Literature Review - Final Paper

Here is a link to my Literature Review and Final Paper. 

Double Entry 11

All I Really Need to Know (About Creative Thinking) I Learned (By Studying How Children Learn) in Kindergarten

“I think of it as a spiraling  process in which children imagine what they want to do,  create a project based on their ideas, play with their  creations, share their ideas and creations with others,  reflect on their experiences – all of which leads them to imagine new ideas and new projects” (Resnik).

I absolutely love this quote. I am a strong believer in project based learning. Students need to be able to explore their creativity. The process described here is the process that happens in work environments, so why shouldn't we be teaching our students how to go through the steps in the educational system. I have said this many times of the course of the semester, but as an educator it is our job to prepare the students for the “real world” and teaching them to memorize facts and reproduce them on a test is not preparing them for the world they are going to enter. We need to teach our students how to think, how to create, how to share, and how to reflect. This is the process that each assignment should go through, and by the time our students are ready to graduate from high school they will have this process down pat – it will be as simple as walking or riding a bike.

Works Cited:

Resnik, M. (n.d.). All I really Need to Know (About Creative Thinking) I learned (By Studying How Children Learn) in Kindergarden. MIT Media Lab .

Resource:

When I was searching for a resource article, I decided to put the process into Google and see what search results I could find. I was surprise to find this website. It is a wiki talking about the benefits of learning using scratch in the classroom. 

Week 14 - Rough Draft 1

To see my 1st Rough Draft

Click Here

Please be aware that I have not finished reading all of my literature sources and writing about them. I am also concerned if I am creating the document in proper literature review format. I hope to have another draft up in a few days with sections about more pieces of literature.

I was able to read and summarize 5 pieces of literature I found myself and 2 pieces of literature obtained from the course content.

Week 13 - Literature Review Bibliography

I have decided to write my literature review with the focus: 

How can classrooms be transformed to motivate students they way games do?


Here are the sources that I am planning to use: 

Bibliography

Barab, Shasha, et al. "Making learning fun: Quest Atlantis, a game without guns." Education Technology Research and Development 53.1 (2005): 86-107.

Board on Children, Youth and Familities (BOCYF). Engaging Schools: Fostering High School Students' Motivation to Learn. Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press, 2003.

Chen, Milton. "If Technology Motivates Students, Let's Use It!" Edutopia. The George Lucas Educational Foundate, 16 September 2010.

Gamification. Perf. Gabe Zichermann. Tedx. n.d.

Kafai, Yasmin B., Kylie A. Peppler and Grame M. Chiu. "High Tech Programmers in Low-Income Communities: Creating a Computer Culture in a Community Technology Center." (n.d.): 1-19.

Lee, John K. and Jeffery Probert. "Civilization III and Whole-Class Play in High School Social Studies." The Journal of Socail Studies Research 34.1 (n.d.): 1-28.

Mayo, Joel C. Motivation Through Technology in the High School Classroom. Prezi Presentation . 26 April 2011.

Peppler, Kylie A. and Yasmin B. Kafai. "Collbaboration, Computation, and Creativity: Media Arts Pratices in Urban Youth Culture." UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies (n.d.).

Reed, Daisy F. and Sheary D. Johnson. "Using Media and Models to Motivate High SChool Students." The Clearing House 65.4 (1992).

Spires, Hiller A., John K. Lee and James Lester. "The Tewenty-First Century Learner and Game-Based Learning." Meridian - Middle School Computer Technologies Journal 11.1 (2008): 1-4.

Teach Thought. "21 Simple Ideas To Improve Student Motivation." Teach Thought . 11 December 2012.

"Teacher's Tp 10 Ways to Motivate Your Students op Ten: T." Busy Teacher, 23 August 2011.

Terry, Shawn D. "Video Games Could Actually Motivate Students." CNBC, 1 October 2012.

Your Brain on Video Games. Perf. Baphne Bavelier. TED. n.d.

Double Entry #10

Learning to Play or Playing to Learn

“The proliferation of networked computers, gaming consoles such as the Sony PlayStation, Microsoft Xbox and Nintendo Gamecube and handheld devices such as the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP, have made computer gaming part of mainstream culture” (Arnesth, 2001-2006).

