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Zachary Nicol created a youtube video presentation for his final assessment on EDCG648 at Univeristy of Massachusetts, Boston, Summer 2014. The topic was 21st century literacy and how it is fundamentally changing the way teachers and students interact in the classroom.  A very creative and approach to this week's topic.

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‘Watch-Think-Write’ and Other Proven Strategies for Using Video in the Classroom

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‘Watch-Think-Write’ and Other Proven Strategies for Using Video in the Classroom

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"I remember watching Spiderman and thinking how great it would be to show the movie and discuss the different chase scenes in terms of Newton’s Laws of Motion." said Mariana Garcia Serrato in her inspiring article about using video technology in her classroom and how it can, with the correct guidance, cement the lessons concepts in student's minds.

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One of the first things I added to my teacher tool kit during my first few years of teaching was video. As a science middle school teacher, I saw using documentaries as an effective strategy. After all, the interviewees and talking heads presented in videos are experts in their field, often working with cutting-edge tools that I could only dream of using. They also often had animations and visualizations that helped clarify ideas. Not only that, but by showing those documentaries, my students and I could journey to places we'd never be able to go. In those early days, my planning time was often spent finding that "perfect" video that I could simply plug in, play and be done with the lesson.

I soon realized, however, that there was a problem with this approach. First, my students would often see this time as simply a form of entertainment. They would enter what I started calling "TV mode," and instead of focusing on the content that I was so excited to show them, they would focus on the expert's accent or on the cuteness of the animals showcased. Second, the plug and play approach limited my sources of video to documentaries and educational shows. Although these are rich source of information, I also saw opportunities in YouTube videos and commercial films. I remember watching Spiderman and thinking how great it would be to show the movie and discuss the different chase scenes in terms of Newton's Laws of Motion. Although the idea sounded great, I also knew that I would not be able to explain to my administration and parents the use of this commercial movie as an educational experience. Never mind that it would, for sure, be seen as mere entertainment by my students. I needed ways to be able to circumvent these problems and use videos effectively.

As I continued on my journey, I finally understood that the key to using video effectively in the classroom is preparation. I could maximize the learning opportunities videos offer by encouraging students to become active viewers using a few simple tools and strategies.

Preparing the video:

Preview the video. It goes without saying, but you do have to watch the full clip that you're interested in showing and make sure that, as you watch it, you are thinking about your specific students. Whether your selection comes from YouTube or PBS, you do not want to be surprised by inappropriate content or material that is way above the students' maturity level. I learned this one the hard way while showing National Geographic's "The Human Footprint." As I was previewing I had my "teacher hat" on and failed to recognize that the section on Cleansing and Beauty Products would get my students tittering about the girl in the shower. Nothing is actually shown or inappropriate, but just the idea was enough to derail my middle schoolers!

Edit the video. Cut the video into smaller sections, showing only what you need. Vibby allows you to break up a video into highlighted sections. Once you click play, the "vib" will play the highlights and skip over whatever was not highlighted. You can also add comments, which makes it easy to provide students with specific focus points. (I have used Vibby to show clips of commercial action films to explain motion and forces concepts to my 8th graders, engaging them immediately because they recognize the scenes, often leading to discussions of how these films misrepresent the laws of physics.)

Insert pointed questions, comments and commentaries. I often insert the questions I want to pose to the class, using either Edpuzzle and PlayPosIt. Both tools work similarly, allowing you to add different question types (multiple choice, short answer, etc.) as well as comments and audio commentaries. The video automatically stops at question points, allowing for a more seamless discussion. Here is an example I use when discussing biogeochemical cycles in my 7th grade class.

Prepare guided notes. As you are previewing the video, think about the key points and concepts you want your students to learn. Create your guided notes, leaving blanks for the information you want the students to write down.

One thing I've discovered is that it is also relatively easy to create your own videos using tools like screencast-o-matic or screencastify. In fact, a couple of years ago, as I was working with Better Lesson (a lesson plan and curriculum resource site), I did just that. I started by creating a screencast of myself teaching the concept. Then I Edpuzzled it and prepared my guided notes. I invite you to see the lesson in action at Better Lesson - Cladistics.

Before viewing:

Activate prior knowledge. To do this, I usually use a simple quick write, a chain note or a turn and talk. I want my students to start thinking about what they already know about the subject, which helps them make connections between the video and the content already explored.

