Here we go:
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...)
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1. When reading the article many themes discussed in the class resonated with me, but the one that I think matches most with this article is that just because a person comes from the same area, it should not be assumed that their experiences are the same. For example as the reading notes, “poverty affected the boys’ lives in different and sometimes complicated ways.” Although the boys are from the same neighborhood the way their socioeconomic affects them differs. Their learning styles are going to affected by how their out of school environment is, which is influenced by their socioeconomic status among other factors. It is important not to generalize, because the children in this study that are labeled at “risk” each have diverse experiences.
ReplyDelete3. I would use a video game to teach a child how to spell certain vocabulary words. The learning principle that this video game would match the most would be that of the one that Gee describes that requires learners to “feel like active agents(producers) not just passive (consumers).” Each section of the game would have a theme. For example, if I wanted to have the students learn about vegetables, the theme would be vegetables. I would have a list of words. The student would choose which word they want to learn how to spell first. Once, they choose the word there would be scrambled letters and then they would spell it and use it in a sentence. The longer the word they spell the more points they get and they get to move to the next theme once they finish spelling all the words. Once they are done with the required theme, then they could pick a theme that they are interested in. I think this would make them feel like they have a choice in what they are learning, because they are picking their own themes and they are the ones deciphering the words on their own. This would make them feel like they are not just passive consumers.
1.The authors of this piece drew from a large pool of sources to construct this study, including field notes, interviews, and videos. In addition to drawing on the sources developed by the authors, the authors also used artifacts developed by the children such as, “artifacts from their work at DUSTY, including their writings, drawings, notes, and storyboards.” I think the wide range in the types of materials used by the authors relates to our course themes of out of school learning and literacy because the authors did not limit the material or the sources that could be taken into consideration for their study. Rather than defining their criteria and then conducting their study, the authors looked at the students work and let the students explore the different resources that were available to them, and then developed their study after seeing how the students manipulated these resources.
ReplyDelete3. One of Gee’s learning principles is “well ordered problems.” I think the ability for video games to challenge players by encouraging them to solve problems can be a good tool for teaching students how to engage in critical thinking, which is a skill that is necessary for many facets of education. I think the ability for video games to encouraging problem solving can be directly applied for subjects like math, but I don’t foresee students actually learning math through video games. Instead I think that if you provide video games with more cultural capital, like in the way Newkirk discusses, by telling students that they already engage in problem solving by playing video games, students can be given more confidence to engage in other types of problem solving activities such as math.
Thomas Cycyota
ReplyDelete1. This particular study used a qualitative method instead of a quantitative approach because the topic of the research is one that requires deep investigation into each particular case. The qualitative nature is evidenced by the analysis of the background of each subject, picking apart every aspect of their media creation to lend meaning to other aspects of their home life. For example, this study suggests that the way a child depicts homes in their media project reveals how they feel about their own home. This is important, especially considering the qualitative methods, because each student is treated as a unique experience and not just as a number or compilation of data. The relationship from these methods to course themes is also important, as students are able to utilize more than one form of literacy in creating these presentations. By allowing these students to tell a story in a way that is not exclusively written, they can engage different aspects of their literacy they obtained at home. For example, many cultures have active verbal traditions, and these media projects allow those traditions a place in creativity.
3. The method of co-design in video games can be easily converted to educational game design. By creating an environment in which the student is seeing some forward progress dependent on the player’s input or interaction, the student will want to do more of whatever activity is being learned to forward the story line or plot or progress along an exciting track. One game that I remember from my childhood was a computer game that taught me how to type. It was basketball themed, and I remember it being particularly effective because it changed the outcome of a simulated basketball game depending on how quickly and accurately a word or sentence was typed. It was fun to play, especially to me as a young boy, and it put the outcome of something to which I could not relate into terms of something that was exciting and fun. This idea of making the student part of the success of the game and the storyline seems very effective, and could be used to learn math in a similar manner. A virtual football game could be played with the outcome of a play dependent on the successful completion of a math problem.