I decided to choose this as one of my quotes because it says so much about my current students. As I have said gaming is so popular with the 9^th graders in my school. I have even found it interesting that when students finish an assignment they are eager to play Pokémon or even an educational game on the computer. Students are all about the games. Recently in my school I had a group of students do a comparison and tally it in Microsoft Word. They did a survey around the school to determine the most popular video game character: Spyro and Crash Bandicoot. Now you need to be aware that the students did this on their own and this was not an assignment of any type. This example demonstrates how much students are involved in the gaming world and using computer outside of school. Now if students applied this dedication to their school work then we would see an increased amount of learning. Using these same skills and devices and methods will help us to inspire learning and increase achievement among our students.

“Regarding playing to learn, the emphasis is on learning, which is to say that some content or skill should be the end result of game playing. As such, knowledge and skills are treated as effects or outcomes. In regard to learning to play, on the other hand, the emphasis is on the activity of playing. As such, learning might be regarded as an integrated part of mastering an activity, in this case, gameplay” (Arnesth, 2001-2006).

I think this is a great way to explain the incorporation and the usefulness of gameplay in the curriculum. If we are allowing our students to learn necessary content while they are having fun they will be more motivated to complete the task, thus learning more. Our goal as educators is to make learning the best possible experience and by having the students participate in activities that they do on their own time will encourage them to me more actively engaged in the learning process.

“Still, according to Kirriemuir & McFarlane (2004) many teachers and parents seem to recognise that computer games might support the development of valuable skills such as strategic thinking, communication, application of numbers and group-decision making” (Arnesth, 2001-2006).

Wow, this quote is perfect; however I am not sure that it is quite accurate the many teachers and parents recognize these valuable skills, at least in my experiences. From the experiences that I have had, parents seem to think that there child wastes hours of time playing “those video games”, as most of them comment. Now while I understand that there must be a distribution between a child times playing these games and involved in other activities – many parents think that this is a waste of time, when in fact it is helping students to develop valuable skills needed to be successful in their future endeavours  Teachers are a mixed area, and honestly this deals mainly with the method of teaching and instructional style. I have many teachers in my school that still believe lecture and book work is the best method of teaching the students, many of the teachers never even turn on their projectors, then we have the teachers who are constantly trying to get in the computer lab, making use of smart phones and tablets, and using any form of technology that they can to help inspire learning in their classrooms. 

Works Cited 

Arnesth, H. C. (2001-2006). Learning to Play or Playing to Learn - A Crtical Account of the Models of Communication Informing Educational Research on Computer Gameplay. Institute for Educational Research .

Resources:

This is a video about some of the greatest computer programmers of our time. Such as Bill Gates creator of Microsoft, Mark creator of Facebook, and creators of twitter, dropbox, and many more. They are talking about how they became interested in computer programming and how you do not have to be a genus to write a program. Check it out below!!

Week 11

Double Entry #9

 High Tech Programmers in Low-Income Communities: Creating a Computer Culture in a Community Technology Center

Why should programming be part of school curriculum?

"Computer programming is integral knowledge across disciplines from the sciences to the arts, yet minorities and low-income students are notably absent in computer science-related fields" (Kafai, Peppler, & Chiu, p. 2). Computer programming and access should be placed in the high school settings because of the alarming numbers of students that do not have access to a computer outside of the school environment. Now I am aware that there are many community centers that offer this option, but what if they student cannot get transportation to that community center, then they lose out on the chance to access computers entirely. The youth of today have an interest in "videogames, music videos, cartoon animations, and interactive, design-based art, which are natural springboard into creating and programming"  (Kafai, Peppler, & Chiu, p. 2). This also makes our students more media literate by exposing them to a variety of different types of media texts such as  the combination of video, text, and images. “We argue that youth require technological fluency of how to construct new media in order to become critical consumers and producers” (Kafai, Peppler, & Chiu, p. 4).

What are the barriers to implementing programming in schools? 