Give a purpose for watching. State it clearly: "As you watch, pay attention to...." "You are looking for ..." or "After watching you will ...." In my experience, this is the most important part of using videos effectively. Giving a purpose for watching almost guarantees that the students will not enter the "TV mode" I mentioned earlier, and, instead, will focus their attention on what you want them to learn from the video.

During viewing:

Pause often. Even when I decide not to embed questions or comments during the preparation phase, I find that it is important to pause the video to allow processing of the information,to address questions and facilitate discussions prompted by the video. I came upon this practice quite by accident one day after presenting a two-hour documentary on DNA (Cracking the Code). Some of the content was a little too much for my 7th graders, so I found myself pausing often to explain the finer details. Eventually, the students themselves started asking me to stop because they did not understand something. As I reflected on the day, I and chastising myself for "all the time wasted" that kept me from moving to my next plan, I realized that we had, in fact, covered what I wanted, and more! Not only that, but the kids had not even entered "TV mode." The simple act of pausing had made the use of this video a more engaging and effective tool.

Watch-think-write. In tandem with the pausing, I find that I have to keep in mind that the students are completing the guided notes while watching the video. Most of my students instinctively try to write down the answers to the guided notes word for word as they are watching, afraid that they will not remember or have time later to complete them. In the writing flurry, key points are missed. Once I started pausing, it was easy to see the need for a specific protocol to follow while watching a video. I dubbed it the "watch-think-write" strategy. By using this protocol, my students are able to focus on the video, knowing they will have time to process and discuss what they watched.

Watch: Students watch the segment. No writing allowed.

Think: The whole class or table group discuss the segment. No writing allowed. (The time given for this is adjusted depending of the class and content.)

Write: Students are able to include the new information in their guided notes, and even summarize or pose new questions to address.

After viewing:

Once I had all the previous elements more or less in place, I found there were still times that "TV mode" reared its ugly head. That's when I understood that even with all the video preparation, I still needed to provide a way for my students to go beyond the guided notes they took. Here are some of the things that have worked for me:

Turn and talk. Students can discuss key points in partnerships, using their guided notes as a way to explain the content to each other.

Learning event. Using a "Did you know...?" format, students can create short sound bites to share with the class or with other classes.

Concept maps. Students can create concept maps based on prior knowledge and new ideas gleaned from the video segments.

Problem solvers. Students use information from the video to answer a question or solve a problem.

Video curators. Students find a video clip that explains a specific key point not clearly discussed in the original video presented, and share it with the class.

Video creators. Using the segment presented as a model, students develop their own educational videos or documentaries.

I still believe that using videos is a great way to engage students, and I continue to find myself looking for "perfect" videos. However, now that I have understood that there is a big difference between playing a movie and using videos as a teaching tool, I am a lot more strategic when including them. It does take some work, but your students and classroom will reap the benefits. Do you have other tools or tips to share? I would love to know about them.

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'Watch-Think-Write' and Other Proven Strategies for Using Video in the Classroom | KQED

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One of the first things I added to my teacher tool kit during my first few years of teaching was video. As a science middle school teacher, I saw using documentaries as an effective strategy.

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Katie Salen on the Power of Game-Based Learning (Big Thinkers Series)

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Katie Salen on the Power of Game-Based Learning (Big Thinkers Series)

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Katie Salen, co-founder of the New York City school Quest to Learn explains how the school uses core principles of game design as a framework to help students become lifelong learners and design thinkers.

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Big Thinkers Video Series

Some of the most compelling visionaries in the world -- from Sir Ken Robinson to Jane Goodall to Martin Scorsese -- are focusing their attention on how to improve education. From innovative classroom concepts to suggestions on how to foster creativity and collaboration, they share their valuable insights for teaching and learning and illuminate new solutions to old problems.

Get inspired by their big ideas.

More Edutopia Coverage on Game-Based Learning:

BLOG: Gamifying Student Engagement
Social studies teacher and ed techie Matthew Farber outlines the basics of gamification and suggests how they can be used to engage students in a game-centric world.

BLOG: How to Build Curriculum Units Using the Video Game Model
Blogger Andrew Miller shows educators some specific techniques for building a game structure across different subjects.