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ReplyDeleteThe methods that Hull (and all the others) used included collecting data on a variety of things for each of the students selected: Table 1 in their article breaks down the digital story information for each student, while Table 2 notes the demographic information of each student. In picking these students, Hull and the others went through 23 potential candidates from their previous work with DUSTY. They made sure to make the group representative of the area that they were studying (Oakland, in this case) and diverse enough to not have a bunch of the same type of students (they ensured that the students differed from social standing, to performance in school, and even economic background). These methods of research relate to some of the course themes of identity and diversity within the school environment: these kids were allowed to work with their choice of music, their choice of images, and record their own personal story over these medias to present their sense of identity. This ties in with some of the things we’ve discussed about stereotyping (stereotype threat as well) and how minority students should be taught. For instance, last week one of the articles focused on african american females and how they often were perceived to assume the mammy role of the classroom, and consequently were treated as such. The DUSTY program allows students of different cultures and backgrounds to freely express their own stories their own way, thus breaking any expressive restraints that may have been felt by the student otherwise.
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Heads up Tracie, I wanted to write a lot about this one.
Learning principle: System thinking. Now, nobody in the class knows this yet, but I’m actually a pretty hardcore gamer (Seriously, I’ve actually considered going pro a few times, there’s big money in e-sports!). When I was in elementary school I would literally wake up 2 hours before class (at 5:30 in the morning) just to get a few games in before I had to leave. My game of choice: a game called StarCraft, an extremely popular RTS (real time strategy) game that has won multiple awards worldwide and is actually South Korea’s national sport (It has over 3 television networks dedicated to its steaming!). The game incorporates economic concepts, army control as well as unit specification and modeling. There are pretty much endless strategies (although at competitive play some work much better than others) and a variety of different maps to play on so each game is different. Now that you have this background, you can tell why this would be a perfect example for Gee’s “system thinking” principle. While there are a ton of other principles that can be satisfied by this game, some of the dynamics of the game really make it special: the game has multiple races that the player can choose from; in each game, the opponents (whether you’re playing 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, FFA, ect) all start with just their primary structure and 6 “workers”. From there, the player is in control of EVERYTHING that he builds: whether thats managing upgrades, making your economy more efficient, harrassing the enemy, or making sure your “food cap” is managed. The game forces you to consider every step that you make well ahead of time and then forces you to change everything as soon as you notice something different going on. For this reason, the game helps develop players skills, strategies, and ideas for a variety of different situations and to do it quickly. Since the game offers you a new start after each game, as well as offers a replay function so you can review everything that happened, you are able to learn from your mistakes/actions and see what you could have done to improve.
Now, how would you use something like this to teach a real world subject? Lets take economics for example. There are actually essays written online about the effectiveness/efficiency of certain build orders versus another in the game and why doing one strategy versus another will be less effective. This is not just opinionated data, the game has very tangible and concrete build times, resource gather rates, ect. Theoretically you could map out the most efficient way to get to one point in the game, all things equal (ie your opponent doesn’t come and kill you in the middle of your efforts). You could directly relate these economic principles in the game to real life economics and tie in the math that is necesary as well.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, the calculations that I do on the fly in this game are ridiculous. Its super intense. But I love it.
Ps. I know you loved reading my confession for love of video games.
PSS: If you want to see a first person video of a pro gamer for this game to see what I’m talking about multitasking wise, check it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUtl0SIXGNs&feature=feedu_more
you can watch it from the start if you want to get a full picture of the game, but if you just wanna see some intense battles and multitasking, just skip to like the 8 min mark ;)
2. The teachers in the Parker excerpts encouraged the students to utilize their creativity and engage in their learning by allowing the students to produce projects that usually involved a form of media, such as digital storytelling. These new approaches imply the potential for a new education system that incorporates active learning and different technologies, such as informative Youtube videos, that are relevant to topics being discussed in class. Moreover, students become exposed to different forms of media and technology literacy. As Phillip Haplern mentions, “In doing so, they shift from being passive consumers of media to being critical-thinking, analytical participants in the world of media.” (Parker 50). In other words, when students produce media as school assignments, they become “active agents” by applying their knowledge in a constructive and analytical setting. I believe students understand the material and its relevancy much better because they are interested and proactively learning the material as opposed to being “recipients.” In addition, students are more likely to enjoy making a video or a fictional public service announcement in comparison to a lecture, or what Freire refers to as the banking model of education.