Some of the barriers of implementing programming in schools is first the amount of computer access in schools. I am aware that many schools are attempting to become 1:1 ratio schools but many are not close to reaching that goal yet. I know that my school would probably average at about a 1:15 ratio. Until we can offer all student the access to computers we can not provide the programming opportunity equally to all students as of yet. Along with that is that we must insure that we have the necessary programming to offer the students, and with the increases in technology and programs it makes it very difficult to stay up to date on all devices and programs in the school system with limited amounts of funding and recent budget cuts.

How can barriers to implementing programming in schools be overcome?

There is a variety of way to attempt to influence the educational system to incorporate computer programming into the curriculum. The most important part is having studies and statistical data to back up your ideas and theories. This article has provided us with a great deal of information to use to influence other educators and educational systems to incorporate computer programming. Some of the ways also mentioned in the reading include: presenting workshops at training events for coordinators across the network; presenting workshops and showcase events for members across the network; establish a presence within the network” (Kafai, Peppler, & Chiu, p. 18). This would help to get the word out and develop a new understanding as to how computer programming could contribute to the educational curriculum.

Works Cited: 

Kafai, Y. B., Peppler, K. A., & Chiu, G. M. (n.d.). High Tech Programmers in Low-Income Communities: Creating a Computer Culture in a Community Technology Center. Los Angeles: University of Califonia.

Resource:
I found this article to be very interesting. It talks about how students as young as 8 are proficient at using the computer. This backs up the claim that many of our students are all ready using devices outside of the classroom and as the educational system is suppose to prepare students for the future we need to be using these devices to teach. 

Click her to go to the article. 

Week 10 Story Board

Story Board - Activity 1
I have uploaded my storyboard to google documents.
To view my story board click here

Uploaded Game - Activity 2
I keep experiencing an error when trying to upload my game. I am trying to wait until our school has their network issues fixed and I can connect to the Internet.


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Double Entry 8

Quote:

Researchers interested in computer-supported collaborative learning have paid little attention to the field of
arts and design education as the more prominent focus has been on science, mathematics and to a lesser degree, social studies and language arts.

Response: 
This quote really hit home with me. As a Career and Technical Education Teacher, many times I am told by the core class teachers that my curriculum is not important and that students should be allowed to leave my classes to make up work in other classes. This really offends me as I do my best to teach across the curriculum meetings standards not only in my CSOs but focusing on important topics or concepts learned in many of the core classes. Plus I am teaching skills that just are not being learned in these core classes. Not only am I teaching students critical skills about technology, we are also using these tools and important topics across the curriculum to prepare them to be "real world thinkers" and to be successful in society.

Article Citation: 

Peppler, K. A., & Kafai, Y. B. (n.d.). Collaboration, Computation, and Creative Media Arts Practices in Urban Youth Culture. UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies .

Resource 

This video I have choose shows the alarming statistics of how many teachers are failing to meet the needs of 21st learners and what these 21st learners are doing outside of the classroom.  Click here to watch  * A vision for K-12 Students 

Week 9 - Brainstorming a Game

The game that I am going to create is going to be a trivia game. I am the adviser of the FBLA club at my high school - I currently have two students going to State Competition for a Game Design category - because at the time I did not have enough training in game design I taught my students how to create a Jeporady Trivia game using Power Point  I want to experiment with the trivia game so when it comes time for projects next year I can successfully teach my students how to use the scratch platform to create a trivia game for their competition. 

1. There will be a character in the game that represent the person playing the triva game. The character will complete some time of motion if the answer is correct and another type of motion if the answer is incorrect. These motion will remain the same for correct and incorrect answers throughout the entire game. 
2. There will not be any enemies as this is not really a battle game but rather a trivia game. Using a variable for the score is the most important feature in this game. Correct answers will add points to the score while incorrect answers will deduct points from the score. I might even try to learn how to do a highest score variable. 
3. The player will have the opportunity to select the answer from an option of 3-4 answer choices. These answer choices could be images or text boxes containing textual information. 
4. By answer correct answers the player can stay in the game - by answering incorrect answers the students score will be reduced and could even end the game. I haven't finished deciding if there is going to be lives in this game or if the player can just finish with a negative score. 
5. There will be a instrument based music playing in the background - something that is not to intense and helps the students remember they are on a time limit and must answer the questions quickly. 
6. The main character is the player so the personality can change. 
7. The story line is going to be based on random facts concerning technology. I am currently building a question basis. I am seeing if there are more ways I could create a story line for this game or even possibly if they character answers the question right they move to the next screen if not they will have to go back a scene or try again (and lose points). 