BLOG: The Games Pupils Play
Former Edutopia contributing editor Owen Edwards wrote this blog about Quest to Learn and Katie Salen's work when the school first opened in 2009.

The New York-based Quest to Learn school has continued to grow and evolve since its founding in 2009, and now the model is being remixed in Chicago at ChicagoQuest. Katie Salen continues her work with both schools as executive director of the Institute of Play. Institute of Play also offers a great page with resources for educators about game-based learning. In addition, Katie has since moved on from Parsons the New School for Design to become a professor in the School of Computing and Digital Media at DePaul University in Chicago. Keep up to date with Katie Salen and Institute of Play on Twitter.
Visit the Big Thinkers series page to see more videos.

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Katie Salen on the Power of Game-Based Learning (Big Thinkers Series)

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Katie Salen, executive director of nonprofit design studio Institute of Play, offers a look inside the ground-breaking school in New York City that she co-founded, Quest to Learn. The school uses core principles of game design as a framework to help students become lifelong learners and design thinkers.

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Teacher Recommended: 50 Favorite Classroom Apps

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Teacher Recommended: 50 Favorite Classroom Apps

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How apps allow elementary school kids to learn in the 21st Century. For example, Stack The States: This app allows kids to play with virtual flashcards in a fun easy way. Once they know the information, they put them in their “stack.” It works on iPhones and iPads and the lite version is free.

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Educators and students are quickly becoming more comfortable with classroom technology, allowing them to shift from thinking about the technical side of integrating a new tool to focusing on how it improves learning. While the sheer number of education apps is still overwhelming, increasingly teachers have found what works for them and are sticking to them.

"The conversations I had were radically different than they were a year ago," said Michelle Luhtala, the librarian for New Canaan High School and host of an Emerging Tech webinar on edWeb. She tapped her professional learning network of educators, teaching all grades and located all over the country, to share their favorite tech tools.

'If it doesn't feel different than it did a year ago, that's alarming. It should feel the same, but better.'

"A year ago people felt like it was this new thing that was so overwhelming," Luhtala said, "and now it really seems much more comfortable."

Educators have become proficient with their favorite classroom apps and are getting more creative with using them to achieve teaching goals. "You are giving them an opportunity to improve their own expectations because they aren't just dealing with the technology," Luhtala said. "They are thinking about how to best integrate the innovation with content."

Rather than picking an app and trying to find a place for it in the classroom, Luhtala is hearing educators and their students describe what they want to do and then how they chose a tech tool to make that happen. "They're talking about what kids are doing in the classroom far more than they are about the devices and the apps," Luhtala said. "That's where we want to be."

Luhtala has also noticed some app fatigue among her colleagues. If they are using something that works well, they'll probably stick with it, even if another slightly better product comes along. Learning is hard and change is even harder, so once teachers have found a tool that meets their learning goals, they are unlikely to shift without a good reason.

"It's hard to get the teachers on board with this at all, so to say we're going to do it differently next year is a tough sell," Luhtala said.

The list of apps that educators favor this year shares some commonalities with last year's favorites. Teachers tend to drop apps if they become too expensive or sometimes if the updates are so overwhelming that they no longer know how to use the product. Luhtala explained it's a delicate balance: "If it doesn't feel different than it did a year ago, that's alarming. It should feel the same, but better."

The repeat apps that have made it to this favorite list added functionality without doing so too quickly. They also tend to target younger students - high school students mostly use their phones for personal computing and their laptops for school. The emphasis in the higher grades is still on reading and typing - teachers give students fewer opportunities to express their learning in creative ways, so the tools of choice tend to be basic. High school kids use Google Apps because they can easily collaborate.
APPS TO ACQUIRE INFORMATION APPS THAT HELP MAKE MEANING
The apps in this section help organize or share information that students or teachers have already found. "This is when we start shifting the knowledge around and owning it," Luhtala said. "It's not just ingesting knowledge, it's manipulating it."

Evernote and Notability: Both these apps are often mentioned. Evernote is free and cross-platform, but tends to compartmentalize. Notability has a charge associated with it ($1.99 per download) and is only for iPads. However, that allows it to integrate elements of Apple apps into the experience. Luhtala's sophomore students experimented with both apps and liked Notability better for school work. Luhtala believes the apps could have separate purposes, and users don't have to choose one or the other.