ReplyDelete3. If I were to design an educational video game, I would design a mystery video game on history to teach important historical information about specific time periods. In the game, the player would take on the role of a famous person from history while trying to solve the murder of another influential person from the same time period. For instance, the player of the game could be Alexander Hamilton, and they would try to find the murderer of Benjamin Franklin. The player would earn clues about the murderer by answering questions correctly about the American Revolution, the Boston Tea party, the constitution, the founding fathers, and much more, and solve the game through a process of elimination from the clues that they have accumulated. My video game would make use of Gee’s identity principle by having the individual that is playing the game take on the role of a significant historical figure.
Lorna
ReplyDeleteThe concept of decontextualization and concurrent recontextualization is defined in the Hull piece as “taking languages, images, or ideas from one context and restituting them in another, making them serve one’s ends.” It leads to an empowerment of the learner, and in the Parker excerpts, we see examples of students taking themes and ideas from their lives outside of school and integrating them into their educational experiences. The excerpts detail the use of video and internet media in production of digital stories and blogs, concepts that normally are not allowed or integrated into traditional curriculums. The results are very positive, and often end with students who previously struggled with expression in the classroom finding their voice through integrating what they were comfortable with into new knowledge and expression. This shows that there is a new future for pedagogy, one that can benefit from the use of social media and popular media in the classroom. By adjusting the social norm for what is acceptable in the classroom, students can take an active role in their education. As Friere states, students and teachers need to have a relationship in which there is learning on both ends. By doing so, students are empowered and feel as if they are agents of change in their world, active participants in their development.
Having never played video games growing up, I am very resistant to the idea of bringing more video games into children’s lives, as I feel that far too much time is spent in front of a screen, and it detracts from real world experience (ie FIFA vs. Playing real soccer outside) and leads to a need for constant stimulation and information. This being said, I realize that there can be educational value in video games, and I toyed with designing a game in which one would create a business of their choice in a Sims-like world. This would look into customization and co-design ideas. As the creator and CEO, the student would then have a list of things to deal with as the business ‘grows’, including complying with regulations and standards, working with unions, deciding investments and capital and wage rates, looking at expanding and costs abroad, targeting markets, etc. By simulating all that the business world entails, students can take risks and fail without implications, and learn how complex the business world is, and how each decision effects far more then they would realize. This is clearly a game for older students, but still could have value.
Question #2
ReplyDeleteThe teachers in Parker’s article use media production in specific to encourage the students to actively participate in the learning process. Media production shifts the students from being the passive empty minds, like what is described in a banking model, into a critical thinking mind (problem posing). The teachers want the students to learn how to create stories using their own understanding and at the same time express themselves. The making of the media production will encourage the creativity side of the students. The students are not learning the teachers’ knowledge, but the students are finding the knowledge on their own. Their minds are trained to be critical. The students are not working on their own; it is an interactive process between the students and people around them, like peers and teachers. These virtual activities such as media production are used to improve and strengthen problem-posing style of teaching and learning; students derived knowledge from their own experiences and environment.
Question #3
Co-design is one of the most important principles in motivating students in learning through video games, and I think it will work most efficiently in teaching language arts. In teaching languages, it is very important for the students to be actively participating in the learning process; therefore, we need games that will encourage interactivity for the players because languages is a social course. For example, the teacher can use a video game that has an interactive story line, e.g. adventure games, where the players have different endings according to choices they choose. Students are asked to participate in building the story and getting know the characters by interacting with them. When they participate in building the story line, they are learning about plot in languages. When they talk with the characters, they are learning about speaking and characters analysis. Also, if the students participate in creating the story, they will be less likely to give up when they face difficulty because they do not want to fail; they feel like they own the story because they are the ones who write it. Gamers will want to finish the game because they want to know the end result from the stories they have built and choices they made.
Looks like I have to break my post up in to two parts.
ReplyDeletePart I of II
2. To cultivate a learning experience relating to linguistic form, or creation, that indicates student as “a temporarily embedded process of social engagement” (Hull, Kenney, Marple, and Forsman-Schneider 14) it’s imperative that teachers not surmise a child’s educational discourse if their predilections are more inclined to out-of-school literature. The importance of “decontextualization” and “retextualization” may have its strongest grasp when clasping afterschool curricula, when “children are allowed and encouraged to draw on local knowledge, popular culture, and multiple symbol systems as they create” (Hull et al. 15). Media plays a predominate role in constructing the learning styles of students. In a society where children are essentially raised on television, visually lapping up flashing bright colors littered with babel and memory-halting camera cuts, it’s important to recognize media as a learning tool rather than disparage it altogether.