Journal Entry # 7

Quote:

Players engage in a transactional process, a process between readers, text, and context (Rosenblatt, 2004), to use their prior gaming knowledge and experience for meaning construction. For example, through the feedback from game-generated dialogues, players critically analyze textual information and bring their prior failure gaming experience to generate new strategies to overcome the challenges presented in the game. (Hsu H-Y., Wang S.-K., 2010)

Response to Quote:
I selected to use this quote because of the argument it gives. I currently teach in a school that has a very "experienced" teaching staff. Now while there are a great deal of younger teachers (Below the age of about 35) many of the teachers have a traditional teaching style. With that said, I would like to clarify that these teachers still use a traditional teaching style but they do make attempts to incorporate technology such as the use of computer (when able to reserve a lab) and the use of a projector. However when we consider these forms of technology - these even seem like "old" forms.

In many eyes games are bad, they have no educational value, and they turn your brain to "mush". I just found out that I will be teaching Game Design I this year - and I am very excited about the new course; however some on the administration and other teachers feel that this is a pointless class with no educational value. They think that students are going to walk into the class and play video games all day. It is important that I clearly explain the educational values of game use and game design in the educational setting to the staff at my school.

This quote clearly explains how game playing and game design is meeting the literacy needs of our students and the complex thought process students must go through in order to play these games. I think that it is important to teach these students these thought processes - because this is how you deal "with life after high school". It will help us to better prepare our students for the future experiences.

Article Citation: 
Hsu H.-Y., Wang S.-K. 
Using Gaming Literacies to Cultivate New Literacies 
(2010)  Simulation and Gaming,  41  (3) , pp. 400-417.

The resource that I have provided is a YouTube video about a National Game Competition that I have been looking into providing my students the opportunity to enter. This allows students to create games and compete with their designs and it is a National Project! Game Design is being recognized as a motivational factor and a contribution both to society and the educational environment. Check Out This Video - National STEM - Video Games for Learning 

Week 8 - Pac Man Tutorial

Check out the Pac Man Tutorial I made in Scratch!


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Journal Entry #6

I decided to post the above quote because it so closely related to what I was saying in Journal Entry posting #5.

This quote really hit home with me. As a computer teacher I have my students on the computer and using technology everyday. I use sites like Edmodo and other free sites that provide media instruction and interaction for the students. I see that many other teachers do not do this. The other 2 teacher in my school that teach business, have a full class of computers and rarely use them. I also look at other high schools around me that are 2 to 1 for computer vs students and are hoping to be a 1 to 1 school by next year. These schools are preparing to have a laptop or ipad for every student in their school to be used in school and out of school on a daily basis. Then I look at my school and we are about a 1 to 20 school and not even close to that - and yet our county is not focusing on this. I am working to improve this and we now have a TIS that is very passionate about this and hoping to find grants to improve this issue. But ALL of our schools need to be moving toward the effort of making technology available to all of our students during all classes so that we may use these aids to improve the learning environment  Again I am fortunate to be a computer teacher and have all of these advantages at the edge of my students fingertips.

Week 7 - Activity 2 Catlib Project

Try my Catlib out!


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Journal Entry #5

I selected the above quote because it says something that is so critical in our students' education. Our job as educators is to prepare our students for the world. And as much as I hate to say it the technologies that we teach them today will be outdated by the time they reach the real world. We are trying to prepare our students for a future that doesn't exist yet. With that being said we have a responsibility to make sure that we are teaching our students with the latest methods and technologies. Too many schools are still focused on traditional methods. This quote explains why we should be using video games because this is the students' generation and we really need to be teaching them the digital components that they will need in this digital age and the even more digital age that they will soon become a part of.

Week 6 - About Me Project

Check out my About Me Project. 

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What was your inspiration?

