The 2009 Darwin Awards

These stories are humorous and, yet, sad at the same time. But they make us human. Which are your favorites. What do they say about human evolution?

New survey about those who game

A new national survey from the Pew Internet & American Life Project illustrates just how ingrained video games have become in youth culture—a phenomenon with important implications for 21st-century learning.

The survey found that while young Americans don’t necessarily play the same thing, nearly all of them—boys and girls—play video games of one kind or another. And they don’t just play by themselves. Nearly two-thirds play video games to socialize face-to-face with friends and
family, while just over a quarter said they play with Internet friends.

“It shows that gamers are social people,” says Amanda Lenhart, a senior researcher at Pew who led the report on the survey. “They communicate just as much. They spend time face-to-face, just as much as other kids. They email and text.”

The survey, released Sept. 16, combined the telephone responses from a nationally representative sample of 1,102 young people, ages 12 to 17, and their parents.
Performed from November 2007 through February of this year, and partly funded by the MacArthur Foundation, it had a margin of error of three percentage points.
Among other things, the survey found that:

• Ninety-seven percent of young respondents play video games. That’s 99 percent of boys and 94 percent of girls, with little difference in the percentages among various racial and ethnic groups and incomes. In fact, 7 percent of those surveyed said they didn’t have a computer at home, but they did have a game console—such as Sony Corp.’s PlayStation, Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox, or Nintendo Co.’s Wii.

• They play often. When surveyed, half of the respondents said they had played a video game the previous day.

• Their games of choice are as diverse as their tastes in music or TV. Eighty percent of respondents play five or more different game genres, with racing, puzzles, sports, and
action the most common. Favorites were Guitar Hero, Halo 3, Madden NFL, solitaire, and Dance Dance Revolution.

• Young people are routinely able to get their hands on games that are rated “M” (for mature) or “AO” (adults only). Three-quarters of parents who were surveyed said they “always” or “sometimes” check the ratings on their kids’ games. And yet, half of boys who were questioned
listed a game with an “M” or “AO” rating as one of their favorites, compared with 14 percent of girls.

Regardless, Pew researchers said they want to steer clear of depicting video games as “good” or “bad,” says Joseph Kahne, a study co-author and dean of the education
school at Mills College in California. He noted, for instance, that even games with violent content,
such as Halo, provided “more than average opportunities for players to help one another.”
Kahne also looked at games’ effect on civic engagement— anything from political involvement to raising money for charity. He found that those who spent the most time playing video games weren’t any less likely to be involved in their communities.

The survey did, however, find that those who played games in face-to-face social settings were more likely to say they were committed to civic participation. Mimi Ito, an anthropologist who studies the use of new media, said more research is needed to explain this phenomenon.
But she speculates the ties that gamers make with “real-life local friends” stimulate civic engagement. “Gaming is the reason to get together—but they’re probably
talking about other things,” says Ito, who’s based at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Center of Communication. For this and other reasons, Ito cautioned parents against
negative stereotypes about video games. How young people play a game, she says, is as important as what they play.

To that end, Jesse Schell, a professor of entertainment technology at Carnegie Mellon University, hoped the report would encourage parents to learn more about the
video games their children play. “If more parents would take the time to play the same
things their children are playing—or even better, play with them—it would benefit both parents and children,” says Schell, who teaches video game design.

What does this mean for those of us who complain about the amount of time kids spend gaming? What does this say about how teachers teach?

Comments?

Personae

Jim Burke- a noted and well-published English teacher has written about the 7 personae that students will have to master in order to succeed in the world. They are listed below. Which ones do we teach in our school. Which have you mastered? Which do you need work on?

Let’s look at the seven personae. Burke’s (2009, pp. 13-14) framework outlines the following:


Storyteller: “everyone must be able to use a range of means and media to tell the story of an experience, an event, a situation, or a problem and its proposed solutions;…we must be equally able to understand and analyze the stories…others tell us.”

Philosopher: “[students] must be able to understand and grapple with [complex ideas] by posing questions and considering a subject from multiple angles;…they must be able to convey their own perspective on and response to these ideas through words, images, numbers.”

Historian: “we must know how to gather, assess, and apply background knowledge relevant to the text or task at hand in order to comprehend its ideas and arguments…[students] must also know how to reason like a historian.”

Anthropologist: “[students] must all develop the ability to understand not only our own but also others’ cultures…developing the ability to observe, examine, and communicate insights about these cultures, for such skills are fundamental to our personal and economic success.”

Reporter: “Everyone today must be able to watch for, locate, evaluate, and analyze a remarkable amount of data from different sources;…we must develop and continually refine our ability to investigate, research, and navigate…[the] sea of information…[and] convey the results.”

Critic: “We all need the skills critics use to evaluate and analyze a text…[and] now it must also…examine retirement plans, medical options, and competing products and services.”

Designer: “Design is such a crucial aspect of any text…we need to know how to ‘read’ for it, noticing the features used to invest the text with meaning…we must consider design when we compose documents, create online content, produce videos, or otherwise communicate with people.”

Multi-tasking- fact or fiction

Laltely, I have been reading about multi-tasking, especially about texting while driving. Several states have passed laws banning the use of cell phones while driving. High schoolers seem to live lives full of multitasking and for some it seems to work?  Can one multi-task and still be efficient?

The Truth about Multi-tasking
The Bill cosponsored by Thune
Scientific American article on multitasking
Research on Multi-tasking

New Year's Resolutions

Now that the new year has started, people everywhere will be asked about their resolutions. What are yours? Do you decide on them suddenly or really give them thought? Do you not do them at all?

Here are mine:
1. Get into better shape physically, mentally, socially and spiritually.
2. Reorder my priorities.
3. Do more giving than taking.

I am What I Learn

The winners of the I Am What I Learn contest have been announced. Take a look at the videos. What could you create a video about?