Philip Halpern utilizes media production into his classroom as means of self-expression, enabling them to “communicate with an audience using words and images.” In effect, this outlet for production is indeed useful for helping Mr. Halpern’s students become media literate—an upward trend for pedagogy in the 21st century. Another teacher, Marlo Warburton, teaches eighth grade Algebra; he uses YouTube to “grab students’ attention and create excitement about [his] class.” He continues, “That excitement leads to math learning.” Harking back to youthful days spent in front of a blaring TV set, Mr. Warburton harnesses his students’ buoyant essence and uses it to fuel his otherwise boring math lectures. Technology is not going to simply vanish and it’s more common now that students are provided with laptops and iPads in order to help them learn. We’re past the skeptical bump in the road that questions new ways of teaching and are pressing on to expand the fleet of teaching vehicles, still discovering ways to incorporate agentive learning through (in this case) technology. It’s an exciting time for education.
Part II of II
ReplyDelete3. Gee’s principle of Identity for Empowered Learners is one that I feel is the most engaging. James Paul Gee submits that “commitment is powerfully recruited when people take on a new identity they value and in which they become heavily invested” (7). In games that immerse the player in a digital landscape, they really can become lost in this escape from the real world. To create a “deeply involving life and history” (8) one inadvertently forgoes responsibility and priority in personal affair. The idea that you are embodied on screen in the middle of a world shrouded by mystery is exciting and to make your mark on that world is something only the player can experience. To effectively teach in video games is not to be outspoken. That is, concepts are to be eluded at and the player given freedom of inference. A math problem could be a quest to gather x of this and y of that; physics simply rely on a well-developed physics engine that the player can manipulate objects in; language arts would be a collection of lore pertaining to the world the players’ avatar inhabits, or in-game communication with other players; physical education could very well mean the procedure of which one’s avatar gets stronger as they explore and complete tasks involving the aforementioned “content.”
There already exists numerous video games that accomplish these things and I argue that teaching in video games is not so cut and dry. A good game that teaches specific content is a game in which the person playing doesn’t realize they’re being taught. Developers who focus on learning are designing to engage and challenge—it truly is an art. Sure there are typing games and math games but those aren’t what children are playing outside of school. No, they commit hours to digital warfare in Call of Duty. But even a rapacious shooting spree through cyber war grounds is a form of learning. Gee sheds an interesting light on video games as intellectual captivation. I know I’ve invested almost too much time in playing video games and I’m none the worse for wear.
1. Hull et al. describe the DUSTY afterschool program as an alternative learning space for students. In this space, students are not confined by traditional classroom expectations and are allowed to explore multimodal communication strategies on topics of their choice. Hull further describes what the study focused on, such as the concept of agency through multimodal literacy, student participation and engagement, themes within students’ stories as they relate to the various definitions of masculine. This study, and the DUSTY program in general, are examples of out-of-school learning and literacy. In “Writing for Their Lives: the Non-School Literacy of California’s Urban African American Youth,” Mahiri describes that African American students “simply did not see the relevance of the school curriculum for their lives.” (pp. 556-557 of reader). He also explains, “…they engage in literacy practices to help them come to terms with these conditions and with their experiences. In effect, they are writing for their lives.” (p.557 of reader). The methods used by Hull to create and study the DUSTY program are based on these same principles, that students are disengaged from classroom literacy because they cannot see the relevance, but if they are allowed to choose a topic of their own, they become engaged. In DUSTY, students are taken seriously, allowed to draw on experiences that are relevant to their lives, and create a story using multimodal tools, which are also usually more relevant in this day and age than plain written text.
ReplyDelete2. Many of the teachers in the Parker article allow students to create projects. Philip Halpern uses multimedia production to teach communication, teamwork, and media critique and analysis. He uses the production process to teach students how to tell a story and maximize impact on the audience. These students are reconstituting media for their own purposes and learning how to communicate effectively, all in their own voices. Tweed defines agency as “the perception of context, choice, and the ability to change.” (p. 724 in reader). In production, students must be aware of the context of their chosen topic, make choices about how to communicate it, and use the product to potentially change their environment. For pedagogy in general, these studies demonstrate that students must be active learners, and teachers must move away from Freire’s “banking-model” of education.
