GAMES, LEARNING AND SOCIETY CONFERENCE

Water shoot-out during rush hour in Amsterdam.



Does a conference on Games, Learning and Society sound counter-intuitive to you?  The negative stereotype of games is that they are the complete opposite of both learning AND society. However, since most children spend more time on games per day than any two academic subjects, it may be useful to find out what games have to teach us about learning. As keynote speaker Reed Stevens (who has worked with YouMedia in Chicago) says, “games are better designed than curricula”. 

• Games can be mastered by anyone who wants to play, while some people feel that formal learning is only for “academic types”.

• Failure is a part of games - the expectation is that you will fail over and over again. In academic and work settings, failure can be serious and shaming, even though it is a necessary part of learning.  As one presenter said, “failure needs a better publicist.”

• Assessment is fun in games, but really boring in education or work

• People play games for their own sake, not for an external reward. If you only play for a reward, it’s a bad game.

• In games, you are the “hero” and are capable of heroic deeds. In life, you may feel unimportant. Some believe that we can help the world by harnessing the power of games to solve real-world problems.

• Games reward kinesthetic learners -- those who learn by doing something physically. Educational institutions and libraries don’t always have outlets for them.

• Games enforce positive social norms. Players who only think of themselves or who treat others badly are given negative labels like “munchkin” or “troll” and avoided.

• Multi-player online games can actually make one civic-minded and more likely to vote or protest, creating social groups like the bowling teams of yore.

• Games from World of Warcraft to European board games have rich, reliable sources of information on how to play games, with many players happy to help with useful information. Finding information for education or work can be intimidating. 

Like games, libraries at their best create a “magic circle”--  a safe space for learning and experimentation. Games aren’t just for teens -- games can help seniors learning computers and staff on Customer Service Improvement days. What would you “gamify?”





INTERESTING PROJECTS:

A curriculum for teaching kids how to make their own video games with the free software Kodu
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodu).

A class combining computer programming and English by creating interactive fiction (similar to old-school text-based games like Adventure or Zork)

Motion capture games that teach chemistry and physics.





BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Homo ludens; a study of the play-element in culture.

“Jerked Around by the Magic Circle”                                    

The well-played game : a player's philosophy

Electronic literature : new horizons for the literary

What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy

   
“In-Game, In-Room, In-World: Reconnecting Video Game Play to the Rest
of Kids’ Lives”


 
   

REACTIONS AND RECORDINGS:


Recordings of presentations from GLS 8.0

Blog post: Games + Learning + Society = Winning

GLS 8.0 Storify





--Andrea @Central

Trends in adolescent brain development: Implications for youth practice and policy

This symposium featured the speakers Abigail A. Baird and Larry Steinberg.

Adults often forget what it is like to be a teen. Learning about how the adolescent brain develops can help us understand and work with them.

Adolescent brains are already mature intellectually, but the part of the brain that learns from experience (avoiding foods that make you sick, not touching a hot stove) develops last. Also, impulse control is low just as emotions are running at their highest. This leads to risk-taking behavior, so adults have to help them to think before they act.

Risk-taking is not all bad -- teen take risks when they reach out to a peer group. Adults feel “dumped” by teens, but just because they are focussing right now on how to interact with their peers, it doesn’t mean that what adults told them doesn’t get through. Peer pressure can be positive-- a teen might take an AP class or join Mathletes to be with their friends. Adults should be kept out of some teen stuff -- they need it to grow.
On the other hand, teens will sometimes change their stated opinion in a group situation to match that of a friend or someone who appears dominant in the group (which happens with adults too).

Teens see the benefits as higher than costs of risky behavior. They are more attentive to rewards than punishments. It is the same in all countries, cultures, and economic levels.

Adults need to keep talking to teens and helping them, while giving them time alone with peers as a necessary process of growing up. Be proactive about positive peer pressure.



A recording of the symposium is available here.


--Andrea @Central