TYO Recommends: January 27, 2012
Investigating gaming and play as mediums for learning and addressing new needs in education as we move into the modern age. Highlighted videos displaying efforts to help parents connect with children who have grown up in the digital era and educators to consider revamping the current structure.
Play now, lead later: Darrell Hammond, Chief Executive Officer for Kaboom, sends a message to the 2,500 CEOs and government leaders gathering at the World Economic Forum to highlight play as “the best natural resource in a CREATIVE ECONOMY.” According to Hammond, slides and swings are not just about recess, but access to unlock the imaginative potential that breeds creative thinkers and global innovators.
Guilty gaming pleasures no more: Remember that time when you quietly chastised yourself for sneaking in a game of Facebook Farmville at work? Well, students at the University of Washington Bothell’s Center for Serious Play have harnessed the fad fixation on Farmville to create a similar WETLANDS PROTECTION GAME called UWB Wetlands Restoration which turns your guilty gaming pleasure into a good deed. A win-win situation!
Game time is study time: Researchers are developing ways to turn math “stumbling-blocks” for young learners into games that teach techniques to overcome learning hurdles. This UNIQUE ADAPTIVE TECHNOLOGY creates incentives to enjoy learning concepts from fractions to right triangles by creating games that build in difficulty and rewards as students advance. Finally, learning from a game, not just a game designed for learning.
Move over, Mavis Beacon: And just when your gaming thumbs got tired, we ask: Does HANDWRITING matter in a digital world? In honor of National Handwriting Day, the American Association of School Administrators called an educational summit to discuss the future (or lack thereof) of handwriting in our increasingly digitized society. With cursive on the chopping block in many states, researchers look into benefits of language development through writing. Look out Siri, no-type texting is bound to be under scrutiny next!
Spring semester success: Educational psychologist on NBC gives parents a heads up on identifying problems in school going into SECOND SEMESTER. With suggestions from monitoring cyber bullying to eliminating television thirty minutes before bedtime, parents, listen up and make the spring semester an even bigger success than the fall!
A new take on peer education: UNICEF presents ‘Getting Ready for School: a CHILD-TO-CHILD APPROACH, a pilot program and low-cost method to provide supplemental education to preschoolers particularly in marginalized communities. Citing the child right to education, UNICEF addresses the need for social and academic preparation prior to entering primary school using middle school students to instruct their younger peers.
Sorry, Socrates: Changing education paradigms in the modern age. The creative and quirky animate below traces the nascent stages of public education from the classicist model to the contemporary debate on increasing stimulant education and revitalizing the traditional mold. Takes an interesting view on the U.S. map of reported ADHD cases and a radical new look at how we do versus how we should educate our youth.
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