myupa

Week 9 Discussion

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… Read more Week 9 Discussion

Week 8 Discussion

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… Read more Week 8 Discussion

Week 7 Discussion

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… Read more Week 7 Discussion

Week 5

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… Read more Week 5

Final Project Group

Project Group: Megan Faulk, Nicole Hardson-Hurley Interests: Middle school students

Assignment 1 - Monica Yupa

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

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… Read more Week 4 Response

Week 3

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… Read more Week 3

Monica's Parasocial Relationship

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… Read more Monica's Parasocial Relationship

Week 1 Discussion

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… Read more Week 1 Discussion