Quote: “Most traditional approaches overlook learning through hands-on activities, although it requires a deep and practical knowledge of the thing one is trying to create, and it can alter one’s personal investment in learning considerably” This is very true based on my time in clinical practice, and I try to add more hands-on work to my curriculum.
Question: How can I best incorporate hands-on and game-based learning into a school structure that is resistant or hostile to it?
Connection: I thought back to my ITU, where I have students create their own mock political campaigns and run them over two weeks.
Epiphany/Aha: Student agency is a vital piece of an effective learning experience.
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Chapter Eight: Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out
Quote: “The function of play in messing around, above all else, is to unpack and experiment with the familiar.” I think this is an important piece to remember in all contexts: play makes learning much more effective than it was otherwise.
Question: How might we best incorporate these skills into history curricula?
Connection: This reminded me of the overall structure of this class. The connections between the terms the author outlines here and the requirements of the different badge levels make a lot more sense to me.
Epiphany/Aha: These steps also do a great job of increasing the degree of agency students have!
Chapter Nine: The New Culture of Learning for A World of Constant Change
Quote: “Imagine an environment where participants are constantly measuring and evaluating their own performances, even if that requires them to build new tools to do it.” This is something that I have been happy to implement in my classroom. Peer grading and the like both free up time for the teachers to focus on lesson design and let students see assignments from both the side of the creator and the grader, giving them more perspective.
Question: Is WoW really as free-wheeling as they make it sound? Based on my experience, that sort of MMO is much more of a Skinner Box than anything else.
Connection: Their mention of online gaming connects to a lot of what we’ve done in our courses to make learning experience that are less lecture-based and more centered on student activity.
Epiphany/Aha: As the chapter says at the end, “where imaginations play, learning happens”. Imagination and creativity are the engines that drive human ingenuity.