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ReplyDeleteIn Gee’s learning principal, “co-design” he suggests that “good learning requires that learners feel like active agents not just passive recipients”. This essentially means that students should be involved with creating their own learning so that they can understand what they are learning more effectively. Learners’ actions and reactions are created by the learner himself/herself. Given this learning principal, I would design a math video game that would allow access to different levels based on the types of questions the student got correctly. The game would be a car-racing game, and the more math problems that the student got correctly the faster the car would go. Given the results of each race, the “driver” would be directed to another course based on the types of problems that he/she got correctly. The races would thus become more specialized for every player. If the driver “wins” a race they would be rewarded with car-upgrades and paint job bonuses. Essentially, players would be designing their own math curriculum based on their strengths and weaknesses. They would be motivated to pass each level, not only to get to try new race tracks, but to receive “bonuses”; they would be the “co-designers” of the video game and nobodies “race” would be the same.
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In Hull, Kenney, Marple, & Forsman-Schneider’s article they discuss the intensive qualitative approach they took regarding their study on boys in the education system. They used interviews, fieldnotes, videos, audios, etc…in order to successfully design a study. The extreme amount of varying data that they collected relates to the out-of-school literacy and learning themes we have discussed by likewise suggesting the importance of multiple sources and a strong understanding of given students before we make assumptions. These researchers are taking the time to gage the situation and learn about these given boys before they step in with reasoning that may not be backed up. In this course we have learned the importance of context in regards to literacy practice. Hull and company’s extensive methodological practices suggest similar necessities regarding gathering strong sets of data before making conclusions.
1. Parker describes how teachers allow their students to choose how they want to do certain projects. They have options available to them so they have to be able to choose one that they want. They can use media in different ways such as digital storytelling, podcasts, blogs, acting etc. Students sometimes also have the option of posting videos online, like on YouTube, however, many schools have banned websites like YouTube which make it more difficult for students to use that resource. Giving students these options can create a problem for the pedagogy that students should be the producers of their knowledge because they can easily “recontextualize” something. For example, a student can use a rap music video to show something new that he/she learned in class. However, the music video wasn’t meant to be used for such type of showing but the student made it fit what he/she needed it to fit.
ReplyDelete3. I would want to design a game around the principle of “manipulation and distributed knowledge”. Sometimes it is pretty difficult to imagine something that you don’t see on a daily basis, for example, when learning about the human body. A video game can be used so that students learn about our different body systems like the respiratory or nervous system. It doesn’t necessarily have to be about biology (who would want to play that) but it would teach student how to better imagine something that does exist but we can’t see that easily.
(Obviously video games are not my epistemology )
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete1. The methodologies discussed in constructing a qualitative case study include examining a students digital analyses, researching their writings, notes, interactions with other students and family members, and many more. A main prediction for the case studies is that boys “don’t flourish in school because their predilections for reading and writing often don’t match school-based curricula” (14). This relates directly back to an article we read last week by Newkirk. In his article he explains that our narrow form of literacy today fails to support “or even allow…the tastes, values, and learning styles of many boys”. The Hull article, however, tries to come up with a solution. With the DUSTY program, they aim to “provide different participant structures and materials for reading and writing activities” that boys might find more accessible and engaging. Throughout this course, we have talked about alternative reading and writing methods that can be utilized both in the classroom and after school. Things like using popular culture, letting students write their own creative stories, predicting the outcome of stories, and many more. We need to understand the uniqueness of every student and cater the practice of literacy to their individual needs.
ReplyDelete3. According to Gee, the key to a successful video game is creating “profoundly good methods of getting people to learn and to enjoy learning.” If I were to create a video game, I would use the “Pleasantly Frustrating” principle to teach math, specifically multiplication. The principle is described as having challenges that are difficult but ‘doable’ and players feel that their effort is paying off in that they can see their progress. I would create challenges that ask you to answer math questions and as you do, you advance. Each activity would center on a specific number from one to twelve and there would be games that involve learning patterns in the multiplication of that number such as making change with certain coins at an ice cream shop. At the end of each “number level” there would be a challenging quiz and if you pass, you move on to the next number. If not, the player is given feedback on how to improve and more games are given to help master that specific number.
3.
