1. The "Methodology" section (720-725) of the Hull, Kenney, Marple, & Forsman-Schneider article details the process of constructing a qualitative case study. What's the relationship between these qualitative methdologies and course themes related to out-of-school literacy and learning?
2. On page (reader) page 724-5, Hull et al discuss the importance of agency and "de/recontextualization" and, in Gee's terms, how "good learning requires that learners feel like active agents (producers) not just passive recipients (consumers)." With these ideas in mind, discuss how the teachers in the Parker excerpts enabled students to learn agentively. What implications do these approaches have for pedagogy in general?
3. Choose one of the learning principles discussed in Gee's article about video games and discuss how you would use a video game to teach specific content (a concept in math, physics, language arts, physical education...)
I would use Gee’s learning principle of “Manipulation and Distributed Knowledge” to help teach students about WWI or WWII coupled with other learning principles such as “Co-design,” “identity,” and “sandboxes” also at play. By using a video game that is centered on trench warfare, or on being in battle in general, I would be able to let students learn somewhat first-hand how life was like as a soldier during that time period. The characters in the game would know how to battle and use the weapons in question, but it would be up to the students to figure out when to call which formations and movements to request when the army is under attack. The player would be responsible for knowing when to reload because they are running out of ammunition and learn how it would be like to be at war even if you are not actually going to be in danger in real life.
ReplyDeleteIdeally, if possible, I would try to make it so that each person in the class could have his or her own avatar and play the game against each other – half of the class would be on one side of the war and the other half would be on the other side. If programmable, the side that historically won would still win and there would be screens in between battles that informed the students if there was a new development that changed or affected the game. All the information would be based on historical details, but the students would think that the details were only part of the game when in reality, they are learning history.
- Kathy Shen
I chose “well-ordered problems” principle. It explained the rapid adaptation process of learners when they encounter with highly complicated or ambiguous problems. Their solution to these problems often includes creative hypotheses in order to simply the complex problems or approach ambiguous problems in diverse ways. During the distributed parallel process of finding creative hypotheses, learners are likely to develop various ways of thinking which stimulate inactivated parts of brain which also leads to better cognition of learners toward later problems. Generally, so-called complex problems involve multiple steps of logical thinking. For instance, multiplication is successive processes of addition. One of the beneficiary points of well-ordered problems principle is that it is able to express the logical flow of solving complex problems. For example, I would develop a digital game that helps conceptualize the confusing models of math such as integration. 9th grade students already know how to calculate the volume of regular spheres or a regular hexahedron. However, when they encounter the so-called too complex problem that asks them to compute the volume of irregular shape of some objects such as the water bottle, they cannot approach the problem from their knowledge, and they need to know the concept of integration. The basic notion behind the integration is divided only two processes: splicing the object very small at the point of conceptual limitation and adding them up. In my digital game, I can show essential information for integration problems, and let student venture through those information and come up with creative hypotheses which will be splicing and adding.
ReplyDeleteHull, Kenney, Marple, & Forsman-Schneider describe how they can statistically use standardized tests and quantitative data to connect the DUSTY out-of-school digital literacies with in-school performance. However, the primary way this was done was with qualitative methodologies. I never realized before reading this article that qualitative observation and recognizing patterns can be so beneficial for understanding educational literacy learning concepts. The digital stories created by students during the DUSTY program were used to analyze their “multiple modalities, local knowledge, popular culture, and multiple symbol systems” (725). The communication techniques, thought process, and image-music combinations were used to understand how the children learn and think best. This can be used to enhance the in-school experience of each individual student. As Moll says, literacy in the family and community translates into how a child learns in the classroom (Moll). An example of the effect that the digital stories have on the children was described in the article. A culminating activity that occurs towards the end of the DUSTY program is that all of the children showcase their stories at a local theater. Afterwards, they have to answer questions by the audience. This is huge! Not only are the children explaining something that they have made, mastered, and love, but they are doing so for a large audience, impromptu. Speaking in front of others is one of the most difficult parts of literacy, and the experience that these children are receiving through this activity is very good practice. The ability to “develop a sense of an authorial and agentive self in school” comes as a result of opportunities such as the DUSTY digital story project.