ClassDojo: This tool is a fun and easy way to keep track of student behavior, allowing teachers to take attendance quickly and give positive or negative reinforcement, depending on a child's actions that day. Each student gets a critter and some teachers find it very effective. It works on iPhones and iPads, as well as Android phones and the Web. It is free.
KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER APPS
"Kids have ingested information, they've found ways to manipulate the information, and now they are ready to create something," Luhtala said.

Adobe Slate: While similar to its competitor Microsoft Sway, some educators reported this presentation tool to be more engaging. "When I did this webinar a year ago, I didn't feel there was a presentation tool that worked for me," Luhtala said. "Now there are." Adobe Slate works on iPads and is free. Microsoft Sway is free and Web-based.

Teacher Recommended: 50 Favorite Classroom Apps

Author

Katrina Schwartz

Katrina Schwartz is a journalist based in San Francisco. She's worked at KPCC public radio in LA and has reported on air and online for KQED since 2010. She's a staff writer for KQED's education blog MindShift.

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Teacher Recommended: 50 Favorite Classroom Apps

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Educators and students are quickly becoming more comfortable with classroom technology, allowing them to shift from thinking about the technical side of integrating a new tool to focusing on how it improves learning. While the sheer number of education apps is still overwhelming, increasingly teachers have found what works for them and are sticking to them.

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8 Tips for Integrating Pop Culture in The Classroom

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8 Tips for Integrating Pop Culture in The Classroom

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It is important to meet students where they are in order to reach them. Pop culture allows teachers to relate and reach students.

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When you see a Lady Gaga music video, do you think of it as a teachable material for your classroom? Probably not. But for some visionary teachers, pop culture is a useful tool that can help get students interested and engaged in learning, and even offer resources for better understanding classroom material.
Why Teach Pop Culture?
Pop culture offers an opportunity for educators to meet students where they are. Students spend much of their time interacting with popular culture, and using it as an educational tool allows teachers to make that time more productive. A 2010 Kaiser Family Institute report indicates that youth between the ages of 8 and 18 spend approximately 7.5 hours per day, seven days per week using media, including TV, music, video games, and books. That's up to 53 hours every week that could potentially be directed into learning.

Meeting students where their interests lie allows educators to better communicate with their pupils. Students who aren't interested in discussing historical details are likely to open up quickly when you mention a popular YouTube video or sports team. Although bringing popular culture into the classroom isn't always directly related to learning, it does allow teachers to capture the attention of students who would otherwise not be interested.

"Let them tell you about their world and you'll have a much easier time telling them about yours," says history professor Clay Morgan. "Effective teaching hinges upon communication, and you can't communicate without entering into the world of those you wish to reach."

Thanks to popular shows like Sesame Street, students today are now used to learning through "edutainment." In fact, PBS reports that there are more than 74 million "graduates" of Sesame Street in the United States alone. Learning through entertainment is nothing new to the current generation of students, so it feels natural for them to experience learning through pop culture in the classroom. They may not even know that it's happening. "Students go home laughing about the TV we discussed and often fail to realize that we conducted a sociological study," Morgan says. "That's edutainment."

Pop culture consumers, including students, are interested in learning about science and history through media. You only need to look at box office hits to understand that students can appreciate edutainment. Titanic is the second-highest grossing movie of all time. The movie may not have followed complete historical accuracy, but this does show that the interest is there for educators to capitalize upon.

Pop culture outside the classroom inspires learning as well. It's important to note that although students are spending nearly 53 hours every week enjoying some sort of media, time spent reading books and other printed media is included in that figure. Overall interaction with media is on the rise, and that includes reading. In fact, time spent reading books has increased over the past 10 years. Students are connecting with media, no doubt, but educators can influence and steer at least some of that connection into media that offers educational value.
Success Stories in Teaching Pop Culture
Using pop culture in the classroom is not a new idea, and many teachers have found success putting it to work. Music videos, video games, and even Internet memes have all helped educators engage students in learning and help them find deeper conceptual understanding.

Rachel Schneider teaches Women's Popular Genres, and has used pop culture to introduce students to reading practices in the course. In the first week of her course, Schneider's students examined Destiny's Child Independent Women Part I in close reading, taking notes on the lyrics, costumes, dancing, and more. Students were able to read the material deeply, and also put it into musical and political context, considering the video in terms of feminism and cultural relevance. Schneider believes that this video provided good material for rhetorical and literary analysis, and at the end of the course, the students identified this particular text as a favorite.