I watched the intro to Gaia Project. I liked this project compared to the others because there was more motion and it was more personalized using a photograph of her. Additional things I liked was how the pictures were related to her and represented something about her. 
How did you do that?

I did a remix of Gaia's Project. At first I attempted to create the project on my own - but then  I thought wait, why I don't I down load Gaia's Project and modify it to fit my needs. We did learn about this "remixing".

What did you get stuck on? How did you get unstuck?

When I was trying to build it on my own I got stuck on the variables and understanding the set to busy command. To get unstuck I started to look at Gaia's project and see how she made everything work - then I remixed that project. 

What are you most proud of? Why?

The completion of my project and using my own images to tell a little about me. This is so neat that I was able to create an animation - and I can not wait to use this in my classes with my students. 

Journal Entry # 4

I have selected the above quote from the reading. If we think back in past generations we think the form of entertainment was reading books, from that we moved to television, and currently we are in the era of video games.

Books and television are a one way method of communication or literacy. There is an audience that receives the information from the words in the book or the visuals and verbal communication - but the audience has no way to communicate back. In the video game the game provides information on which the audience must react to - due to the communication method provided back from the audience the game then reacts. This process continues over and over again - a back and forth communication. It becomes even more complex as you introduce the gaming communication where you are interacting with other people playing the game though the Internet. Now not only are you communicating with the game but now you are communicating with the game and another player.

Thus video games are clearly a more complex and better use of literacy practice than other forms of media.

Week 5 - Scratch Tutorial

Scratch Tutorial
Here is my scratch tutorial. I have also added it to the EDUC 6814 gallery.



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Scratch Cards 

Some of the effects used on these cards were used on my tutorial project. I have not yet finished working on the project that I originally selected for a mix yet.

I finished all of the flash cards. I hope that I was correct that these effects needed to be applied project that we found on Scratch making it a remix. After thinking about this I hope I was not suppose to add these effects to the tutorial project.

After completing all of the flash cards I went to share this on the website and after 5 attempts I kept getting the same upload error. I have provided a picture on this blog to document my problems. You can see the costume I added and even the last effect that I added in the background.

I still cant fix the upload program. 

Double Journal Entry #3 - Quest Atlantis

While I was reading the article

Making learning fun: Quest Atlantis, a game without guns

the following quote caught my attention. 

Since we are working in this class to essentially design a video game I thought this was an excellent quote to examine as we are study the course. It is important when designing a video game that we understand the social commitments and that we clearly understand what constraints that need to be put in place. We also have to make sure that these constraints do not take away from the learning process of the student. We need to make sure that the game allows for social interaction and collaboration with out posing a safety threat or a distraction to the students. 

In my county we are going through the process of instituting a social media policy - and there is great concern with this. If we are going to be having our students communicate via Internet in any matter or form we are to send home letters to the parents and receive a signature of approval for their student to use this. As I use Edmodo in ALL of my classes this will become a very time consuming process - and as I continue to implement various forms of communication and collaboration over the Internet this will pose even more paperwork. There is also concern as how the board will gain access to all of the teachers personal social networking information. Currently they have withdrawn the policy for further review. 

Week 4 - Setting Up Scratch

I got my scratch account set up!

Here is a game that I found related to the content that I teach:


I chose this game because it deals in relation to a concept we are working on in my Web Design class. We recently dealt with hotspots and image maps = although I am not entirely sure I imagen this game using many of the same concepts and code as our image maps use.

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I also added this game because I found it to be interesting.

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Double Entry # 2 -Garden of Times Game

I had a great deal of fun playing the gardens of time game. 

1. Identity. You are a time traveller on a mission to remove pieces of time that do not belong in that era.  

2. Interaction. There are multiple ways in which the game interacts  First there are the challenges by selecting a misplaced item - an action: such as a new item or the completion of the level occurs. As you complete scenes and challenges other characters in the game interact with you telling you the story line and giving you more tasks to complete. There is an even an opportunity for interaction between players such as the sending of gifts.

3. Production This builds on the interaction even more. "Players are the writers". In this game we can send our friends gifts to help the accomplish tasks and excel through levels. Another form that we take as the writers is how we complete the levels, at what skill and how fast we complete the levels all determine the next steps the game takes. The experience of the game could in fact be different for each player. 