ReplyDeleteOne of the learning principles Gee's mentioned is the "identity" principle. I would use this one to teach them about historical event that might not be interesting to high schoolers, who may think that history has nothing to do with them. The principle behind the "identity" game is that the player will have a deeper sense of commitment as he/she takes on a new role in the game. For example, in teaching what the 1920s may have been like, during the Great Depression, I would have the students role play as young boys and girls during that time, having to struggle to get by on a day-to-day basis. Though it does not evoke the exact same emotions, as the conditions of the era are all virtual and imagined, it does provide them with greater insight into what the people were going through at the time, if they want to keep their characters alive in the virtually simulated Great Depression. Moreover, as Gee sets it up, the learners must know the “rules of the game.” So while they may know how to deal with hunger, or hygiene issues in the present-day, through the student’s individual character, limitations, and life situation, they must come up with a way that his/her own person can survive the era of the Great Depression. That way they can simulate a day in the life of a person who lived during that time, and through that experience remember greater details of what happened, and learn how to tie it back to their own present-day situation.
ReplyDeleteOne of the learning principles discussed in Gee's article about video games is Problem Solving: Well-ordered Problems. In my video game, each student will start off as a novice, then intermediate, and end as expert at the end of the game. The student would navigate their characters in four realms: Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, and Division. In order to go from novice to intermediate, the students has to complete mission from all four realms. Once they are intermediate, they will have to go back to each realm and complete harder math problems. I will have a Sage guide them in their journeys, reminding them of easier tasks they had done earlier that can help them solve their current problems. The goal of the video game is for students to start recognizing math patterns, such as multiplying by zero will always render zero no matter how many other non-zero numbers are in the equation. Each level will allow players to get better and better at the game and to face more difficult challenges later in the game. The game will be designed so players can develop hypotheses that work well on the easy problems, intermediate problems, and hard problems later on. Towards the end of the game on the final round, I will combine addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division together so the students will finish the game with knowledge of the order of operations. At the end of the game, I will have a printable certificate of completion that has the basic concepts of the game for the students to print out and be reminded of what they have done in the game when they are doing their math homework.
ReplyDeleteI know this is a little late, but here's my reading blog for the week! (:
ReplyDeleteThrough personal experience and just the way that Gee describes this particular learning principle, I would implement "Information 'On Demand' and 'Just in Time'" somehow into the way I teach.
I feel like this strategy really speaks to the general public, regardless of which school you attend or what level of academia you are at, most people are not deeply receptive to words out of context, mathematical formulas, chemical equations, and etc. being thrown at them. That's why from K-12, we had text books and even in college to act as manuals to our academic careers. The information is there in our reach when we need it, thus, "just in time." It can be used at our disposal, but at the same time, we have the choice of whether to use the information provided once we get further and further into the course.
The criticism of this video game manual approach to education is that students become really good test-takers but they cannot actually apply the information and the knowledge they have gathered in real life practice. I am not huge on video games, but the video games where you have to meet certain requirements in order to move onto another level helps with these check points of applicability. In order for the player to earn his or her way to the next level, they will have to answer a series of questions or go through obstacles with different challenges that will prove their knowledge of a subject area. I don't think my video game would actually be wildly popular amongst teenagers or high school students but I think parents would definitely invest in my educational video game. I would model it after the typing programs and games I played when I was young to make sure that I memorized the keyboard and I would be able to type quickly and efficiently.
It's true, in a video game, players usually don't read the manual, they play the game until they run into an issue and then they go and look it up. All the information from the start of the game until a player defeats the final level will all be printed in the manual, but the goal is to have the player to learn from context clues and other clues given in the actual game and to only make reference to the manual when it is actually need, hence the "on demand" and "just in time" nature of the information. It is all there, readily available, but there is so much to flip through that you should really only look at it when you NEED it.
Just like when you open a Calculus book. All those formulas look like hieroglyphics until you get further and further into the course, then without even looking at the formulas because they have been etched into your brains, you know the information that was inscribed in the text book long before. You only go back to look at the formulas to double check and verify the information you already have in your knowledge bank.
Gee offers, in his article of introducing games into the field of education, an innovative means of teaching children variable subjects.
ReplyDeleteIdentity is what individuals thrive on. Everone has a sense of identity which serves as a social radar in order to navigate through norms and unknown; and often this identity is what separates "us" from "them." Identities are found in work, school, through friends, some sort of commonality which enables other to share this identity.
But identity can also be found in academics: when we read a book and imagine ourselves as a character, or study a character in history (pr people) with whom we can relate too through some sort of cultural or experienced commonality.
When we experience this mix of identity with education, learning takes on a whole new meaning. The concept of incorporating game into the wold of education would be incredibly beneficial. As courses become more advanced, there is definitely a challenge in continuing viable complex education. I purpose, however, using this innovative idea in, say, some of the fundamentals of education: basic bath, reading, spelling, history, and science. Most of the knowledge learned in early elementary education is generally simple concepts-- which may be complex as a first timer.
