marcc

Week 9 response

I am taking the “Beyond Bits and Atoms” course with Prof. Blikstein this semester so I was very familiar with the content in his article and that of Peppler and Bender. I think it’s important to share with the students in this class some of what we’ve discussed there, because there are critical tensions between… Read more Week 9 response

Week 8 response - "a reason to reason"

The Steinkuehler and Duncan reading touches on something important that I think has less to do with science education than with the motivation and purpose behind reasoning and learning. Their argument is that games, and particularly MMORPGs like World of Warcraft,  might be excellent settings to foster scientific thinking. They note that in the WoW online forums,… Read more Week 8 response - "a reason to reason"

Week 7 response

This week’s readings emphasized the important difference between thoughtful, well-designed learning games and ineffective games. I figured that Zhang was talking about Coolmath before she even named it because of that site’s reputation for shallow math games. I hope that Zhang’s study is not understood to mean that math games are ineffective. Berkowitz et al… Read more Week 7 response

Week 6 response

I liked the Rogoff (1991) and Doise (1990) citations in Cassell (p. 78), where Cassell writes: “When two peers collaborate, the simple juxtaposition of their actions allows the peers to modify their understanding of their own actions, through appropriating the perspective of the other peer. That is, to apply Rogoff’s notion to emergent literacy, the… Read more Week 6 response

Group Project

Marc Campasano No group yet Interested in math mostly, but willing to explore other traditional content areas. Interested in K-8. I’m a good writer, creative thinker, am decent at mocking up simple interfaces, and have a somewhat developed idea for my LDT project ready to go.

Week 5 response

I am curious about the “culture of simulation” that Squire mentions on the first page of his paper. I have read plenty of arguments that the introduction of computers has fundamentally changed our culture, but I have never encountered a critique from this approach. I wonder: What are the other significant simulations we encounter each… Read more Week 5 response

Tech Review and Redesign: Sushi Monster

Sushi Monster iPhone app Aimed at ages 9-11, according to the app store https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sushi-monster/id512651258?mt=8 Aimed at teaching rapid math facts by having the user construct sums and products from constituent numbers PDF: Marc Campasano – Assignment 1 (Sushi Monster) I looked at the iPhone app Sushi Monster by Scholastic. Sushi Monster is intended to teach addition… Read more Tech Review and Redesign: Sushi Monster

Critical Media Literacy

The Black et al reading is the second reading in this class (after Alper, week 2) to emphasize the need for children to develop “critical media literacy.” Both papers recommend that children gain some critical faculties for analyzing the cultural messages and assumptions that they receive from media. I think this is desirable, but I… Read more Critical Media Literacy

Could instant information be bad for generation?

On pp. 13-14, Miller and Warschauer discuss the pros and cons of assistive ebook features such as read-aloud and built-in dictionaries. They say that such features can aid in reader engagement and understanding, while noting concerns that they might be doing the work for learners. Read-aloud may be too much handholding for learners who should… Read more Could instant information be bad for generation?

Parasocial Relationship

My favorite cartoon when I was young (and maybe still today) was Ed, Edd, n’ Eddy on Cartoon Network. The protagonists of the show were the three “Eds,” living in suburbia like me, each with a wildly different personality. Ed was an absurdist oaf, Edd was a nebbish nerd, and Eddy was a conniving prankster. Two friends… Read more Parasocial Relationship