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Blog #12: John Hunter's Wold Peace Game

 I really enjoyed watching the TED talk: John Hunter's World Peace Game.  John Hunter is a public school teacher who came up with a game to solve world problems.  it originally started out as a plywood board with a map on it and some game pieces that were used to solve Africa's problems.  He wanted his kids to have an interactive experience in learning instead of having them sit while he lectured.  After a while, the game evolved.  It is now a plexiglass structure with 4 levels:

1.  Outer Space level which has satellites, asteroids, black holes, etc.,
2. Air and Space level with cotton for clouds and little airplane game pieces 
3. Ground/Sea level with 4 countries around the perimeter of which the students name
4. Under Sea level with submarines

Some of the countries on the ground level are rich, others are poor and each has a prime minister, a secretary of state, a ministry of defense, and a CFO.  There is also a world bank, arms dealers, and a United Nations.  There is a 13 page crisis document with 50 interlocking problems that the children need to solve.  They take turns negotiating as a whole and as a country to figure out what they are going to do and present their next move.  Mr. Hunter discovered that the children are very engaged in this game and they learn through their own experiences what is right, what is wrong, and when/how to avoid war.  The students win the game by solving all 50 problems and all of the countries' asset levels should be increased.
I liked how detailed this game is and how every child has a specific title and a duty.  I think that every classroom should play this game in hopes that it will brighten the future of this world. I will definitely try to use this game if possible in my classroom.  Mr. Hunter also said that his 4th graders read The Art of War-and understood it.  He then showed a clip of a student who made connections with the game and the book.  I could see the amazement on his face when he realized he was "living" what the book stated. I hope I can engage my students like Mr. Hunter has when I have my own classroom.

Voki

Life Cycle of a Frog Concept Map

Life Cycle of a Frog

I.       Egg

Frogs lay their eggs in water or wet places.  A floating clump of eggs is called frog spawn (tooter4kids.com).  These clumps of eggs are usually too big to be eaten by a fish or animal.  This is why frogs lay many eggs at a time.  The cells in the eggs keep splitting until an embryo is eventually formed.  The embryo gets nutrients from the egg yolk and develops for 21 days, then a tadpole hatches.

A.    laid in water or land

B.    Covered in a jelly-like substance

II.     Tadpole

After the embryo leaves its egg, it is called a tadpole.  It looks like a tiny fish with a long tail.  A tadpole is defenseless in the wild and it uses camouflage to protect itself.  It often hides out in plants in the water and feeds on algae. Tadpoles start to grow legs in about five weeks.

A.    Feed on Algae

1.    also still get nutrients from yolk in its belly

B.    Has gills, a mouth, and a tail

III.    Tadpole with legs

The tadpole gets its hind legs first, and then its forelegs.  When the tadpole is at this stage, its tail becomes larger so it can swim and catch food.  Some tadpoles even eat frog eggs and other tadpoles (tooter4kids.com)

A.    Grows legs after 6-9 weeks and the body elongates

B.    Feeds on larger items like dead insects and even plants

IV.    Young Frog/ Froglet

After a while, the tadpole starts to resemble a frog more and more. At this stage, it is called a froglet.  A froglet's tail is much smaller and its mouth widens.  The lungs are starting to develop now.

A.    Looks like a miniature version of an adult frog

B.    Tail becomes stubby

V.     Frog

It takes 11 weeks for an egg to turn into a fully developed adult frog.  There is no tail and the lungs are fully functioning.  the frog will spend most of its time on land while still making frequent visits to the water or wet areas.

A.    no longer looks like a tadpole

1.    Tail and Gills are gone

B.    Female frog lays eggs and starts cycle all over again

Blog Post 9

In the blog entitled 'Nine Themes of Digital Citizenship,'  The writer lists the nine themes which are, Digital Access, Digital Commerce, Digital Communication, Digital Literacy, Digital Etiquette, Digital Law, Digital Rights & Responsibilities Digital Health and Wellness, and Digital Security.  The blog post also explains what each of those themes entail.  In my opinion, the most important ones were Digital Literacy, Etiquette, Security, and Health & Wellness.  With technology literally everywhere we turn, it is important for people and students to be digitally literate because, as the blog says, learners must be taught to learn anything, anytime, anywhere.  I felt this to be very true.  As far as etiquette goes, it seems like every site I go to where people are allowed to comment on pictures, blogs, Facebook statuses, etc., people are constantly insulting each other and being flat out rude.  If we want to stop this from continuing, we need to teach our youth the importance of digital etiquette.  Knowing how to be digitally secure will save anyone money and stress in the long run.  Knowing how to secure your computer from viruses can prevent you from having to pay repair fees for your computer, or having to replace your computer entirely.  Knowing how to be digitally secure can prevent people from stealing your identity and credit card information online as well.  It is also important to go over  and be aware of the physical and psychological health dangers involved with the digital world.  Staring at a screen for hours on end can't be good for your eyes, and I definitely know a few people who could be considered 'internet addicts.'

When I have my classroom, I do plan to teach my students how to properly be a part of the digital world.  I may not follow these 'nine themes' exactly, but it does have some valuable suggestions.  Before even using the classroom computers or the computer lab, I would go over what it means to be a digital citizen and how to be safe doing so.  Role playing is always a good way to get kids to remember things, so I would get them to demonstrate the proper ways to be a digital citizen. I could also describe what a certain citizen is doing and tell the students to identify what that person is doing wrong.

