Most teachers have a few more weeks before returning to the classroom, but I found myself back at school last week; I attended the 2007 Ackerman Colloquium on Technology and Citizenship Education at Purdue University. This year’s theme was “Educating for Citizenship in Digital and Synthetic Worlds: Privacy, Protection, and Participation.”
I was lucky enough to present a paper with David McDivitt, who’s just down the road from West Lafayette, IN (ok, a long road). We talked about his experiences teaching with Making History and The Sims, and how computer games can contribute to citizenship education. Games can make students better thinkers, workers, and community members; all essential to good citizenship. I won’t share the whole paper here, but here are some thoughts:
in Making History, students grapple with the challenges of leadership and diplomacy, as well as the challenges of working in a group.
Both Making History and The Sims give students active roles. Their decisions can have wide-ranging impact. Agency and personal responsibility–rare opportunities for high schoolers, and teachable moments for instructors.
students take on new roles in a game. With teacher support, they consider others’ perspectives, as well as their own. Games can support or challenge society’s values and cultural models.
Games help students develop important workplace skills, as described in the report Are They Really Ready to Work? Critical thinking, writing, problem-solving, groupwork: all happen in games, and students enthusiastically embrace the challenges.
Ok, enough for now. I’ll share some of the other presenter’s thoughts in a future posting.
