EDUC 8842 Story Board

Introduction:
1 Intro:
The keynote topic is in regards to games and how they encourage or change the environment of learning. Games have come a long way through history dating back to 3000 BC with the first game called Royal Game of Ur; 700 BC is the earliest records of cubical Dice and by the 400′s, Tabula (an early version of Backgammon) game lost by Emperor Zeno recorded. This was follow by A Persian romance tells of Chess which originated from India between 650-850AD. This list goes on and on, but the point is that games or gaming rose out of a need to occupy leisure time and/or to engage in some type of relationship with others.


Importance of Play
2. Importance of Play:
E. Dixon wrote, “Play is universal throughout the animal kingdom — whether it’s a puppy chasing its tail, or so we’ve a history of play; Playing became important for both adult and especially children as it relates to their development.” And it should not be underestimated in the development of children. In fact there is a body of research that supports the belief that play is essential to ensure that a child develops and reaches their full potential in life. But play, like everything else in this society has undergone an evolution.

Play for Millenniums
3. Play for Millenniums
Nevertheless, gone are the days of jump rope hula loops and jacks; in many cases, but for organized sports, – bats, balls and sneakers have also become obsolete. However, children still play; it’s just now their Playground is virtual. Through advancements in technology child are able to play at anything they can image within the technical space.

Rationale
4. Rationale
I found an article called “Lessons from video games: Getting students invested in learning” posted by McCallum at:
http://www.cleanapple.com/blog/?p=304 written with provided from teacher Diana Laufenberg’s perspective. In this article she discussed how her discovery of how video games not only engage players in recreational activities but motivated the learning process, changed the nature of teaching for her. This was largely due to the discovery that student were more willing to embrace “learning through” active participation as opposed to “learning about” through traditional passive memorization and regurgitation. “In good video games, as in school, true learning only happens when students are able to situate learning with experience.”

Getting students invested in learning
5. Getting students invested in learning Gaming provides children an arena to learn within context of a dynamic setting, engaging 3 of our 5 senses. Critical and strategic thought in many of these games is essential to attain success.
This is way of thinking consistent with mathematics, logic and the scientific evaluation method. The teacher identified the following characteristics of critical and strategic problem solving:
1. Evaluate the environment or situation
2. Create a hypothesis for possible solution and/or actions
3. Test the hypothesis through implementation
4. Use lesson learned for advancement

Support
5. Support
It is undeniable that video or digital games have become one of the most popular leisure time activities for children. Statically 65% of our children accessed video games daily; something that nearly all of our students have in common. In addition 53% of all American adults play video games of some kind, on a computer, a gaming console, their cell phone, Ipad or other handheld device/ portable gaming device; 73% of adult gamers use computers to play games; of the young adults gamers between 18-29 years, 75% use online Gaming consoles, 68% use computers as compared to 53% console users, 35% who using cell phones, and 25% using portable gaming devices.

Conclusion
5. Conclusion
In Martin Gardner’s 1st Book of Scientific American Puzzles, in the introduction he wrote: “The interest of these great minds and mathematical play is not hard to understand, for the creative thought bestowed of such trivial topics is of a piece with the type of thinking which leads to mathematical and scientific discovery. What is Mathematics, after all, except the solving of puzzles and what is science if it’s not a systematic effort to get better and better answers to puzzles posed by nature?” I think there is a lesson there for all.


References:
Carr-Chellman, A. (Feb2011). How do you encourage learning in boys? Bring a gaming culture to the classroom. In The Art of Manliness, Reviving the lost Art of Manliness. Retrieved 24 Mar 11 5:31 PM MST, from http://community.artofmanliness.com/forum/topics/how-do-you-encourage-learning.
Lenhart A, Jones S, Macgill A. (2011). Adults and Video Games. In Report: Gaming, Families, Teens . Retrieved April 8, 2011, from http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2008/Adults-and-Video-Games.aspx.
Dixon, E.. (2007). Importance of Play in Child Development. In Child Development Guide. Retrieved April 8, 2011, from http://www.child-development-guide.com/importance-of-play.html
Mar, G. (APR2010). Using problem based learning and recreational logic games to build student interest and confidence. In You Tube. Retrieved 24 Mar 11 5:31 PM MST, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8G-b3SwKxA.
Mccallum. (DEC2010 ). Lessons from video games: Getting students invested in learning. In Making Meaning – Cleanapple. Retrieved 24 Mar 11 5:31 PM MST, from http://www.cleanapple.com/blog/?p=304.