The Answer to All Our Problems
Happy Constitution Day everyone. In honor of the holiday I have given you a wonderful, heartwarming tale of the Department of Education's effort to revive the economy. I'll let USA Today take it from here:
The White House today unveiled plans for a research center that aims to infuse more digital learning -- including video games -- into the nation's classrooms.
The effort, dubbed Digital Promise, will aid the rapid development of new learning software, educational games and other technologies, in part through helping educators vet what works and what doesn't.
"Digital Promise" is the name of this project, in case you missed it. It sounds like an 80's pop song about a philandering male robot who assures his latest mate that their relationship will be exclusive. I have not decided yet whether his "latest mate" will be a male, female, or intersex robot.
Anyway, it appears that at the heart of this curriculum will be a game called Portal- a puzzle game where the player must manipulate gravity and teleportation to reach the goal at the end of the level. This sci-fi spectacle is a hit with kids my age who don't recognize that the entire idea of the game was taken from the music video of the aforementioned hit Digital Promise.
Apparently kids will play the game and make puzzles of their own. Valve, the team behind the game, is releasing software that "allows [students] to create new levels of Portal for classroom use." The goal of the program is to not only help feed creativity, but according to the article, "the game is finding a second life in classrooms as teachers modify it to teach physics."
Finally, before Ricochet is burned in a fiery rage of vengeance against this overreach in federal power, it's important to note that "a large group of high-tech business and non-profit organizations is supporting the effort, which is being overseen by the U.S. Department of Education." Phew. So it's not all coming out of our pockets.
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Jul '11
Re: The Answer to All Our Problems
[Warning, Luddite screed alert]
Ugh. I'd be happy if computers of all types were banned from classrooms until students could demonstrate proficiency with reading first. This endless infatuation with novel technology is a money-pit and does nothing to actually educate students. And of course "a large group of high-tech business and non-profit organizations is supporting the effort..." - it's in their interest to train future programmers - but what is society going to do with the 99.9% of students who won't end up writing software when they can't even write a sentence?
Re: The Answer to All Our Problems
The last sentence made me laugh out loud. I gotta say though- as someone with horrible handwriting, being able to type up essays is something I couldn't live without! And using a computer to type makes life so easy.
Although it could be that I have horrible writing because I don't need to write. But I doubt it.
PS: My philosophy teacher made it clear that we can't have laptops in class. However we actually do the classes homework online.
Edited on September 19, 2011 at 6:20pmJul '11
Re: The Answer to All Our Problems
Ethan Safron: The last sentence made me laugh out loud. I gotta say though- as someone with horrible handwriting, being able to type up essays is something I couldn't live without! And using a computer to type makes life so easy.
Although it could be that I have horrible writing because I don't need to write. But I doubt it.
PS: My philosophy teacher made it clear that we can't have laptops in class. However we actually do the classes homework online. ยท Sep 19 at 9:20am
Edited on Sep 19 at 09:20 am
Glad you liked the last line - but my comment had less to do with penmanship (that's a lost art completely) and more to do with facility with language. Many students I encounter have not learned how to communicate well with the written word, and I can't think of any other single skill that's as important to one's eventual success.
And don't get me wrong, games such as this probably do have pedagogical value, but there seems such a rush to get kids "used to" computers that it's supplanting much more important skills.