Ali Carr-Chellman: Gaming to re-engage boys in Learning
The video "Gaming to re-engage boys in Learning" shows Ali Carr-Chellman speaking at a TED convention. She begins by revealing some startling statistics that were discovered in the 100 girls project. Some of these statistics include: for every 100 girls there are suspended from school 250 boys are suspended from school, and for every 100 girls that are expelled from school 335 boys are expelled from school. She reviews three reason why she believes boys are acting out in the culture of school. These three reasons include: zero tolerance, fewer male teachers, and kindergarten is the old second grade. She explains how each of these is affecting boys within the school culture. She explains that instead of trying to mold and shape boys into "girls" we should instead allow them to learn how they naturally do in their everyday culture. One way we can do this is through gaming. However, the world of educational gaming must first find stable ground. In order for this to happen, there are several things that need to take place including: design better games, talk to teachers, parents, and school board members, find more money for games, and look at teachers attitudes. Once these steps have been taken, the world of educational gaming can expand and allow boys to become engaged in learning.
Overall, I found the video very interesting. It was interesting to learn why boys tend "act out" within the classroom setting. Now, after watching this video, it is very apparent that our classroom and school setting and culture does not fit the "God" given traits of boys. It is very important for teachers to understand this and learn ways to keep their boy students engaged in learning. This video shows us that educational gaming is one way we can help our boys to become engaged in learning. Even though I believe this is a very good idea, I also believe there are many other ways that we can keep our boys engaged in learning.
Could you explain more on your ideas to keep boys engaged?
ReplyDeleteI like this article, because boys tend to respond more to video games; it is a great reward system for academic achievement. I found it most surprising that the ratio of male teachers to female teachers is uneven and this, I do believe, strongly influence male academic success. I am curious to what other ways that can be sued to keep our young boys engaged in learning.
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