GamaSutra article about children and games

Here are some interesting statistics about children and games from an article in GamaSutra:

"The NPD Group, which also tracks the monthly video game industry sales data in North America, has released findings from an online survey titled Kids & Digital Content, which found that children as young as 2 years old are playing video games and downloading digital content.

The survey, which was completed by U.S. parents, found that children have become increasingly in tune with technology, as children between the ages of 2 and 14 are downloading games and watching downloaded and streaming content over the internet through computers and other personal electronics."

Food for thought!

-Lynn

Youth, Technology, Gaming, and the Library

If you work with kids and teens, it is important to keep up with what technology. If you work in a low-tech environment, you might not be aware of some innovative programs that are offered through some public libraries. I thought I'd share some of the exciting things that are happening in my region, spearheaded by Matt Gullet, the Director of Emerging Technology at the PLCMC (Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg) and Kelley Czarnecki, a teen librarian.

Matt maintains the "Youth and Technology" blog. This blog focuses on the use of technology " in creative ways to enrich the lives of youth". This is a great resource!

Matt and Kelley are involved in the Teen Second Life Project and recently wrote the cover article of a recent School Library Journal, "Meet the New You".

More info:

"Charlotte, NC - Oct. 6, 2006 - The Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County (PLCMC) and the Alliance Library System are pleased to announce a partnership to collaborate on the "Eye4You Alliance," an island in Teen Second Life that will offer virtual library services to teens.

Teen Second Life is a 3-D, international gathering place on the Internet where teens 13-17 can make friends, play, learn and create. Teens create a digital version of themselves, called an avatar, that they use to travel around the "virtual world," meet new people and participate in a variety of activities.

The goal of "Eye4You Alliance" is to create an interactive and informative space for young adults within the Teen Second Life virtual world and to collaborate with other educators who serve youth and are already present in Teen Second Life and in real life.

"At a time when many libraries are offering collaborative spaces through social tools, a 3-D immersive environment is the next logical step to libraries remaining relevant to teenagers," said Helene Blowers, director of Information Technology at PLCMC. "This project is an opportunity to engage teens in services and activities that will excite them in a place they already are." -Second Life Library Blog (Note - the Second Life Library Blog was recently moved to InfoIsland.org)

GAMING AT THE LIBRARY!

The PLCMC offers teen gaming events at various libraries throughout the county, and a Gaming Zone for all ages at the main library's Virtual Village. The library has a set of new AlienWare laptop computers, used for LAN parties:

more pictures of the Game Zone program

Comment:

I'd like to see the library purchase Dimenxian, a 3D game that teaches Algebra. It has multiplayer capabilities, so it would be great on the new AlienWare LAN system. For more information, see the Tabula Digita site.



ImaginOn, the children and teen's main library, offers many opportunities that involve technology, including a video production studio, Studio i. The library offers workshops such as " Take Photos for Your Webpage" , "Make MySpace Photos Come to Life", and events such as a Dance Dance Revolution tournament, Family Gaming Night, and video game club meetings.

If you don't know what is going on at the library these days, I urge you to find out. Share this information with parents, colleagues, and the young people in your life.

-Lynn

Link to Scientific Learning, developers of Fast ForWord.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools recently announced that it will be spending $300,000.00 on Fast ForWord software (from Scientific Learning) to support reading and related skills. According to an article in the Charlotte Observer:

"The program is an exercise in neuroscience disguised as a game. Kids see animated figures, for example, and must indicate whether a sound's frequency and pitch is getting higher or lower. Or they play a version of Memory that forces them to match sounds such as bit and pit.

The games slow the speech so kids can succeed initially. As they answer more questions correctly, the difficulty increases. If kids make mistakes, the computer tailors the games to improve weaknesses.

The repetition improves the brain. After eight to 12 weeks, students' reading abilities make an average of at least a year's progress, the software's maker says."

If you are a school psychologist, special educator, speech/language pathologist, reading specialist, teacher, or parent who is familiar with this program, feel free to comment about this on this blog!

I am particularly interested to learn if you are a graduate student doing research in schools using Fast ForWord. What do you think? How does this method compare with other methods?

(Note: I do not own Fast ForWord software- - and I'm not affiliated with Scientific Learning. )

Link to article from eSchool News: Six Ed-Tech Trends to Watch in 2007

Are you interested in learning about the trends in educational technology for 2007? This on-line article from eSchool News gives a good overview of what's coming in the near future.

Six ed-tech trends to watch in 2007
"Service-oriented architecture, ‘cloud computing’ among the developments sure to have an impact on educational technology in the coming year " By Gregg W. Downey, Editor, eSchool News

Link to Silversprite, a blog about the use of games for learning. (click here for link)

Take the time to visit John Kirriemuir's blog, SilverSprite. He is a self-employed researcher and consultant who specializes in the use of technologies to support education and learning. His blog provides good resources for educators who are interested in using games and learning, especially through "Commercial Off the Shelf" games that can be easily adapted to the curriculum.

Here is a description of Kirriemuir's blog:

"Examples of COTS (Commercial Off The Shelf) games being used for curriculum-based learning. These games are designed purely for entertainment, and not for learning or teaching. By compiling these examples, we show that such games are being used in schools and colleges by teachers and other educators, as part of curriculum-based learning."

eSchoolNews Educator's Resource Center

If you are looking for educational technology resources, the eSchool News Online website has a wealth of information, including a video resource center.

Link to article: Are you a Techno-Constructivist? Education World

This article is from Education World: Are you a Techno-Constructivist? This article is worth reading, especially if you are a teacher who is interested learning about a "real-world model for teachers adapting technology to the classroom."

Online interactive games for children with serious illnesses or disabilities.

