District Administration - July/August 2012 - (Page 44)
Gaming
By Will Richardson
Respect
GAINS
Digital games are on the rise in classrooms.
basic physics principles,” she says. “They spontaneously collaborate with and coach each other, and I have them write strategies for different levels to share with others, so they’re also developing their ability to reduce a series of complicated steps into a concise strategy and to communicate that clearly for an authentic audience. It’s pretty interesting to watch.” The idea of learning through games isn’t necessarily new. In fact, over the past decade, researchers such as James Gee and David Williamson Shaffer of the University of Wisconsin have been espousing the use of games to help both children and adults learn. But it’s only been recently that games have begun to make serious inroads into classrooms. The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop, which aims to advance children’s learning in the digital age, conducted a study of over 500 teacher’s attitudes toward digital games in classrooms from across the United States. The findings, released in May, revealed that 32 percent of teachers use video games every week, while 18 percent use them
even-year-old Chanse, a first grader in Kathleen Gerard’s classroom at PS 116 in New York City, is in a “World of Goo.” On an iPad, he’s using his index finger to pull little black animated “goo balls” around the screen and to connect them in an attempt to build what will end up being a flimsy but balanced bridge made of oily glop. He’s building across chasms and cliffs, avoiding windmills and spikes, trying to connect to a pipe that will suck up any goo that he didn’t use to score him big points. “It’s tricky, but it’s a lot of fun,” Chanse says. “There’s so many ways you can go. But I’m good at it. On my mom’s phone, I beat the whole game.” But while his chief motivation might be to “beat the whole game,” Gerard says that Chanse and her other first-graders are also learning a whole bunch of important stuff in the context of play. “They’re developing problem-solving and ‘tinkering’ skills, learning how to use trial and error effectively, and learning some
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44 July/August 2012
District Administration
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - July/August 2012
District Administration - July/August 2012
Contents
From the Editor
Letters
News Update
District Profile
Administrator Profile
Research Center
Professional Opinion
Supervisor's Opinion
Crisis Response
Going Mobile
Gaming Gains Respect
A Running Start for ELLs
Paul Vallas for Sale
Unsung Heroes
CIO News
Avoiding the Pitfalls of Virtual Schooling
Noteworthy Books
New Products
Product Focus
Problem Solution
District Administration - July/August 2012
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