Videogames for creativity

Hmmm. Food for thought, maybe, if the Singapore Ministry of Defense can defer a Singaporean teenager's compulsory National Service "so he could finish competing in the finals of the World Cyber Games - the Olympics of online war games," as New York Times columnist Tom Friedman points out. Friedman uses that development to illustrate Singapore's new thrust in its effort to stay competitive in the global economy: supporting creativity of all forms (rather than rote-learning) in education. He points to a tool being used in 35 of Singapore's 165 schools: HeyMath.net, "started four years ago in Chennai, India, by two young Indian bankers … in partnership with the Millennium Mathematics Project at Cambridge University." Parents and educators, check out HeyMath, free to all on the Web, and see Friedman's piece for further details. As for the World Cyber Games 2005, their Grand Final is in Singapore in mid-November, with 800 players from 70 countries competing for some $430,000 in prizes.