ReplyDeleteBetween the many types learning principles James Paul Gee has presented in his text “Learning By Design, “I would chose to design a videogame than empowers the core principle of “co-design.” This principle seems to incorporate the idea that an engaged student, active in designing and customizing his or her own learning experience, can learn by taking on new identities and feel “more expanded and empowered when they can manipulate powerful tools in intricate ways that extend their area of effectiveness.” When reading about this principle, I immediately thought about a video game pertaining to NBA basketball. In one of these types of games, not only is the player able to vicariously live in a manipulating world but they can also work on their math and awareness skills. For example, in a basketball video game, the player is continuously keeping track of the score such as seeing how many points they need to win. Also, it will keep them on their toes regarding decision making and timing( when to pass the ball, when to shoot, how far away etc.) When the students are successful in playing these video games, they end up becoming challenging players which Gee explains, follows through in their academic performance.
1.
Hull et. al have operated a well functioning program known as DUSTY. This program enables students to use multimedia composition as a source of learning in the classroom. As is, Oakland is known to be an area of high crime and have a low socioeconomic standing; most outsiders stereotype the students as being “risk” students because they are African American and live in this city. Hull et. al have used a methodology where they can prove this stereotype wrong through doing an extensive case study on the before and aftermath of the DUSTY program( mainly on young boys). By allowing these students to engage in multimedia sources, they are able to manipulate their lesson and do things their own way. In conclusion, every student is different and has their own ways of learning better. Students in this case benefit from the use of literacy through means of media because they are able toe express themselves in different ways. Hull et. al have done a good job in showing how literacy can be used in different means, far from the standard reading and writing cliché definition.
1. Through our previous reading, we learned how out-of-school activities can have a great impact on literacy. For instance, we learned how some kids would write “volumes” about things they cared about, yet these same kids would struggle in the classroom. The qualitative methodologies in this week’s reading offer ways to engage students out of the classroom. Specifically, the DUSTY program affords students a “personal voice” and allows them to “draw upon popular culture and local knowledge,” (10). This gives students enough guidance to get them started (video format, tools), but also enough flexibility for them to choose what they want to do. The hope is that kids will choose to do assignments based on what is meaningful to them, and this will keep them engaged to learn. Instead of dismissing individuals with statements like “boys will be boys,” (2), programs like DUSTY give kids a role in defining their own identities.
ReplyDelete3. Many video games use sandboxes to simulate a “real game” experience, but with minimal challenge. I would use the concept of a sandbox in teaching kids reading comprehension. I think something like comprehending a one-page passage cannot be properly trained through reading isolated sentences at a time, since comprehending one sentence is very different than comprehending a story. However, reading a whole page can be very intimidating for kids, even more so if they are put under time pressure (i.e. being given 2 minutes to read a given passage). They learn to associate reading with feelings of failure, and this forestalls the risk-taking needed to make progress. I would propose a reading game that focuses first on reading comprehension. Rather than giving kids only a certain amount of time to finish a passage, I would give them as much time as they needed. This would get rid of the “anti-fun” pattern of being cut off before you are finished. However, I would still track their times, so they (and their teachers) could see if they are improving or not. To encourage kids to improve, this is where the “game” part comes into play. Each time a kid finishes a passage, he gets a certain amount of in-game money. The faster they finish a passage, the more money they get. This money can be used to buy things for his virtual house, such as a TV, a swimming pool, flowers, or a couch, for instance. Though obviously these virtual items do not have any practical function, they provide an element of what Gee classifies as “Identity.” Each kid’s house is unique, since he or she can decide what to put in it, and where to put it, and so on. By offering a world that intrigues kids, they will be willing to invest themselves in reading if it means being able to project some of their own fantasies onto the game world.
2. Hull et al. defines agency to be an “embedded process of social engagement that is shaped by understandings of relationships to the past, present, and future” (724). They posit that when the school boys in their study created their own digital stories they not only developed an “authorial agency”, in which they were able to think critically about their worlds and daily lives, but they also played a role in de/recontextualization. De/recontextualization is defined as “taking language, images, or ideas from one context and resituating them in another, making them serve one’s own ends” (725). The boys who participated in the DUSTY program took an active role in their own learning process. While in school they might be passive learners who follow a daily routine, the DUSTY program provided a space for them to foster their creativity and individuality.
ReplyDeleteLikewise, the teachers in the Parker excerpts employed various techniques that allowed their students to become active agents in the classroom. Phillip Halpern sees the importance of integrating multimedia—it allows for self-expression while helping the students become media literate. By having his high-school students produce media themselves they are taking an active role in learning and in the end they ultimately develop a sense of self. These multimodal literacies target a wider range of students and can engage them in the classroom in ways that a traditional literacy approach cannot.
