http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/studies-show-new-video-game-helps-children-with-autism-learn-skills-for-independence-120698319.html
I saw an interesting study being done in North Carolina for autism patients. This study is utilizing the learning benefits of video games to teach autism patients the common habits we learn to live independently. The example they brought up was the idea of handwashing and how after showing them the steps and how to do each step, the game would reward them for performing each step flawlessly. It is also good to hear from this article that they also got a grant to research other behaviors that can be explored in this medium.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Monday, April 18, 2011
Military Model for Tech Education may be the future.
http://www.ajc.com/opinion/military-model-works-for-913910.html
In an interesting article I read for this week, it chronicles the how the military teaches soldiers, specifically high-school graduate-age students of various intellectual backgrounds to successfully utilize and repair advanced avionic computers and million-dollar nuclear submarines. This article looked at the National Association of State Boards of Education's (NASBE) report on how the U.S. Military teaches and trains its soldiers and students (ala JROTC and ROTC) on the math, science, and technology curriculum needed to operate the advanced military tech that is being used in the defense of our nation. I found it especially interesting that the military model utilizes technology that can assess a student's performance so that the teacher can adjust their curriculum or teaching methods to better fit the preferences of individual students.
In an interesting article I read for this week, it chronicles the how the military teaches soldiers, specifically high-school graduate-age students of various intellectual backgrounds to successfully utilize and repair advanced avionic computers and million-dollar nuclear submarines. This article looked at the National Association of State Boards of Education's (NASBE) report on how the U.S. Military teaches and trains its soldiers and students (ala JROTC and ROTC) on the math, science, and technology curriculum needed to operate the advanced military tech that is being used in the defense of our nation. I found it especially interesting that the military model utilizes technology that can assess a student's performance so that the teacher can adjust their curriculum or teaching methods to better fit the preferences of individual students.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Video Games as a catalyst for learning and curiosity
Vid on Video Games
In this excerpt from my subscription to FORAtv, this commentator named Peter Williams is arguing that the usefulness of video games in exploring and researching history and art. He cites the video game Fallout 3, a game set as an alternate history 1950 where the Cold War caused a nuclear meltdown in Washington D.C. He talks about how playing a game like this, where 1950s music, fashion, etc were prevalent in the game, encouraged his son to research into the Cold War and time-period pieces such as the music from that era that served as background music from the game. This is interesting because it reminded me about how I took an interest in WWII. I learned more about World War II history from playing video games and my interest in the subject matter influenced my curiosity in that portion of history. I've done research, watched documentaries, and even willingly took classes on the cultural, socio-political, and military aspects that influential part of history.
Learning Debt using Animal Crossing
This video talks about how the speaker's five-year old son learned about debt and mortgages from a game called Animal Crossing. This video was really interesting to me because this man talked about a seemingly mature idea - mortgage and debt - with his five year old son. This speaker shows two really hot ideas in Education today - the fact that children are smarter than they look and the fact that video games can educate children about complex ideas.
In this excerpt from my subscription to FORAtv, this commentator named Peter Williams is arguing that the usefulness of video games in exploring and researching history and art. He cites the video game Fallout 3, a game set as an alternate history 1950 where the Cold War caused a nuclear meltdown in Washington D.C. He talks about how playing a game like this, where 1950s music, fashion, etc were prevalent in the game, encouraged his son to research into the Cold War and time-period pieces such as the music from that era that served as background music from the game. This is interesting because it reminded me about how I took an interest in WWII. I learned more about World War II history from playing video games and my interest in the subject matter influenced my curiosity in that portion of history. I've done research, watched documentaries, and even willingly took classes on the cultural, socio-political, and military aspects that influential part of history.
Learning Debt using Animal Crossing
This video talks about how the speaker's five-year old son learned about debt and mortgages from a game called Animal Crossing. This video was really interesting to me because this man talked about a seemingly mature idea - mortgage and debt - with his five year old son. This speaker shows two really hot ideas in Education today - the fact that children are smarter than they look and the fact that video games can educate children about complex ideas.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)