myupa – EDUC 342: Child Development & New Technologies

Week 9 Discussion

myupa — Thu, 03 Mar 2016 07:57:44 +0000

The study Parents as Learning Partners in the Development of Technological Fluency resonated strongly with me, as I also grew up with a technology-minded father but was never exposed to CS until college. Throughout my brother and I’s childhood, my dad would spend time teaching my brother programming and web design basics. In an interesting turn of events I ended up majoring in Computer Science and my brother is now a musician.

Despite this disparity, I think I still gained a lot of value out of having a technology-minded parent because I was able to observe and model his behaviors towards technology. When I did express initiated interest in engineering and computer science later, his role shifted to that of a resource provider (driving) and encouragement to continue pursuing my interest. The study did leave me wondering how much sooner I could have pursued computer science and what societal factors lead parents to be more inclined to introduce boys to technology.

The article Digital Fabrication and ‘Making’ in Education: The Democratization of Invention also made me curious to know more about how people develop “maker” identities, and how strongly this impacts first-time users of a makerspace.

Week 8 Discussion

myupa — Thu, 25 Feb 2016 07:30:09 +0000

Constance Steinkuehler and Sean Duncan’s paper Scientific Habits of Mind in Virtual Worlds especially intrigued me because of the approach the authors took in analyzing a MMO that was not necessarily created for an educational purpose, but made a valid argument that it can be used to promote informal scientific literacy. I wonder how much of this socially constructed knowledge is based off of each user’s adopted persona – are interactions different if gender becomes apparent? The article mentions that players from all background levels participate in these conversations where knowledge is being socially constructed, but are users more likely to explain harder concepts to boys than to girls? Since gamer culture is predominantly male, I wonder what affordances of MMOs and technology can be leveraged so that video games, and specifically these forum conversations, are more appealing to girls.

I am also very interested in learning more on how students form identities around certain subjects. For example, I am curious to what extent a student who develops a strong “STEM identity” in K-12 is more likely to perform well in STEM classes and perhaps choose a STEM major in college. Steinkuehler and Duncan mention that “intellectual activities that constitute successful gameplay are nontrivial” and include the “construction of new identities” in simulated worlds (Steinkuehler and Duncan 531). Like other forms of childhood play, MMOs seem to be offering a fantastic opportunity for children to assume different roles and learn through role play. It is also established that socially constructed knowledge within MMOs transfer over to the real world. Is this also true / can this be done for something like fostering a sense of STEM identity?

Week 7 Discussion

myupa — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 18:40:06 +0000

In Using Games to Break the Symbol Barrier, Keith Devlin provides Wuzzit as an example of an educational math game that uses a game’s visual affordances to convey math concepts without abstract math symbols in the way. I found Devlin’s concept of the “symbol barrier” to be accurate and compelling, and perhaps a leading cause for the math anxiety that Berkowitz et al describe. Moreover, I believe Wuzzit is an excellent example of educational technology that actually uses the affordances of technology to do away with a barrier in traditional math classrooms. This increases accessibility to people who are fully capable of mastering Everyday Math without having to master mathematical notation first.

Wuzzit provides a good contrast to coolmath-games.com, which I actually researched for my technology redesign project. A lot of the points made in Understanding the Relationships Between Interest In Online Math Games and Academic Performance by Berkowitz et al about the credibility of math content in CoolMath’s games came up in my analysis as well. The website has a few math related games, but a lot more games just geared towards entertainment that do not provide learners with the opportunity to “process mathematical content actively” (Zhang 255). Thus, I feel that the website does not capitalize on the affordances of technology to provide meaningful learning experiences for its users. From an equity standpoint, and especially because this website has a lot of traffic from minority/lower socioeconomic background students, should standards or regulations exist for products that claim to be educational?