3. James Gee discusses the learning principle of system thinking, in which one is able to learn skills, strategies, and ideas when she can see how it all fits together. This enhances the whole experience, making it all the more meaningful. I would develop a game, perhaps to teach biological science, in which the student can develop a sense of understanding of all the biological/ ecological systems in nature and how he personally fits into the intricate web. There would be different levels that the student can enter and each level would be interactive and build off of the previous level until the student is able to fit all the pieces together and develop a greater understanding.
1.The "Methodology" section in the article by Hull and others explores boys' identity formation through digital storytelling in an afterschool program. Boys at social and education risk face lots of gendered challenges such as feminine bias in schooling or the pressure to adopt hegemonic versions of masculinity. This article shows that the traditional symbol systems might be supported by other modalities in this digital environments. Digital technologies provide boys of color with meaningful chances to establish their own identity and to create new kinds of multimodal texts. DUSTY helps boys to redefine themselves as more socially and academically engaged students. According to the analysis of the children's digital stories, they construct themselves in their narratives as creative agents. Also, such technology-intensive literacy activities engage boys who are alienated in society. Digital spaces also save them from the bad impact of media by inoculating them with doses of critical media literacy. So, qualitative methodologies and course themes used by DUSTY contribute much to the development of boys' literacy and learning.
ReplyDelete3.Gee suggests many good principles of learning in good computer and videogames to implement and change the structure and nature of formal schooling. I think "Manipulation and Distributed Knowledge" is one of the most effect ways to teach science fields such as physics or archeology, or biology. Using video games will be particularly helpful to so-called "at risk" learners, who are unprepared or who cannot have interest in difficult scientific theories. The space of videogames is primarily the world of virtual reality in which perception and action are deeply inter-connected. Game players feel or imagine that they do have experiences in the real world. They learn with fun in the virtual world by using powerful tools. While manipulating the characters in the games, the players learn how to interact with and manipulate their own world. For example, Tomb Raider pulls their players into the world of archeology and adventure. These games will teach the players how to control and interact with their environment and others. They also teach the relationship between archaeology and modern technology, as Lara Croft in Tomb Raider is attacked by a large robot.
Question 1
ReplyDeleteThe qualitative methodologies used in the study by Hull, Kenney, Marple, &Forsman-Schneider exhibit an obvious focus on the developing out-of-school literacies of African American boys. I personally loved this study because of how everyone involved in the situation is benefitted in more than one way. The children participating receive technological knowledge, self-learning, and entertainment in a positive environment. The one conducting the study provided an outlet and learning place for typically underprivileged children while learning about their personal lives and social/literary perceptions as told through their digital stories. One interesting methodology of observation in this study was the observation of developing sense of masculinity in young African American males. In my experience, this sense of masculinity is well on its way to fruition by even as young as second grade, but the notion of masculinity is nowhere near finished in its creation until a much later age. As a male, I even think my notion of masculinity is still being altered the more I learn about sexuality. To study this subject of masculinity and its social/literary implications, which is so universal, in a very specific niche environment is an intriguing study.
Question 2
The teachers in the Parker piece use technology and media to give children control of their education. Giving students assignments like “Report the News” allows the students to process multiple social and literary paradigms at once. A student must analyze what the “News” is and assume the role of a news reporter to give the summary of a text or the results of a class experiment. This form of analysis and production is an entirely different approach to education as opposed to the typical “Reading, ‘riting, and rithmatic” approach where kids are spoon fed education without reason or context. To allow a student to create a presentation lets the student take an active role in their education and gives each student the opportunity to teach themselves.
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ReplyDelete1.
ReplyDeleteWe have been discussing in our course the varied backgrounds individuals have, and in particular on their "home literacy". An example of this is the AAVN home literacy of young African American girls, which can be a detriment to success if the school's methodology is different, which we saw in the article "To Protect and Serve". The children's demographics are collected, including "living situation", "place of residence", and also more focused details like whether the child wears different clothes every day or not. To qualitatively construct data sets about these case studies then, we must include data about these home literacies, and this is elaborated upon in the section noted. Other themes present in the data collected are the young boy's predilection towards popular culture and video games in their works; we studied this in Gee's piece.