According to a recent article in USA today (November 6, 2006), several websites offer children on-line interactive games to help them learn and cope with their health problems or disabilities. Take a look! The USA Today article on-line has links to the organizations that provide the on-line games and related interactive activities.

Starlight Games Page

From the website:

Research Shows the Benefits of Starlight’s Programs Include Decreased Depression, Pain, Anxiety and Isolation
"Starlight is continuously conducting clinical research to evaluate and analyze our programmatic efforts to help seriously ill children and their families cope with their pain, fear and isolation. Following are the overarching summaries of the results from the latest research studies on Starlight's programs."

"Research studies indicate that Starlight’s programs help seriously ill children and their families: experience less depression, anxiety, pain and isolation; better handle, understand, and manage their illnesses; and bond as a family."

"Research studies at institutions across North America have demonstrated the benefits of Starlight’s programs including improved self-efficacy, self-esteem, coping, knowledge, child responsibility, parent-child relationships, adherence; family cohesiveness and willingness to return for treatment; and a reduction in symptoms, depression, feelings of isolation and negative coping behaviors."

More about Starlight's Programs

Links to visit - or revisit: Digital Media, Technology, Learning & New Research / Grant Opportunities

Here are some links to some resources that might be of interest:

Building the Field of Digital Media and Learning: The MacArthur Foundation launches a $50 million Digital Media and Learning initiative.

"The MacArthur Foundation launched its five-year, $50 million digital media and learning initiative in 2006 to help determine how digital technologies are changing the way young people learn, play, socialize, and participate in civic life. Answers are critical to developing educational and other social institutions that can meet the needs of this and future generations. The initiative is both marshaling what is already known about the field and seeding innovation for continued growth"

Found on the Digital Media and Learning Website:

Confronting the Challenges fo Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century", a 72-page white paper by Henry Jenkins, from MIT.

Digital Media and Learning Fact Sheet, a 2-page summary of facts and statistics related to digital media and learning.

Ecology of Games : This web page summarizes chapters that will be included in upcoming book about the use of games in learning, including a chapter about game accessibility for young people who have special needs.

Individual Grants: This web page has links and descriptions about individual projects that are in process related to the Digital Media and Learning Initiative.

Online Edutopia Magazine: Innovations in technology and learning from the George Lucas Foundation.

BioMap: A technology tool based on neuroscience research developed by Northwestern University to diagnose learning disabilities.

Link to Bio-map: Using technology for evaluating learning disabilities

Northwestern University's Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory has developed a method of identifying learning disabilities through the use of technology. The following is a quote from the website:

"The BioMAP (Biological Marker of Auditory Processing) is a neurophysiological test used to quickly and objectively identify disordered processing of sound that has been associated with learning impairments in many children.

Unlike traditional brainstem evoked response recordings using clicks or tone bursts, the BioMAP uses a complex speech syllable that reflects the acoustic and phonetic characteristics of sounds that present difficulties for disordered populations. Over the past decade Dr. Nina Kraus and her colleagues at the Auditory Neuroscience Lab at Northwestern University have evaluated the evoked brainstem responses of more than 1000 children, and have found that the BioMAP acts as a unique biological marker for those learning disabled children with central auditory processing disorders that have a high likelihood of benefiting from an auditory training program."

It will be interesting to see if this technology has validity for use in the schools, and if this technology can play a role in planning for interventions within the RTI/problem solving model.

Suspension Alternatives that Work- Article from eSchool News

E-School News has an article with links to resources about effective alternatives to suspension. Take a look!

Link to FutureLab's Teaching With Games research website.

I've posted additional information about FutureLab on the Interactive Multimedia Technology Blog.

Math Tools

According to the website, "Math Tools is a project of The Math Forum @ Drexel, funded in part by the National Science Foundation. The goal is to create a community digital library that supports the use and development of software for mathematics education"

Link to post about Universal Design and Access for games and multimedia applications.

If you are interested in Universal Design for Learning and the use of learning and edutainment games with students, take a look at the post about game accessibility on the Interactive Multimedia Technology blog.

Teaching History with Technology Website

This looks like an interesting site! The Teaching History with Technology website offers a wealth of information for those interested in using technology to engage students.

Mind, Brain and Emerging Technologies: Andrea Gaggio's Positive Technology Blog

Andrea Gaggio has an intensive background in technology and psychology. His blog, "Positive Technology Journal" has a wealth of information and links, updated regularly.

Videos posted to YouTube by bored math students.

I collected an assortment of short videos and videoclips that were posted on YouTube by bored students in math classes to use as a reference for future workshop. (I recently took the videos down.)

If you are a math teacher, a math curriculum specialist, a trainer of future mathematics teachers, or someone who is working towards school reform and supporting innovative ways to engage more young people in mathematics and related subjects (STEM), you can go to the YouTube website and do a search. Keywords that will find the videos are as follows:

bored in class
bored in math class
boring math (geometry, algebra, etc.)
hate math
math teacher
math students
math project
sleeping in math class
singing, dancing, cheerleading etc. + math class

Most of what you will find on YouTube was shot by students without their teacher's knowledge, so please don't make any conclusions about the math teachers you might notice in the background.

Math teachers need our support and encouragement! As you can see, many must teach large numbers of students. They work without any assistants or volunteers. They are not often provided with up-to-date textbooks, computers, and related technology to provide their students with the math and math-related technology skills needed for the future.

Note: If you are interested in engaged learning activities for Algebra, take a look at the demo and trailer of Dimenxian, a 3-D computer game that was recently released by Tabula Digita. Other applications might help engage secondary students in math include the on-line game Wayang Outpost, and Carnegie Learning's Cognitive Tutor.

Homework Helper Links

Here are two resources for homework help on-line:

American Online Homework Helper:
http://homework-help.aol.com/

Tutor.com
http://www.tutor.com/