The first section of chapter 7 "Exploring Problem solving with software, Apps and Games" I want to talk about is "Open Source Softaware." Since I have a computer specialist in my house, I am used to work with Open-source software every day and with everything I do on my computer. The book talks about Linux and describes it as a widely used open-source operating system. Since a couple of years now, I have been using Linux as my operating system. The book says that some technology educators consider open-source software to be safer to run on computers because it is more secure in terms of privacy. I can agree with that. Also, it is more secure in terms of virus problems because computer viruses won't be able to run on Linux systems. I am also using Libre Office as my writing/spreadsheet/presentation software. LibreOffice writer works similar than Microsoft Word and is easy to use. It also lets me safe files as .doc files to upload and share as needed.
The next section I would like to talk about is "building, inventing and creating software." The book talks about Google Earth. It is described as an interactive globe inside your computer. It is composed of photographs taken by satellites and aircrafts of virtually every location in the world over the past 3 years. It lets users explore landmarks, places, and points of interest. I like the examples that the book gives about how students in a classroom can use Google Earth. They could take virtual journeys throughout their community or across the country to visit places of current or historical interest. In English classes students can visit a place that they read about in a novel or short story. Reading all this reminds me of a day when we used Google Sky Map with our after school group.
We were talking about astrology that week. When the children had their outside time, we took our smartphones and a tablet outside with the App "Google Sky map." We let the children explore the App. It lets you see a map of the sky updated to the current real sky view for the area. Users can hold it up the sky and move it around to see the stars and planets described on the map. It has the option to search for planets and an arrow in the map will lead to the planets' position in the sky. We let the children explore the sky map and the sky and we let them find the sun and the moon while playing around with the options. They had fun with it and started looking up names and shapes of planets and the solar system.
The third section I would like to talk about is "debates about Games and Gaming." The books says when we mention games and gaming. many people will think of video games. These are pervasive elements of youth culture today. The book explains that according to 2009 and 2010 Data, computer and video gaming has grown to a $10.5 billion industry. Two of every three households play videogames and 25% of those players were 18 years and younger. I would consider our household as one of the video game playing ones, not including me so much. I remember when video game playing slowly started when I was around 10 years old. We had small Video game devices with one themed games on a small LED screen. Than I remember the beginning popularity of the old Game Boy. I was one of the first ones having a Game Boy when it was new and I still have it here. Also, the book explains that despite the enormous popularity of video games, educators are still learning about psychological and sociological impact of game play. Some parents and teachers think we should restrict computer use by students and others would not even let young children use computers at all. There are concerns that brain development and social skills are adversely affected by extensive game play. I remember reading articles at the beginning of the Game Boy popularity were children developed seizures after long periods of video game playing.
Some video games contain agressive story lines, violent images and sexual themes. The book describes that researchers have suggested that violent video games could make gamers become "physiologically numb" to cruel or aggressive behaviors also in real life situations.
According to the book, other educators see valuable educational impacts from video games. I found and article by Jordan Shapiro called "A Surprising New Study on how Video Games impact children. It describes a study done by Dr. Andrew K Pryzybylsky called "Electronic Gaming and Psychological Adjustment."
We use computers for our students and I think, video games are okay for children to play in a healthy amount of time. Mainly, we use computers for educational software and games. Our computers are used as media for showing small videos found on Youtube or to research for topics, pictures and themes. Children in Pre-K will use educational websites with reading and number games and our Afterschool group is allowed to use the computer to play on one day of the week. Every page they use is viewed and approved by a teacher and we watch carefully what content they find on youtube. I think, computers and games are helpful for children in learning and playing. Yes, I agree that there are violent games with inappropriate content but we, as teachers, should be able to control carefully what students use so that we will be on the safe side while our students can have fun and learn with new technology.
Citation
Freitag, Julia (2015), mindmap, Computer Games, retrieved from www.bubble.us
Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Shapiro, Jordan (2014) A surprising new study on how Video Games impact Children., retrieved from www.forbes.com
Google (2009) Sky map - Astronomy App for Android, retrieved from www.youtube.com
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