videogames – EDUC 342: Child Development & New Technologies https://ed342.gse.stanford.edu Thu, 25 Feb 2016 06:55:32 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.6.1 Week 8: Informal Science Learning https://ed342.gse.stanford.edu/week-8-informal-science-learning/ https://ed342.gse.stanford.edu/week-8-informal-science-learning/#respond Thu, 25 Feb 2016 06:55:32 +0000 http://ed342.gse.stanford.edu/?p=1547 This week’s readings looked at how scientific habits can be formed, fostered, and adapted. Crowley et al.’s look at parents’ explanations to their children featured specific, though “inconclusive,” evidence of its findings that parents explain scientific phenomena more to boys than to girls. Parents have go beyond simply bring their children to the museum, they must overcome gender stereotypes in order for their daughters to have the same relationship to science as their sons. Is this something that museum facilitators could be trained to encourage in the museum? If children of all genders receive the same explanations, they can develop scientific reasoning, a skill they just might need to play WoW.

While video games were considered “torpid” by researchers of the past, Steinkuehler and Duncan find that WoW can actually be a place of learning, specifically in informal science literacy. By giving these players a platform for collective knowledge gathering, they learn from each other about how to play the game. The knowledge does not come from above, but can be the result of one player’s shared experience which is then debated and built upon by other players. This kind of community collaboration could definitely be used for “bridging third places” — Steinkuehler’s name for the space between school and home that allows for student learning.

Zimmerman and Land discuss the design guidelines that can be used in these “third places,” specifically in place-based learning at the Arboretum. These researchers find some really compelling applications of place-based informal learning. However, I still struggle with this approach: how much is the app a distraction from the nature at hand? Is it important that the kids learn outside? In different life stages, would they learn as much in an informal discussion with mom and dad or as a player in a video game with an active scientifically minded-community?

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Week 5: Squire Reading Response https://ed342.gse.stanford.edu/week-5-squire-reading-response/ https://ed342.gse.stanford.edu/week-5-squire-reading-response/#respond Thu, 04 Feb 2016 07:56:58 +0000 http://ed342.gse.stanford.edu/?p=1380 Squire’s 2006 publication argues that educators need to adapt to the greatly evolving world of gaming– a medium that holds a strong influence over adolescent children. I was particularly interested in the discussion on the social component of gaming, children “participating in a social world.” One manifestation of gaming as a means of social media is the adoption of pseudonymity, kids having partially anonymous identities. If gaming is refocused for educational purposes, I feel as though this safety blanket might increase confidence. After all, education sites like Piazza leverage this with success.

My main questions relates to the benefits of the virtual worlds created by games. To what extent might the adoption of pseudo-anonymous characters influence a child’s learning experience? While Squire argues that gaming is a source of education– improving literacy, increasing leadership opportunities, etc– is the validity of these experiences discredited by “game world” simulation?

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Week 5 Discussion – Juan G https://ed342.gse.stanford.edu/week-5-discussion-juan-g/ https://ed342.gse.stanford.edu/week-5-discussion-juan-g/#respond Thu, 04 Feb 2016 02:04:55 +0000 http://ed342.gse.stanford.edu/?p=1364 I do not have a group project and I would love to be part of one. I am willing to work in any area as I am looking to expand my knowledge in different areas. My previous educational experiences involved working with ESL middle and high school students on developing social emotional skills.

 

As I started reading the article of the benefits of video games, I took of moment to realize that if I were to list the benefits and hindrances of video games. I could list more hindrances than benefits (this is including the fact that I love technology). The availability bias of having more articles and the media stating video games’ negative effects has had a clear effect on me. It is nice to see that research is trying to show the great benefits (cognitive, motivational, emotional, and social) that video games can have on children.

Also, I like that as in many other areas, people are trying to show the importance of having a diverse representation of characters in video games. Publishing articles as “The virtual census: representations of gender, race, and age in video games” places pressure on designers and video game companies to create an inclusive gaming experience for all kids.

 

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Week 5 DQC https://ed342.gse.stanford.edu/week-5-dqc/ https://ed342.gse.stanford.edu/week-5-dqc/#respond Wed, 03 Feb 2016 15:48:30 +0000 http://ed342.gse.stanford.edu/?p=1356 After reading From Content to Context: Videogames as Designed Experience,  I am intrigued by what video games may be able to offer educators. According to the authors, “it is critical that researchers examine what players actually do with games, rather than assuming that there is any one ‘game itself’ as it is meant to be played.” This implies that there is a great deal of importance behind the decisions people make when they engage with a video game, and that the decisions could have implications for understanding the user. In Measuring What Matters Most Dean Schwartz and Dylan Arena argue that using video games as assessment tools can teach educators more about how students learn and that is ultimately more important than content. Do my classmates have input (perhaps about video games they are familiar with) about how educators might glean more information about how students learn while using videogames?

I thought the authors concluded with an excellent question, “what will become of formal schools if they are last to recognize the potential of this powerful medium?’

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Week 5 Post – For whom and In What Context https://ed342.gse.stanford.edu/week-5-post/ https://ed342.gse.stanford.edu/week-5-post/#respond Mon, 01 Feb 2016 21:41:18 +0000 http://ed342.gse.stanford.edu/?p=1334 What is most interesting about the Squire reading was the line: “As videogames mature as a medium, the question becomes not whether they will be used for learning but for whom and in what contexts” (p. 27).

The ‘for whom’ part raises a lot of questions around equity. Who will have access to the latest and greatest game technology? Knowing that technology usually starts high end down and trickles down, should we expect that only students in developed countries, in the top income bracket, will have access? And if that is not what we hope to see, then what can we do about it? Does that responsibility fall on the government to set policies around it? Parents / teachers to demand it? Designers to acknowledge and build for wider access?

The ‘in what context’ is also interesting. I was really struck by the line: “As designed cultures, persistent world games function more like digital nations than like traditional games, making them intriguing sites for studying how people reciprocally inhabit and create culture (p. 23)” While observing such environments can be like a laboratory for how societies function, designers also have a role to play in shaping what kind of world they want to see. That is both powerful and daunting for designers. If the only context that exists today are videogames designed by private enterprises and the military, then parents and teachers should be asking themselves what kind of context they want their students exposed to.

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