ETEC562 Article Review

I accidentally reviewed two articles, but I didn't really use the first one, but I included it here anyway.

 Short, D. (2012). Teaching scientific concepts using a virtual world - Minecraft. Teaching Science: The Journal Of The Australian Science Teachers Association, 58(3), 55-58.

I read this article first and I wanted to include it in my blog post.  This article is several years old but gives a broad overview of how virtual world games, and specifically Minecraft can be used to teach science.  The article is really intended for people who are unfamiliar with Minecraft and all its possibilities so I was kind of disappointed in it.  If you are not familiar with the game and its educational applications, please read this article, but know that this article only talks about science curriculum.  There are tons of other uses in curriculum from art to math to literature exploration. 

After reading this article and not really learning anything new, except that you can use Global Information Systems (GIS) to create real world replicas in Minecraft.  Basically that means you take GPS information that is publically available and have Minecraft replicate that in game so players can experience their community (or other locales) in game.  I have been doing research on exactly how that works, but I don’t have it all figured out yet.  Anyway, I decided to look for a newer article that might provide more incites in to gaming as an educational technology tool.

Q & A: Journalist Steps Into Realm Of Digital Games. (2015). Education Week, 34(28), 9.

This article was published a week ago, on April 22, 2015.  Because it was so recent, I was hoping for a current view of how gaming is changing things in the classroom.  This article is an interview between the Education Week staff writer Benjamin Herold and Greg Toppo, the author of a new book titled “The Game Believes in You: How Digital Play Can Make Our Children Smarter.”  Toppo set out to discover how teachers are using digital games to increase engagement and improve learning.

During the interview, Toppo mentions several instances where students were doing amazing work while playing video games.  4^th graders in California are using video games to complete advanced mathematics, or kids completing a full opera in Minecraft, making the subjects students do not normally enjoy engaging because it is coupled with computer gaming. 

Some schools are also pushing up class size by incorporating more gaming.  When computer gaming is doing the teaching and students are engaged, teachers are more able to manage larger class sizes.  This does not mean, of course, that teachers are going to be replaced by computers and games, but Toppo things computers could (and probably soon will) replace textbooks.

The article also mentions Amplify which I had heard about in other similar discussions about gamification.  Amplify is a company that is going out to intentionally create educational software that kids enjoy by grabbing up popular software programs and modeling their educational software after already popular games.  Maybe someday soon we will see a division of EA Games called EA Education!

For me, this article is a validation of things I am already seeing from my kids at home.  The article mentions the drawbacks and concerns about gaming – less social interaction, less physical activity, too much screen time, but says we are already asking students to sit still and be quiet most of the day anyway. And students are more likely to sit still when engaged.  Gaming in this case allows students to experience (and possibly enjoy more) a subject they may not have liked before.  Gaming helps them ‘get it.’   Despite what they say about concerns of lack of social interaction, my kids have learned to work cooperatively and collaborate when playing together.  They play to their skills.  When playing Minecraft, my son is the explorer/fighter.  My daughter is the builder and I am the resource collector.  They know if I am playing they do not need to chop down trees, because “Mom does that!”  They work together to plan huge cities and divide the work.  My son plans out and builds the streets while my daughter gets started on the house or store.  They have also learned to work cooperatively when fighting bad guys.  I often hear, “I’m nearly dead, you get em!”

I plan to use Minecraft next year in my Engineering classroom as a building area to teach basic construction methods as well as managerial concerns, like figuring out how much of each material you need BEFORE you start building, building quality structures on a limited budget, etc.  I am excited about this and I am sure you will hear more about how this works out here on my blog.