Week 5 Reflection-EDLD 5364

This week I have learned what an important tool gaming can be in the classroom. Games are really an ongoing assessment (Edutopia.org, n.d.). I never realized how much of an impact games could have in a classroom setting. Teaching second grade we often play games on the Smart Board, but the games that I viewed in the videos this week were three dimensional and realistic. What an awesome way for students to view places they would never be able to go in real life. Our students are passionate about gaming so why not bring the gaming into the classroom and have to use the games to teach real life applications such as water erosion. Sasha Barab suggested that instead of using a simple textbook to learn about water erosion to have the students play a game and actually learn how to solve the water erosion problem that a community is having (Edutopia.org, nd). This is a real world application that our students would be passionate about simply because we have them solving the problem in a video game format. “Technology makes it easier for students and teachers to track the effects of effort and facilitates more immediate feedback” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski, 2007, 156). The gaming also allows for immediate feedback which our students are use to because they often play video games at home. The immediate feedback allows them to continue to problem solve and eventually get the answer on their own. The teacher is simply the mentor to guide them to find the answer.

Technology has changed the way that we must teach our students. Teacher must learn to be more creative in their teaching. We must begin to create innovative and creative learners if we want our students to compete with the global community. "Web 2.0 is sometimes called the 'Participatory Web' based on its architecture, which is designed for interaction" (Schrum and Solomon, 2007, p. 171). We have so many Web 2.0 tools on the Internet that can help our students become innovative and creative thinkers. We, as teachers, need to model this learning for our students. We need to learn the technology with our students (Edutopia.org, nd). I believe sometimes teachers are scared to use the technology because we do not know it well enough, but we have to realize it is a perfect opportunity to teach our students what it means to problem solve and we can learn along with them.

References:
Edutopia.org (nd.) Big Thinkers: James Paul Gee on grading with games. Retrieved on Mar. 21, 2011 from http://www.edutopia.org/digital-generation-james-gee-video
Edutopia.org (nd.) Big Thinkers:Sasha Barab on New- Media Engagement. Retrieved on Mar. 21, 2011 from http://www.edutopia.org/digital-generation-sasha-barab-video
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., and Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Schrum, L., & Solomon, G. (2007). Web 2.0 new tools, new schools. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education.