NASA is sponsoring the 21st Century Podcast Competition! To enter you must create a podcast that is one minute or less in length that answers the question: How will space exploration benefit your life in the future? The competition is open to US citizens between 11-18 years of age. Head to http://www.explorationpodcast.com/ to learn more!
Thanks to Bob Sprankle and Cheryl Oaks at the Bit by Bit Podcast for this!
I’m not a gamer. In fact, games drive me nuts. Once in a while I’ll sit with one of my kids and try to play but within a few minutes frustration builds inside me to the point that I’m ready to throw the controller across the room. I’m not a gamer but I try to be open-minded. I’m not anti-gaming.
I’ve read about Marc Prensky’s work and I’ve listened to a couple of podcasts by him. To those that don’t know his work, he writes about gaming and what kids learn through it. Most recently I listened to Prensky being interviewed for Apple’s Cut To The Core: Essential Podcasts for Educators. (subscribe here)
Last class yesterday afternoon I used the podcast with a seventh grade class. It was the last block of a long week. It was our mentoring trip week so half the middle school students went on trips at the beginning of the week while half went on trips at the end of the week. This group had traveled at the beginning of the week so it meant we were all a bit tired by Friday. It seemed like a good time to change things up and see what they thought about Prensky’s ideas. I played clips from the podcast, pausing periodically to get their feedback on what he was saying. I was blown away.
At one point Prensky comments that parents should really thank their kids for playing games because they learn so much. Of course the kids loved that idea. They gave examples of what they’ve learned from games. One student pointed out that what he knows about WWII he learned from a game. (He named the game but I didn’t catch it.) Another student—one of the quietest in the class—said that when playing games he learns about how he learns. (The conversation veered in another direction before I could flesh out this idea properly but I’d like to follow up on the idea later.)
The students felt very strongly that gaming is a social activity. They play with other people either on-line or in the same room. Even when they’re not playing they talk to other kids about the games in order to learn how to advance to the next level.
One thing we didn’t resolve was the idea of violence in games and it’s acceptability. We ran out of time while we were discussing it. There was some division among the kids on this issue. Many students felt that games were fantasy and as such violence was okay. Other students brought up stories of kids doing violent acts and saying it was because of violence in games.
It was a great discussion. I learned a lot from them. As good as the discussion was, we still only heard from a handful of students. Perhaps small group discussions would help. More Web 2.0 tools like blogging or discussion boards may work as well. Also, Web 2.0 tools would have the advantage of keeping the conversation going even when we run out of time in class.
I had an interesting dinner conversation at a party last weekend. Several people were involved. One individual was particularly interesting. He’s originally from China, attended university in the U.S., worked for Microsoft in the U.S. for several years, but is now back in China. He works for a U.S. based software company—not Microsoft. He’s been back in China for nearly ten years. Some key points from his conversation include:
Wesley Fryer’s Moving At The Speed of Creativity Podcast this week is a recording of Dr. Stephen Krashen’s speech at the 2006 Encyclo-Media Conference, hosted by the Oklahoma Department of Education on 31 August and 1 September 2006 in Oklahoma City. It’s well worth a listen. Here’s a link to the podcast. A few things struck me. First, I’ve missed the boat when it comes to comic books. Dr. Krashen discusses research that shows a positive link between comic book reading and the long-term enjoyment/habit of reading.
Secondly, he challenged my thinking by saying he thinks US public schools should not spend so much money on computers but rather spend it on books. He’s talking about situations where school libraries have few books and children have very limited access to books. That’s not the situation where I teach. I’m thankful I don’t have to make a choice between books and computers. He comments that there is very little research that shows a positive correlation between computer use and reading improvement. I see two issues in what he says. First, we need more research and second, computer programs are often poorly implemented so the research will be inconclusive at best. All too often resources are spent on putting hardware and software in schools but little is put into professional development so that teachers use the machines effectively. To really make a difference we have to use computer hardware and software to teach differently. We shouldn’t be using them to do the same old thing.
I was happy when I learn that Blogger is no longer blocked here. I don’t use it much but of course I believe that freedom of information is necessary for an open and democratic society.
Unfortunately, PBWiki has recently been blocked. I used PBWiki with my fourth grade class last year. They were very keen to keep using it this year even though they wouldn’t be together as a group. Unfortunately, they can no longer get to their pages.
