Eclectic Technology

When you ask a middle school student what computers are good for they often reply "playing games." SimCity is going to be releasing a SimCity EDU version in the fall of this year. This new version "grew out of research conducted by the MacArthur foundation on how gaming can mirror formative assessments [PDF] – measuring understanding regularly along the learning path, rather than occasionally or at the end of a unit, as is most common. Their research found that games gather data about the player as he or she makes choices within the game, affecting the outcome. In games, players “level-up,” moving on to higher levels when they’ve mastered the necessary skills; similarly teachers scaffold lessons to deepen understanding as a student grasps the easier concepts."

The post also notes that there are those who question if assessment belongs in games. That is a topic that will continued to be debated.

When is the right time to use computer games and when is practice with paper and pencial a better way to learn concepts in teaching? Below are two quotes that appear in this post.

"...Gary Stager, founder of theConstructing Modern Knowledge Summer Institute, recommend that computers be used to add “deep and meaningful experiences” to teachers’ lessons, much of what the 91percent of teachers with access to computers are doing may be just the opposite."

and "43 percent of classroom computing goes to playing educational digital games, while a Joan Ganz Cooney study showed that nearly 50 percent of teachers use digital games in class. But with nearly half of all classroom computer time dedicated to games — many of which are played to reinforce basic skills like phonics, spelling or multiplication tables — some teachers are wondering if games really are innovative techniques used to enhance student learning. Or are they just flashy, colorful ways of dishing out more of the same?"

The post also discusses the best use of iPads as well as SimCityEDU. Two questions are also raised in this post, are games being used to enhance instruction, and do we lose something when students use technology rather than paper and pencil to learn?