Blog Post 8

I enjoyed reading the article ''Safe' Social Networking Tailored for K-12 Schools' by Michelle R. Davis.  It was a really informative and helpful article about social networking sites that are made just for schools.  Up until now, I didn't realize that there were sites like this.  Davis stated in her article that 'social networking is playing an increasing role in education.'  I think this is a good thing because there are so many social networking sites out there that students currently use, so they are more likely to be engaged in their schoolwork if they are doing it via a school social networking site.   A few of the sites that Davis referenced were eChalk, Edmodo, ePals, Gaggle, JAM, and Livemocha.  All of these sites sound great considering that none of them collect student information to pass on to advertisers.  

There are a ton of ways that I could use educational social networking sites in my classroom.  I really like the example at the beginning of the article that described how teacher Robert Miller used one of these sites in his 5th grade classroom.  He used it to communicate with students as historical figures, such as Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, and get them to give the historical figures advice.  I would love to do an activity like this with my students as well.  I would also like for this site to serve as a discussion board for students that need help with their homework.  I would encourage them to discuss their answers and help others.  And since I can monitor everything they are saying, I can make sure no one is cheating.  for the younger aged students, I could post videos on the site that introduce a new subject or further inform on a current subject, and the students can practice their typing and sentence forming skills by writing about what they saw in the video.  These sites are also not limited to one subject.  A teacher could use social networking sites for ANY subject.  That is what makes it so appealing to me.  The only downfall is that these sites cost money.   There are a lot of schools/ school districts that don't have extra money to spend on a year subscription for a full classroom (or multiple classrooms).  I hope that the school I teach at one day will be able to fund educational social networking.

Blog Post 7

The Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) is a federal law dealing with access to offensive content on the internet by minors.  It has several requirements that the school districts are required to enforce.  If a school can certify that they follow all of these requirements, the can be eligible for a discount on their E-Rate program.  According to the article 'The New CIPA Deadline' in THE Journal,  E-rate funded schools need to have a plan in place that teaches students about online safety and cyberbullying by July 1st, or risk losing their discount.  This is due to a new CIPA regulation.  The article goes on to give resources of how to teach this curriculum to students, and other things teachers can/need to do.

In my classroom, I would definitely take advantage of the free websites that have activities, tools, and presentations that I could use to effectively teach my students how to be safe online and the consequences of cyberbullying.  I could also role play with my students in the computer lab.  I could set up several different scenarios dealing with online safety (a 'stranger' asking for their address) or cyberbullying (a 'friend' calls another person a name on a social networking page), then ask the students to come up with the best way to avoid danger or stop a cyberbully.

Blog Post 6

 The Chronicle of Higher Education's article 'A Future of Badges' by Kevin Carey was an interesting read.  In the article, Carey introduces the concept of 'digital badges.'  Mozilla, along with John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, are sponsoring a competition for the development of digital "open badges."  The MacArthur Foundation says that digital badges are, "a validated indicator of accomplishment, skill, quality or interest."  Basically, the first thing I thought of  when I read about these badges for certain accomplishments was video games.  On many video game systems, you get a badge for completing certain tasks in certain games.  This would be a great motivator/reward system in an elementary classroom, but I'm not entirely sure about the idea of using an open badge system for higher education.  Although it seems like a great organizational tool to have all of your accomplishments, grades, documents, and other academic feats in one place, it doesn't seem as though there could ever be a legitimate program to carry out this system. There are quite a few people out there who are very experienced hackers that would have no problem forging a couple badges here and there.  I guess where I am getting at is, how is it going to be validated and how can we be sure that it won't be hacked?

As far as using digital badges in the classroom, I stated before that it could be a great motivator/reward system to have.  For example, a teacher could have a chart in his/her room with a list of accomplishments, good deeds, and good behavior along with the names of all of the students.  So, if a student does a good deed 5 times in one week, they get a digital badge, or if a student gets a B or higher on 3 tests in a row, they get a digital badge.  All the students' badges can be displayed on their classroom webpage where they (and their parents) can visit it frequently.  

Blog 5

I liked the article Things you should know about...Gamification.  It really opened my mind to the amount of ways you can incorporate games into everyday academics.  Even though it can be hard work for a teacher to start doing, I believe it can be worth it in the end.  I know I responded well to educational games when I was younger, and video games are growing more and more popular with school age children.  

I would one day like to implement gamification in my classroom.  I really like the example at the beginning of the article that explained how one professor turned learning about new plants into a competitive game.  I would love to use this activity in my classroom, however, I would not make all games a competition against others in the class.  Some children shut down when they have to compete against others.  when a game doesn't involve competing with others in the class, I will have them compete against themselves.  

Gamification can be used in any subject.  I would love to use it in math classes because it's one of the most confusing subject for a majority of school age children.  A good way to gamify a math lesson would be to have the kids play MathBlaster.  Math blaster is a game in which you are on a space ship and you have to blow up asteroids by picking the right answer to the problem.  A teacher could use this game many ways.  He or she could use it as a whole group and divide the class into competitive teams, or it could be an individual activity.        

Blog 4

The article, The Virtues of Blogging as Scholarly Activity by Martin Weller was an interesting read.  Weller talks about the many ways that internet blogging can be positive for scholars, teachers. authors and many more.  I thought it was interesting how he brought up the fact that citations of journal articles can be boosted by Twitter.  I never thought of that aspect of blogging before.  Weller also said that just because blogging may work for you or many others, doesn't mean you are limited to just blogging.  People can video blog on YouTube, or a podcaster.  Weller says that our academic ecosystem is much more complex now than it ever was before, and I agree.  We need to learn how to keep up.   

Vision of a K-12 Student Today

Technology is a fast growing career field
technology needs to be up to date for students
technology is changing the world
reading comprehension is a critical skill
young people enjoy technology
11 countries beat the us in literacy
students want to be engaged in their learning
China is now the largest english speaking country, then India
digital story boards
75% graduation rate in US
1 in 4 people will not get a diploma
89% teachers don't use blogs