Knowledge+Quest

=Knowledge Quest= Published bimonthly September through June by the American Association of School Librarians, a division of the American Library Association. AASL Members receive print copies and can access the current issue and past issues online. Knowledge Quest issues are theme based. The Sept/Oct 2011 issue was on Educational Gaming. SB

In my field experience at an elementary school library, I observed teachers use technology such as the online learning database as a tool to facilitate math teaching & learning through playing games. Students are very engaged when learning comes in a variety of game formats. This magazine, Knowledge Quest, also said that learning through games and play brings much more fun in learning. Statistics indicate that over 25 percent of America’s youth are dropping out of school because students find school neither engaging nor relevant. The fact is that many kids who have disengaged from school are spending a great deal of time playing video games. What are the best ways to engage at- risk students to learn? I think if teachers develop their lessons with games it can help students by offering a different path for learning. The nature of games can enable students to use different styles, such as kinesthetic or auditory modes, to master information skills and at the same time develop their critical thinking ability on tasks. Furthermore, it is said that playing educational games can positively impact their emotional and intellectual development, allowing them to practice problem-solving skills in a non-threatening environment. It is a trend now to develop educational games to make kids engaged. Besides using games to engage students, school librarians can suggest using a digital storytelling approach to collaborate with classroom teachers for their reading and writing projects. Students can find information about a person’s personal experiences in books, or online through a library catalog or the internet. Then students need to prepare a written script. For instruction to create a storyboard, they can download a page for sample storyboards through Bernajean Porter’s Web site. This approach uses images, video, narration, and music. School librarians can help sort through choices and websites for teachers and students. It encourages students to think critically about the effective use of audio and visual content. Using the digital storytelling approach to create stories, students using technology in the library gain a greater understanding of online resources and increase their media and visual literacy skills as well.

Wen

I am a huge fan of digital storytelling. I have seen it used effectivley with students with disabilities, high risk students and struggling readers. I think it brings stories to life and, if used correctly at the right moment in a child's education, digital storytelling can facilitate a life long love of reading.

Tara // Knowledge Quest vol. 40 // had a lot of interesting information in it regarding video gaming and learning. Educational gaming seems like a very popular topic right now as we are starting to see more and more how attached kids are to their game systems. The magazine talks about how attractive games are to kids whether they are electronic or not. One article discusses a librarian who started a game club by collecting board games and inviting students to enjoy playing during a certain period in school. Students learned how to interact with one another effectively and showing that winning isn't necessarily the point of playing the game. These are important skills that we need to teach at a young age in order for kids to grow up with good communication skills. There is also discussion about using games to support curriculum. Board games especially have helped in high schools and middle schools. There is math involved in a lot of the games and even in a psychology class, students learned how the brain works in response to certain games. An article I thought was particularly interesting was //Are Girls Game?// which was about gender inequality in video games. From this article I got that girls are often discouraged from playing video games at a young age because "boys are better at them", which leads to a reluctance towards technology for the rest of their lives. This is a large reason why women seem to avoid careers and study in S.T.E.M programs. Hopefully librarians and teachers will work to provide more chances for girls to feel confident in e-gaming.

Ashley

I think the move towards gaming in education is amazing. I am an avid gamer and I hear all the time that girls don't play video games but I ignore it. I think the competition and fast paced enviornment really stimulate students to get involved and do more than waht is required. Tara