Game-Based Learning Source: Marc Prensky (2006) . “Don’t bother me mom – I’m learning!”

Whenever I go to school, I have to “power down.” A Student

The cookies on my daughter’s computer know more about her interests than her teachers do.” Henry Kelly, President, Federation of American Scientists

“In all our interviews with parents, we never found a parent who knew what their kid was doing.” A researcher

Today’s students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach. Marc Prensky (2006. p. 30)

Brain Research Findings Scans of brains of people who tapped their fingers in complicated sequence that they had practiced for weeks showed a larger area of motor cortex becoming activated then when they performed sequences that hadn’t practiced. (p. 33)

Reading Intensive reading instruction experiments with students aged 10 and up appear to create lasting chemical changes in key areas of the subjects’ brain. (p. 34)

Music An MRI comparison of musicians’ and non-players’ brains showed a five percent greater volume in the musicians’ cerebellums, ascribed to adaptations in the brain’s structure resulting from intensive musical training and practice.

Practice Required Thinking Skills that research shows enhanced by computer games

“Representational competence,” that is, reading visual images as representations of three-dimensional space.

“Multidimensional visual-spatial skills,” i. e “Multidimensional visual-spatial skills,” i.e. the ability to create “mental maps” and do “mental paper folding” (e.g. origami-like folds) (p. 35)

“Inductive discovery” – acting like a scientist by making observations, formulating hypotheses, and figuring out the rules governing the behavior of a dynamic representation.

“Attentional deployment” – i. e “Attentional deployment” – i.e. the ability to focus on several things at the same time, and being able to respond faster to unexpected stimuli.

Areas of Change Digital natives communicate differently Instant messaging chat Digital natives share differently Blogs, webcams, camera phones Digital natives buy and sell differently eBay, Craig’s list

Digital natives exchange differently Music, movies, P2P Digital natives create differently Sites, avatars, mods Digital natives meet differently 3D chat rooms, dating

Digital natives coordinate differently Projects, workgroups, MMORPGs Digital natives evaluate differently Reputation systems, e.g. Epinions, Amazon Digital natives game differently 1 on 1, small & large groups

Digital natives learn differently About stuff that interest them Digital natives socialize differently MySpace, Facebook Digital natives search differently Info, connections, people

References Prensky, Marc. (2006). “Don’t Bother Me Mom – I’m Learning!”