4. Risk Taking. the only form of risk taking that I can think of in this game is really selecting the an item that you are not sure of the name of - other than that I am not sure if there are any opportunities for risk taking. 

5. Customization - The customization for this game would be the way in which you design your garden and the new "portals" or missions that opens for the player. 

6.  Agency- i noticed my self continuing to come back to the game to play and to continue to improve my scores and complete against the other players in the game. 

7.  Well-Order Problems. Since this game is basically the same throughout there is not much room for open space and problem solving - although the levels do increase in difficulty as you move through the game. 

8.  Challenge and Consolidation - In this game we ware completing tasks and we have to play the same level multiple times to receive enough stars to complete the level and to complete other tasks throughout the game. As we complete the level each time it becomes easier as there is a routine and an automaticity about the process. 

9.  “Just in Time” and “On Demand” - In this game as we complete certain tasks we are given short messages from another character about the next process or step that we need to complete. When we are playing the game there are options for the on demand clues when you are struggling to find an item such as the magnifying class and the goggles. 

10.  Situated meanings. - This game is perfect for situated meanings. You are provided with a word and you have to find the image associated with that word or that represents its meaning. 

11.  Pleasantly Frustrating. - This game was difficult to locate some of the items at time, but with patience and sometimes the use of tools I was able to complete the task, and with each repetition things became easier and more doable. 

12.  System Thinking. - I am not sure that this one applies lot to this game; however you do think if you can click on all of the correct items in a time sequence you receive more points. 

13.  Explore, Think Laterally, Rethink Goals. - This game requires you to move through the world and complete them to open new worlds, but there are also tasks that require you to go back and obtain additional stars to unlock other parts of the game. In addition there are not only the scenes in this game but the building of a gardern and in combination these two acts allow you to move through the levels. 

14.  Smart Tools and Distributed Knowledge. - The characters in this game help guide you through the necessary steps and the process one must take to successfully move through the game. 

15.  Cross-Functional Teams.- The only combination of players in this game is the giving of gifts to help you proceed through the game - "neighbours" can help you out by giving you power to complete the scenes - tools to aid you in the scenes and items needed to help you build your garden to a high enough standard to move onto the next level. 

16.  Performance Before Competence. In this game you can perform even if you do not know the items on the list - however it does not offer the opportunity for different levels such as easy, medium, and hard. This game does offer learners the opportunity to learn from their mistakes and try trial and error. 

How the videos changed my views - Week 3

Explain how the information in each of the two videos and presentation changed or confirmed your position on the effects of gaming on young people intellectual and social lives.

After watching the videos I have came to the conclusion that video games - all types of video games can be beneficial for both the social and intellectual aspects of our students. I have changed my views on the idea that violent games make our children violent. I liked a point made in the second video that stated that games do not make our children violent - however if a child already has been exposed to violence it could encourage them or provide them with ideas of how to perform violence. It was interesting to learn that these violent games are so action packed that they are actually increasing their brain matter. It is interesting to think that what we have for so long perceived as wasted time has actually been helping our students improve their brain and their IQ scores. I also found it very interesting news that IQs are increasing with each generation. These videos provided a wealth of information concerning video games and changed my outlook to realize that video games do not only meet students interests but they actually help them develop parts of their brain and increase their intelligence. Very Interesting and a great motivator when presenting this to administration.

Teens, Games, and Civics (Presentation) Week 3

I did not find it surprising that the hours per day playing video games was higher for boys than it was for girls. I also found it interesting in the slide show that 76% of kids played games with someone else. The new focus of education is groups – and while the students claim that they hate it – that is what they are doing during video games. Maybe we have the wrong idea for group activities. I found it intersesting that 90% of parents say that they know what games their students are playing – I do not know if the parents were wanting to be completely honest here. Or I might need to take into account these parents “think” they know what games their students are playing and are unaware of what games they might be playing at a friends house or when they are not able to observe.