Introducing a video game, regardless of the subject, a child can easily identify with playing a main character whose objective would be to win a race, advance a level, or any series of "advancement" which every game has an objective of. Often, as every game is played, a child becomes so skilled-- the game becomes second nature and thoughtless as its played:skill advances, so does play. Incorporating these concepts to any of the subjects mentioned could be very rewarding. Perhaps, providing the answers ahead of time, as a study guide, and as the game progresses, questions (math, science, whatever) will be posited as a means to progress. It can be a challenge, and a mastery; both completely keeping the child engaged.
Gee describes the Understanding principles as a system of thinking used by students to be able to contextualize what they are learning and synthesize the content with own “naturally-reinforced set of behaviors and embedded values”. Rather than force students to sit through lectures and other common educational practices, students are instead given “meaning as action image”. One of these principles is the psychosocial moratorium principle. Learners can take risks in a space where real-world consequences are diminished. This may include games that teach economics such as stock market simulators where students can choose from a number of companies and trade commodities in a safe environment that has no monetary consequences. Students can practice and research the best options and companies for their individual portfolios and learn about trends in the market and the world of trading. Also this principle can be applied to physics. With the huge abundance of iOS video games on the market, many of which have physics engines that utilize player motion gesture movements, there can easily be games that teach physics using touch screen technology. Pumpkin throwing (learning about pump power and efficiency) can now be done in a hazard free environment.
ReplyDeleteGlee mentions the principle of manipulation and distributed knowledge as highly important in engaging players of video games. The idea here is that people can start to feel like their minds have been expanded and stretched into a new space through manipulation of powerful tools. Essentially they expand their own bodies, and are able to feel the power of using such tools in new spaces. In the case of the video game world, this comes in the form of manipulating and controlling a character, and having enough control over the powers at the character’s disposal that the player begins to empathize and connect with their character so that they feel like they are in a sense becoming their character, suspending their disbelief and immersing themselves in the game.
ReplyDeleteSo what’s the educational application to this idea? The way I see it, this indicates that just as it is possible to get a player to feel the power of his or her character, it is possible to get a student to feel the power of the tools he is being equipped with in school. I think this is most applicable in the field of science—let’s consider the case of physics. Knowledge is power, it’s not just a trite saying. The knowledge of physics makes possible things that would have seemed totally impossible before. My proposal, then, would be a game that allows the actual application of principles of physics. The student/player will have incentive to learn principles of physics: for instance, that work=force X distance, in order to solve problems in the game like lifting a heavy object or something like that in the pursuit of some interesting goal, like building a space ship. Through such a game, students would learn and immediately apply that knowledge, and feel their power being expanded into areas hitherto unexplored.
Q3.
ReplyDeleteOne of the learning principles discussed in Gee’s article about video games is “well-ordered problems” principle. This principle is about a person faces too complex form at first, one can figure out the solution to this problem based on human creativity and this led to help to solve harder problems in later. I would create a video game for math and physics for this principle. Usually, one can figure out how to solve a question for math and physics problems then it helps people to solve harder problems later. I will make a RPG (role-playing game) game. People can solve math and physics problems to earn their money, which later help them to buy hints for harder problems. As mentioned in the reader, one will start as novice. After one finished the general concepts of the chapter or section that I decide to cover in my game, one can move on to intermediate, then move to expert. After they finish first shift as a novice, they would know how to solve most of the questions in the game (on the other word, they will have all the basic concepts in the game). Later they move onto intermediate and expert, they can go back to the questions that they solved before to refresh their memory. I can use this game to teach SAT Math problems. Usually, SAT math problems start with easy questions to harder ones. While solving the problems of Pythagoras triangle problems and geometry, then they will memorize the concepts as they go through the whole game.
Q3
ReplyDeleteIn Gee's article about video games, he stresses many different principles. Like Juyeon above, I would also focus on the "well-ordered problems" principle. When creating a game for this, I would make it for those wanting or needing to learn math. To do this, I will create a game with a storyline, and as the storyline goes along, you solve more and more difficult problems. So in the beginning, you are solving basic questions and are slowly making progress and the story progresses. The reason I am doing this is to build confidence and address prior knowledge to help students make sure they truly understand how to solve the problems. So if I aimed to focus on High School students, I would actually begin with Algebra questions, start moving into Geometry and then algebra 2 and so on. This will also have a focus on helping students prepare for the SATs.