3. When it's about video games I must belabor my response~~ sorry (:
There is a free video game called Kerbal Space Program, within which the player puts pre-made rocket pieces together (like Legos) and then launches the rocket and controls its motion over and around a simulated world. While I was reading Gee's piece, every specific point he made made me think of this video game. Clearly, the game would be best used to teach about physics, since you build a rocket. Building the rocket empowers the student, each design decision has consequences. The problems posed are well ordered; two problems immediately jump to mind, achieving orbit and escape velocity. The game is pleasantly frustrating because when your rocket fails, it explodes in a truly satisfying manner. The world in the game is fairly simple to understand, just basic laws of gravity, and there are no menacing things to look out for so it functions as both a fish tank and sandbox. As for actual scholarly merit, it forces the player to learn physics to do certain things. Getting a rocket into orbit, for example, is pretty complicated without calculations. When the student sits down and does the calculations, they are rewarded with having achieved orbit. (pretty satisfying.) If there were ever a game I would use to teach students it would be this one, it just fits so perfectly. It's also pretty addicting, but only for a week or two, so the teacher won't have to worry about kids playing the game forever instead of other work. Otherwise, I would use simulation and and sandbox games to teach about how environments function.
PS. I read cody's response and I love Starcraft too, so I had to say something. Also, try out KSP it's pretty fun.
I also had to post in two parts (only realizing to do this now)
ReplyDelete2. The teachers in the Parker excerpts allowed students to learn “agentively” in that they were able to bring take a context from one situation and parallel it to another. That is, by considering a situation and the dynamics therein, a student could involve a sense of control and “agency” by applying themes and elements in one situation and shed light on another. This application from one situation to another is highly intellectual and conceptual in nature, one that brings about conceptual results, like an intuitive understanding of agency and ability to effect control and change. This personal activity fosters, like in 1 above, self identity, outside literacy, as well as culture specific literacy. This agency brings in all different kinds of literacy so to allow for growth in person.
This multi-faceted array of literacy, agency, and self identity, interweaved together to approach the intricacy in learning and education, reflects much on the nature of education. Maybe this implies that learning works best when done “agentively.” But this seems trivial. However, it appears that many trivially acceptable claims often go ignored in educational domains like schools. But then what more can be said of DUSTY and its implications beyond replicating DUSTY’s success in other scenerios?
Maybe a deeper point would be that learning, which involves agency, personal definition, and multi-faceted literacy, must involve a “life-interweaved” approach. That is, maybe learning is most successful when the educational domain involved (in a school, at a program like DUSTY, at home, etc…) encompasses a larger context, hopefully of all the intricacy of life. Maybe an objective of education should be to make larger one instance of learning to envelop the most possible domain of life. That learning should not be so much specified as learning words on a worksheet, or learning times tables at home, but more learning words in a meaningful context, in a community of individuals, wherein diversity of culture, infusion of family and public life, and other intersectionalities can come together, to make the learning experience less focused and more broadly experienced. Maybe an effective pedagogy is “pedagogy of life,” in which we can bring together the most elements of life in the broadest sense. But of course, this may be to confuse a philosophical sentiment…
2: The teachers in Parker's article followed through with Gee's thoughts on shifting students to be more like active agents by assigning different projects. These projects are mainly media based and requires the student to utilize what he/she has learned and create something, such as a digital story. Through these different means of urging the students to take learning into their own hands, the teachers are making the students leave the realm of passive reception and begin to think on their own. Digital storytelling requires the student to reflect upon his own life and see what are the different things that comprise his life. Then he has to think of creative ways to show-and-tell his life or story, usually through a form of technological medium. This helps students to get engaged in their learning and not just plug and chug different information.
ReplyDelete3: Gee talks a lot about co-design in his excerpt. He says that students will learn best when they become "active agents" and not just mere "passive recipients." This means that the video game that would have to create would have to be interactive in the sense that the player would have to constantly involved in the game in order to win. One other aspect that Gee talked about was the "well ordered problems," or problem solving. In order to incorporate both of these into a game that appears to be very fun on the outside, but can teach students how to solve different problems given different clues. I think that a mystery type game will easily draw in different students and cause them to get involved by having them discover the story behind a murder case and/or other cases. The problem solving will come in when they are gathering clues and then have to make different decisions based upon the clues that they have. If they are unable to solve the mystery by a certain time limit, they will lose, but should they solve the case, they can move on to even more difficult cases.