3 things I learned:

• I also found it interesting in the slide show that 76% of kids played games with someone else.
• I found it interesting that 90% of parents say that they know what games their students are playing.
• Civic participation is increased when other are present in the room while the child is playing a game and if the child post to a gaming website or blog they are more likely to be even more civically involved

1 question I have:

Why are boys more likely to spend more hours a day playing video games? Does this make boys have better attention spans and increase their brain matter more - making them smarter? .

Are Video Games Making Kids Smarter (Video) Week 3

In the second video I found it so surprising that he mentioned the game Where in the World is Carmen Sandieago. My mother bought this game for me when I was a little girl and I would play it all the time it was so much fun and I was learning new stuff. I remember discovering a new fact or mission and running and telling my mom about it – actually much of what I remember about history is from this game. Parents, teachers, and kids all agreed that video games were great and that was 1987. The idea that attention problems are in fact related to the fact that are world is too slow for our students today because they are not using the type of multitasking skills that they are using when they are playing video games. I believe this too be a provable statement, because I can see the differences in behaviour and work ethic in many of my classes when I allow educational games and the students are watching the projector, listening to me, and doing the work as they are.

3 neat things I learned:

• Playing complex video games actually increases your brain matter, thus making you smarter. And that the IQ is rising and in the US it is about .363 per year. This started in the 1990’s around the same time as video games.
• Gerneation G main focus is on video games or video game like experiences.
• Where in the World is Carmen Sandieago was one of the 1st educational games that teachers, students, and parents all agreed was ok to be played. 

1 question that I have:

I think that creating your curriculum to be a video game is a great idea. But I teach an elective class – how do I create a game that can cover all of my CSOs with only 1 hour planning a day? Is there a way to modify the curriculum to be in a game without spending hours behind a flash program? If there is I am highly interested in learning how to do this. 

Your Brain on Video Games (Video) Week 3

I learned a great deal of information. I found all the following information to be intriguing and surprising to me. The average age of game is 33 years old. I found this fact o be very surprising. It was interesting to hear the argument that a video game with such a degree of violence could be so beneficial to the human behavior. It’s amazing to see the results that video games can actually increase parts of the brain such as the brain. It makes since why someone who plays fast pace complex video games can pay more attention to detail – this makes me think of the times of garden game we were playing. Gamers have a better attention span and their ability to track objects around them. Again these are things that you do not think about as begin to weigh the pros and cons of video games. I found it surprising that the video claims that the multimedia tasker is truly not good at multitasking.

 3 neat things I learned:

•  Action packed games – yes even the violent ones- allow children to use three parts of their brain increasing their ability to focus and pay attention. Playing complex games increases your ability to multitask.
•  Those who do what we believe are multitasking activities actually can not multitask but the students who play action packed video games are quite good at multitasking.
•  Playing games affects three different parts of the brain dealing with attention and recalling of details.

 1 question that I have:
 If video games are so good for the brain – why are they not used more in the educational system?

Journal Entry #1

In the article Why are Video Games Good for Learning, I found the following quote caught my attention.

Video games don’t just carry the potential to replicate a sophisticated scientific way of thinking. They actually externalize the way in which the human mind works and thinks in a better fashion than any other technology we have.

This quote really says a lot. As a new and young teacher at my high school, some of the traditional teachers do not always agree with my methods of teaching or my extrinsic rewards for good behaviour and completion of assignments. In my class I like to find educational games that the students can play once they have completed and turned in all of their assignments. The students find this very rewarding and fun :). The students are learning by playing these games but yet they think they are just having fun. One of my favourite games I have is the lemonade stand game. In this game students have to run a lemonade stand determine how many ingredients to buy based on the days weather and how much to spend on advertising. Students go through a 30 day period (this only takes about 10-15 minutes) and they are provided with a profit/loss statement at the end of each day and then at the completion of the 30 days. It is always important that we discover the way in which our students learn and address those methods through our teaching. Our students are accustomed to playing these games as a routine part of their life - since they are so use to it and they enjoy it - why wouldn't an educator want to find a way to make their educational content reinforced through the use of a game. As the quotes says video games are the best method of technology we can use in the educational system. I found an article Why Should We Play More Video Games, An Article about Health - that supports the quote that I made to the same degree. The following quote was obtained from the article:

Games that claim to train you brain like Brain Games for DS, puzzle games that require increasing skill like Tetris, and games that require that the player continue to play small amounts everyday like Animal Crossing. Believe it or not even these simple games help our minds with problem solving skills of everyday life. They also challenge us to set aside our limits of what we are willing to give up on and how long we are willing to work at our best. “the way gamers explore virtual worlds mirrors the way the brain processes multiple, but interconnected, streams of information in the real world. “Basically, how we think is through running perceptual simulations in our heads that prepare us for the actions we’re going to take,” he says. “By modeling those simulations, video games externalize how the mind works.” (reference #3) no other platform is this natural when it comes to teaching our minds new things.

The Question: How did this reading change or confirm your understanding of the connection between video games and learning? I knew that video games were great for our students because that is what they are accustomed to and it makes the learning process fun and enjoyable. What I learned from the reading of these articles is that video games do in fact improve the function of our brain. I found the information about simulation to be very interesting and surprising as I never thought of video games as simulations. It makes since to think that video games are simulations and by practising and solving problems in the video game it helps us to solve those similar problems in our daily live. This is a great point to argue for the support of video games in the classroom.

EDUC 6814 Introduction

Hello everyone I am Sarah. 

Where you are from and what do you do.

I am from Buckhannon, West Virginia and I am a Teacher at Buckhannon-Upshur High School. I have been teaching Business Education at BUHS since 2011. I teach the information concentration which includes: digital imaging I and II, desktop publishing, business computer applications, and web design. I enjoy the classes I teach so much, I tell everyone I get to play and learn everyday at my job :)

What do you want to get out of the class.

This year I became the FBLA advisor for my school, and I have some students that are interested in entering a competitive event that involves game design. I hope to help give them some input for this year and really take it to the next level by next year. BUHS is also considering including Game Design in their curriculum and offering the Game Design Cluster - which I hope that I could teach after this class. 

Are you a Gamer? What Games do you play? Why do you like playing games?

I enjoy the old school games such as mario, spyro, tetris and crash. I find these games to be challenging and fun at the same time - I have many students that feel the same way. I enjoy having a release allowing my mind to keep working but to feel like I am just having fun. 

What is your position on kids and video games? (ie time wasters, socially isolating, moral corrupting, new ways of learning, conflicted)

I allow my students to play educational games in my class. I feel that these games help to inspire learning and creativity among the students. I like video games, My only negative comment about video games would be the violence some of them contain that in fact teach our students very bad morals and ethics. 

 Link to a video, podcast, online article or blog posting that is related to the effects of video games on children's learning, sociability or character development and explain why you have selected to resource.

I found a video James Paul Gee on Learning. This video is great. It addresses educators and talks about how we percieve that games are not education but they are in fact using physics and a great deal of complex thinking processes. When a gamer becomes interested in a game they then begin to access it on the internet and research it while having social interaction. In turn the gamer begins to develop a deeper understand in a since as some one studying a specific topic for a research article. 

I have experienced this hands on with students I currently have. My students are looking into spyro and crash and they have done a survey to compare the advantages and disadvantages of each game - they have totaled a comparison of the more liked game and then compared the characters to find the most appealing game. They initiated this on their own as a "curios and fun" activity. They have document all response and calculated the responses using Microsoft Excel. I think this is amazing that the students are doing this on their own - imagine what they could do in a class where this kind of learning was encouraged. 

List three major world events that happen during the year you were born. (I couldn't decide on January)

1. Jan 8th - Hewlett-Packard introduces HP-28S Advanced Scientific Calculator
2. Jan 13th - Supreme Court rules (5-3) public school officials have broad powers to censor school newspapers, plays & other expressive activities
3. First transatlantic fibre optic cable laid able to carry 40,000 telephone calls simultaneously
4. Stephen Hawking Publishes " A Brief History Of Time "
5. The first major computer virus infects computers connected to the Internet.
6. Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Beetlejuice first played and was a hit film. (ironically this is a movie that both my husband and I both like and we were both born in 1988). 

EDUC 6814 Game Design

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