Week 5

myupa — Thu, 04 Feb 2016 07:56:13 +0000

In The Benefits of Playing Video Games by Granic et al., I found the information about cognitive benefits intriguing and especially in the context of gender. Going back to our readings and classroom conversations last week about gendered toys and girls being more open and creative with toys that they viewed as being feminine, this reading left me wondering how much shooter games appeal to girls. Shooter games in particular were shown to create “faster and more accurate attention allocation, higher spatial resolution in visual processing, and enhanced mental rotation abilities.” Spatial skills in turn are a large predictor for “achievement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.” Thus, are these shooter games, or the gamer culture built around them, appealing enough to girls so that they can also reap the cognitive and creative benefits? Extending these thoughts to other minority groups, as brought up by Williams et al, can an increase in representation across video game characters have increased increased cognitive, emotional, or social benefits?

Final Project Group

myupa — Thu, 04 Feb 2016 07:29:24 +0000

Project Group: Megan Faulk, Nicole Hardson-Hurley

Interests: Middle school students

Assignment 1 – Monica Yupa

myupa — Thu, 28 Jan 2016 18:36:58 +0000

Description: “To make math enjoyable for people who thought it couldn’t be fun” – Coolmath Karen

URL: coolmath-games.com

Target Age: K-12

Review and Redesign:

YupaAssignment1

Week 4 Response

myupa — Thu, 28 Jan 2016 07:54:42 +0000

I was uncomfortable with Pellegrini and Jones’ conclusion that “Children play longer and in more complex ways when they interact in same-gender groups and with gender-preferred toys,” because when I think of gender-preferred toys I think of games like Barbie Girls. This causes me to wonder – what is the deciding factor for a toy’s gender appeal? If all the avatars in Barbie Girls had occupations outside of the service industry, but the avatars remained female, would young girls still see the game as targeted towards girls? In other words, are the games themselves dictating gender roles, or are the societal norms that the girls enter with overriding everything else? If games could be shaped to appeal to a specific gender, while disregarding societal norms (e.g. women in subservient roles) then games could be used as a very empowering tool.

Finally, I was intrigued by the fact that girls used less fantastical language when they were playing in mixed-gender groups and with toys perceived to be for males or gender-neutral. This reminds me of stereotype threat, where despite equal levels of intelligence/talent, someone belonging to a certain group with a perceived stereotype may perform worse because they are scared of confirming that stereotype. It was interesting to see how early on in child development this appeared.

Week 3

myupa — Thu, 21 Jan 2016 08:00:06 +0000

In Putting Education in “Educational Apps: Lessons From the Science of Learning,” I was intrigued by the tension arising from the affordances of educational technology (in this case tablets and mobile devices). That is, when technology is being used in an educational context, there is a fine line between engaging technologies that enhance learning and technologies with too many bells and whistles that detract from learning. Miller & Warschauer state that, “technology mixed well with young children’s literacy, particularly when play was involved,” while Hirsch-Pasek et al state “‘bells and whistles’ embedded in an e-book often distracted 3-year olds from understanding and remembering the story.'” Moreover, since parents play such an important role in helping children develop early literacy, I’m wondering if the simplest form of text, books, are best at home or in the earliest stages of learning how to read. On the other hand, are there other affordances of technology that can enhance these interactions?

Monica’s Parasocial Relationship

myupa — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 20:39:46 +0000

My childhood idol and role model was (and still is) Shakira. Watching her dance in music videos and performances on TV in elementary school got me interested in Latin dancing, and my personal dance style today has a lot of elements prevalent in her dancing. I also admired her for being a philanthropist and a well-spoken, intelligent female role model on top of being a celebrity. Today, I identify as both a nerd and salsa dancer, and my admiration for Shakira has helped me embrace this dichotomy.

Week 1 Discussion

myupa — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 05:58:44 +0000

The policy statement “Children, Adolescents, and Media” proposed by the Council on Communications and Media states that “young people now spend more time with media than they do in school,” and focuses on recommendations for pediatricians, parents, and schools to curb media’s negative side effects. This caused me to wonder about the distribution of young people spending said amount of time on media – how drastically does this estimate vary by a family’s socioeconomic status? Should all forms of media be grouped together like this?

The policy proposal also highlights a lot of negative effects that it believes should be mitigated, but from Alper’s perspective, technology does not necessarily equate to electronic media and there are benefits to bringing “NMLs and early childhood education literature into the same conversation.” Instead of curbing the amount of time spent on media, how can parents and schools encourage youth to make the most of interactions with media to increase learning?