I encourage everyone to check out the videos of Jane Mcgonigal on her website entitled you found me  which can be accessed through a link under the list of interesting blogs that I follow section. She gives some very interesting talks about game design and how to apply those principles to one's everyday life.

Perhaps the most interesting comment she made was in a video delivered to the School of Life. In that video she talks about a concept called PERMA. PERMA is an acronym that stands for Positive Energy Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment. In her talk, she proposes that these emotions, which according to scientists are what people need in order to flourish, are the same emotions we feel when we play games.

An interesting thought indeed that makes sense. I wonder if she would say that a person who loses a game feels the same emotions. I also wonder if this applies just to video games, or to sports games, word games, and other types of board games as well.

I wonder how we can design games to give people these positive emotions even if they lose? Perhaps the answer is in her book entitled Reality is Broken.

Share your thoughts on whether you believe in the power of games to help kids learn. Do you feel PERMA when you play games? For educators, do you find this to be an effective instructional method? Does it matter if they win or lose?

Relating this discussion to the topic of games, according to a study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, it was discovered that a whopping 97%of American kids between ages 12 and 17 play games. (Information taken from Now You See It, by Cathy Davidson p. 145)

Here is a link to an organization called Institute of Play that works to make new forms of learning that are more engaging and game oriented.

http://www.instituteofplay.org/

As part of the discussion of understanding why technology and games can help kids learn better, I would like to share with you a very humorous, (but unfortunate) cartoon of a representation of our educational system. This post is courtesy of my friend Bryan Schuett from Minnesota.

Enjoy the picture, and thanks for sending it Bryan!

Here is a response I wrote to a question in one of my classes. The question was: What would a school based on Whitehead's ideas look, sound, and feel like? Compare that to today's system. 

In order to know how to use technology and games to help kids learn better in the 21st century, we need to understand what our current educational system is. This helps us understand how we can change the structure of schools to make them more conducive for the technological tools we now have at our disposal. I believe a system like the one described below and proposed by Whitehead would be a wonderful environment for all of our kids to learn in. 

The pupils have got to be made to feel that they are studying something, and are not merely executing intellectual minuets. (A.E. p. 15)

Knowledge does not keep any better than fish. You may he dealing with knowledge of the old species, with some old truth; but somehow or other it must come to the students, as it were, just drawn out of the sea and with the freshness of its immediate importance. (A.E. p. 147)

I am quite intrigued by many of the educational ideas of Alfred North Whitehead.

The first of those ideas that I would like to discuss are based on the above two quotes.

I feel a school based on Whitehead’s principles would be one in which all of the information that was part of the curriculum felt relevant to a student’s life.

How many times were you either the student saying or observing someone ask the teacher why we had to learn this topic? I have asked myself that question more than once throughout my college career. It might be interesting to learn about American history. It might even help me become a more well rounded and cultured person. However, if I don’t plan on being a history teacher, why do I need to learn that stuff?

I think these are the types of questions a school based on Whitehead would address. Every piece of information would seem relevant to a student’s life. In addition, each student would be able to apply what he or she has learned in a practical sense.

This is what I think he means by saying the student has to feel like he is “studying something,” and “freshness of its immediate importance.”

Applying the above examples of art and history, which I personally find a little interesting, but not necessary for my career goals, I think this is how these subjects would be taught in a Whitehead school.

For history, students would run through and experience simulations of the topics they were learning to see how those lessons could be applied nowadays. For example, a teacher who would be giving a lesson on the Constitution would tell the class that they are responsible for forming a class document that would be the basis for how all classes are run in the future. In other words, the class has to make a class Constitution. He or she would break the students up into states and ask them to come up with a voting system and other laws.

To address this above question of how this is relevant and why would someone need to know this? I believe the teacher would tie the decisions of the class to some current events piece or election news. Why are certain candidates spending more time in some states than others? If the topic of free speech came up, how does free speech affect campaigns and outcomes of elections?

Therefore, the lessons would tie in the material they are learning to current events and decisions that the students have to make and analyze. The information would seem relevant and alive. If a candidate in my district says he will support a certain piece of legislation, what impact will that have on me?

I also feel that students would really get a chance to explore and be creative in this unit. The teacher might ask the students to come in dressed as a delegate would two centuries ago. In doing so, the students are experiencing the knowledge they are learning, exploring a topic to quench their thirst for knowledge, and studying a topic that is relevant to all people of fashion. A bridge lesson of a unit on fashion might have the kids learning how to sew. The endless possibilities for off shoot lessons would be pursued in a Whitehead school. The information that is learned would be in a truly relevant, alive experience that ends in knowledge that could applied to a student’s everyday life.

I think that while schools do incorporate some of these ideas nowadays, the sense of relevancy is often lost. Creativity is used, but very often the focus is often on a test the student must take. Too often, students don’t get to enjoy the experience and journey of the knowledge because teachers get caught up in having students memorize facts that will be forgotten by the student as soon as the test is over. After all, if the facts seems random and disconnected from the person, why should he or she remember them anyway?

There are three main methods which are required in a national system of education, namely, the literary curriculum, the scientific curriculum, the technical curriculum. But each of these curricula should include the other two. What I mean is, that every form of education should give the pupil a technique, a science, an assortment of general ideas, and aesthetic appreciation, and that each of these sides of his training should be illuminated by the others. (A.E. p. 75)

Another important foundation of a Whitehead’s principles is the interrelatedness of all topics. Why do we teach English and history as two different subjects? Don’t we read texts, write reports, and think critically in both. Unlike our current system, I think many subjects like the two I just mentioned would be taught together.

Overall, a Whitehead school would be a school where a student is able to explore his many interests and passions. This is in line with his theory about the three stages of romance, precision, and wisdom (Henning). In his school, all topics would seem relevant and important to the student’s every day life. Students would experience the subjects, have a chance to quench their thirst for exploration of all the topics, and see how they are all related to one another.

A school run based Whitehead’s philosophy would be unlike the current system of education where students at times challenge the relevancy of topics and may claim they will never need to know that topic.

Sources

Cahn, S. M. (1997). Classic and Contemporary Readings in the Philosophy of Education. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill companies.

Henning, A.S. (n.d.) Dull minds, inert knowledge and undisciplined youths: A. N. Whitehead on

education. Retrieved from

http://www.philosophy-of-education.org/conferences/pdfs/Henning.pdf

Profico, M.P. (2008). The educational Theory of Alfred North Whitehead.

http://www.newfoundations.com/GALLERY/Whitehead.html