Hello all!

I know, I know, where have I been, right? Well, school kicked in full blast last week and well, I have been trying to balance school work and practicum work (which is part of writing these blogs). In sum, I hope to update this blog once a week, but it may turn into a bi-weekly update. Only time will tell when an update will occur ;) . So stay tuned after this blog peoples!

Now I will take some time to discuss the motive behind this post. A colleague of mine sent me an amazing link today about a school in New York City called Quest to Learn (Q2L is how they abbreviate their name), here is the direct link, in case you are interested in reading it yourself: Q2L. This school’s curriculum focuses on teaching students how to design video games. That’s right, students grades 6 through 12 will enter this school and be taught about the various systems of the world through the mediums of digitally-based media. The director for education grantmaking of the MacArthur Foundation, Connie Yowell,, reported that, “juggling lots of different collected elements is a big part of what you are doing when you are creating a game”. Yowell also says that, “gaming provides an interesting frame for a way of looking at the world and parsing out the various operating systems of our world, called gaming literacy. And this form of literacy is teaching kids about dynamic systems.” Thus, playing games provided by the curricula of Q2L will allow students to think about the world systemically. When operationally defining the term systemically, I am referring to when students learn to think about the various systems, organizations, or classifications involved in decision-making and how they may impact their surrounding environment. In sum, it is hypothetico deductive reasoning at its best- my opinion of course!

Hypothetico deductive reasoning is a big, long term used to describe something you probably can remember learning about back in science class. This is when an individual is presented with a problem they need to solve. The individual should first begin with a hypothesis. This will constitute as a general theory that is composed of all the possible outcomes that could occur if the problem is solved, and what factors are involved in each of those outcomes (e.g., the aforementioned systems). I tend to be a pretty big advocate when it comes to video games being able to facilitate hypothetico deductive reasoning in those who play them. In fact, there have been studies that suggest this form of reasoning is positively correlated (thereby suggesting a strong, causal relationship and link) to game play (Schwartz, Blair, Biswas, Leelawong & Davis, 2008).

Personally, I am excited to see how this school progresses throughout the years. How the students who enter adulthood will function, as opposed to adults who graduate from a school like one I attended, with hardly any computer use other than from your library courses or optional computer programming courses. What do you think? Do you think this school is right on task with how society is, that is technologically dependent? Do you think this school is way off, and should not stray away from what we have always known to work, this meaning, rote memorizing the systems, organizations and classifications for that big test you will need later on in the year? I agree with the former, personally. But what about you? So… if you are interested in learning more about this school, here is the direct link to their website: Q2L.

More later,

-Anna DiNoto

*Note: The opinions are my own, Anna DiNoto’s, only. Thank you and I hope you enjoy and keep on reading as well as commenting- it is greatly appreciated !*

References:

Schwartz, D., Blair, K., Biswas, G., Leelawong, K., & Davis, J. (2008). Animations of thought: Interactivity in the teachable agent paradigm. Learning with animation: Research implications for design (pp. 114-140). New York, NY US: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved September 18, 2009, from PsycINFO database.

(2009, September 18). NYC school adds games to curriculum. Message posted to: http://www.gamepolitics.com/2009/09/18/nyc-school-adds-games-curriculum