it could represent a "social status" in their social circle of friends. It could represent their validation in the eyes of their parents. When they are told that they are wrong, it definitely registers as a negative feeling with them. The failure registers more strongly in their mind, than the reason behind that failure. This doesn't help them getting the correct understanding of the subject.

How can we then teach the children in a way that will convey to them that their understanding of the subject is not right, and yet reinforce this in a positive manner?

I look towards the video games for answer to this question.

In a video game, you cannot make progress through a level unless you have gotten the rules of the game right and have beaten the game AI. If these games of rules represent the concepts in academic subjects, then they will be the best replacement for exams. This mechanism of discovering your own mistake doesn't stress on the fact that you were wrong before, it instead highlights the fact that you eventually got it right and lets you proceed to next puzzle/level. Try to remember the excitement you felt, when you beat a game level on your own after failing at it many times. This definitely registers as a positive event in the player's mind. Also while figuring out how to beat the game, the player automatically realizes his/her own mistake thus understanding why he/she was wrong before.

It will take time to creatively translate academic material into a playful and artistic manner, and then design puzzles on top of them. But it is definitely worth doing. It's the right application of the computing technology to further the educational system of our society.

I am very hopeful looking at the games like Dragonbox Elements that in not too distant future video games will rid our educational system of that nightmarish phenomenon called 'Exam'.