Group items tagged

The article I choose to read is very similar to Gee's Book we have been reading. It begins by talking about a teacher in New York, who is teaching a 6th grade class. But, this is no ordinary class, he is teaching these students through video games. These kids not only have the opportunity to watch video games and plot the characters movements, but they also have the chance to create games themselves. I then goes on to talk about what it would be like if the way we educated kids completely changed.

This chapter was about a topic that I have actually thought about which is being able to tell the "good guy" apart from the "bag guy" and what makes them that way. The fact that there are video games in which you can choose to play as the bad or good character in the story changes the way you play it and how you are perceived, Also as you choose which character to play, in the game alone even if you are the bad guy you are still the good character. In the real world people make out the world to seem black and white, your either the good guy or the bad guy. Who determines what is to be considered bad and good and just because a person makes a bad choice does not make them a bad person. The world is filled with millions of examples of cultural models and rule they way people think and perceive different things making a model of what we should all consider to be good and if we do something otherwise then it is the wrong (or bad) thing to do. Video games can teach the player that there is more meaning to to being the bad or good character and that a gray area exists.

In "using the technology of today, in the classroom of today" authors Eric Klopfer, Scot Osterweil, Jennifer Groff, Jason Haas start to give basis to the argument that technologies such as videogames and social networking sites help shape learning. They focus on how they are learning outside of school but in completely different ways than teachers focus on. They argue, "Nearly all institutions- business, industry, medicine, science and government - have harnessed aspects of these technologies for decades. Games and simulations have been a key component of training doctors and military personnel, but even businesses like PricewaterhouseCoopers used a game about a mining company in outer space to teach its employees about derivatives. Although that may seem a bit "off the wall," the fact is major corporations, the Department of Defense, and the medical community would not use these tools if they were not highly effective" to illustrate how corporations use videogames so the educational system shouldn't reject it them as a learning tool. They point out how videogames can serve as a simulation for real life just as mining in outer space can teach about derivatives. Videogames are also a highly interactive learning environment. Instead of being told information, students are right in the middle of the action and the learning. They also discuss how social networking is a new way of collaborating with other about a wide variety of subjects including school work. The authors write, "Of course, educators have long been aware that learning is a social activity, where learners construct their understanding not just through interaction with the material, but also through collaboratively constructing new knowledge with their peers" but teachers reject the use of social networking as means of learning because of the other aspects included safety or privacy. But what teachers can learn from social sites is that "'knowledge cultures' assembled in these o

This article is very rich with information that has to do with how digital games, social networks, and simulations can be involved in classrooms. With the involvement of them is more than just entertainment that children or people actually learn stuff from them.

This article covers video game use in the classroom and the advantages to introducing students to video games.

In this talk, Tom shows 7 ways how games can help us when we use it in education. If only our mind can be addicting to education as in games, then that's a reward to our brain.

This article talks about the profanity in video games and how it effects video games.

How new ways of playing a game may change the gaming world.

This article is about a veteran teacher who has taught in schools for 32 years all over Manhattan. He introduces a class in technology and game design. SARA CORBETT talkes about how students would benifit if teachers stepped away from what they thought was a typical classroom and focused on different approaches to reach and educate children. According to Sara Corbett, "Quest to Learn is organized specifically around the idea that digital games are central to the lives of today's children and also increasingly, as their speed and capability grow, powerful tools for intellectual exploration".

Annotation #2 This video was on a school that made video games at part of the school for those students who are struggling to stay focused. Students are able to do work from computer games made by the schools.

In the chapter "Civic Identities, Online Technologies: From Designing Civics Curriculum to Supporting Civic Experiences" from Marina Umaschi Bers book, Civic Life Online: Learning How Digital Media Can Engage Youth, the author claims that online games, such as Zora, help our youth engage in community and civics. Zora allows it's players to create their own individual avatar, with physical, mental, and emotional traits that the players choose. Bers argues that Zora is a great way for children to think about their identity and civic life by making choices that will show them how to acquire certain sills and attitudes to become good citizens. Like many other researchers, Bers agrees that it is easiest to learn by doing, and games like Zora are helping to improve the youths social awareness. This chapter describes engagement in society not only by voting and being political, but by forming communities and volunteering.

In "Civic Identities, Online Technologies: From Designing Civics Curriculum to Supporting Civic Experiences" by Marina Umaschi Bers, Bers discusses a scenario that is being used all across the country. Zora is a three dimensional multiuser environment that students use to think about identity and civic life. Students make avatars and are in charge of everything going on in the city or summer camp. This came to life after identity construction environments (ICEs) were found that creative things to do on the computer make children learn better. The students work mostly with different civic identities like police, Jewish people, etc. along with real life, controversial community related issues which the students try to solve. Many of the tools used in Zora can then beused in real life and the moral values can be used both on the computer and in real life. Zora is different than traditional learning because "Children are put in the role of producers, instead of consumers, of information, knowledge, and habits of mind."

Video games today isn't just for kids and teaches anymore. Gaming have been use in many new and different ways that have helped improved businesses, educations and also the medical fields.

This article discussed how college students behavior changes differently from all the violent that they seen in the games and internet.

Gaming addiction information

This article by Kurt Squire explains how video games is becoming a field of learning and attracting educators.

"Researchers eager to find out what gaming might reveal about American culture" Interesting article about gaming, avatars, and identity

A great example video of a first person game.

It talks about how our generation is different and why teachers need to change. It also discus ways to use video games in school to help students learn.

As I was looking for articles to do more research on my topic, I came upon an article that seemed to have a good amount of information that could be helpful to my research. A question that was asked in the article was whether or not all this technology that is being used in classrooms could be giving kids anxiety.

Annotation #3 This is about using modern games to teach concepts.

In chapter five of this book, Gee, the author, explains that humans have a difficult time processing information that they cannot relate to other contexts. When students sit in lecture for a long period of time and then told to go apply what they just learned, it's almost impossible for them to do so. Information learned this way is only stored in the brain for a short period of time.