Three teachers at Centennial High School in Gresham, Ore., have found success in bringing pop culture to the classroom. Rana Houshmand, Eli Nolde, and Nicole Johnston use pop culture lessons to teach state standard material in a more creative way. They use pop culture as a tool for improving students' literary critical thinking skills. Houshmand first asks students to analyze the lyrics in a Lady Gaga song, then moves on to a Robert Frost poem, where they can use their interpretation skills they've learned through material they're already familiar with. Houshmand's colleague Nicole Johnston explains that bringing pop culture into the classroom makes students excited and engaged in learning:

"They're making very interesting points about the texts. They're posting other YouTube videos. It's sparking a lot of conversation beyond the initial classroom discussion."

Morgan uses pop culture to help students better understand difficult topics. In one lesson, Morgan explained that the Zombieland rule of "double tap," or, shooting twice to make sure a zombie is actually incapacitated, is much like the post-WWII Morgenthau Plan that was designed to keep Germany from getting back up and going on the offensive. "My students will never forget the stakes of the post-war world with such a powerful visualization, " Morgan says.

Love them or hate them, it's difficult to escape the parodies of Carly Rae Jepsen's hit song, "Call Me Maybe." Two middle school science teachers, Diane McDonough and Tara Tetreault, brought their version to class with " Call it Density," a parody designed to introduce the concept of density to students. The teachers report that students enjoy their video and find it fun. Some students even asked to have the video shared online. But the real value isn't in entertainment; it's the way they've captured student interest and provided them with a good introduction. After viewing the video, McDonough and Tetreault bring the concept of density to life in their classrooms, showing students how to capture and graph data.
8 Tips For Integrating Pop Culture In The Classroom
1. Create lessons that will linger in students' minds.
One teacher completely rewrote the lyrics to Dynamite by Taio Cruz, creating a new song, Satellite (I'm Galileo), complete with historically correct references. Students may not remember every single one of those references, but as they struggle to get lyrics like "I throw my telescope in the air sometimes/Saying AYO-/I'm Galileo" out of their minds, you can be certain they're thinking about Galileo.

2. Use popular culture as a conversation starter.
Spark discussion in your classroom by showing relevant film clips that get students interested. The National Education Association recommends using clips as a focal point for discussion, and as a resource that encourages interaction. Film is especially useful for starting conversations, as students may have a strong opinion about what they've seen and naturally will want to share.

3. Encourage students to write about what interests them.
Teacher Gaetan Pappalardo encourages other educators to allow students to write on subjects that matter to them. Relating a story of an eight-year-old student who couldn't believe he was allowed to write a paper about Transformers, on the value of giving students the freedom to express their interests, Pappalardo explains ," Being told what to write year after year can be compared to a wild animal held in captivity for a very long time. When it's released back into the wild (writing freedom), when the iron door lifts, their eyes say, 'What the hell do you want me to do now?'"
4. Examine popular culture as a model for studying educational materials.
Prepare students to study poetry by passing out popular song lyrics and asking them for feedback, discussing word meaning, tone, and composition. Former English teacher Gaye Weintraub used this idea to familiarize students with the idea of poetry and show them how to engage in close reading, first with songs, and then with poetry. The result? "Most students ended up in the library looking for more books on poetry and brought poems they discovered on their own to me," says Weintraub.

5. Make ideas more relatable and easy to understand.
When Clay Morgan explained post-WWII double tapping through Zombieland, he wasn't dumbing down history. Rather, he was speaking his students' language. Students may find it difficult to identify with international relations, but put it in terms of zombie warfare, and they'll get it.

6. Encourage students to create their own media.
Explore the lives of historical figures by asking your students to create fictitious Facebook or Twitter accounts for them. Create and share videos of dramatic historical reenactments as played by action figures on YouTube. Get students involved in the creation of these resources, and they're likely to understand the educational ideas behind them.

7. Become familiar with what students enjoy.
Most teachers are at least one generation removed from their students, so it can be difficult to relate to their interests. You may even feel awkwardly out of touch when exploring pop culture for use in education. Fortunately, there are resources that can help, including Urban Dictionary, teen magazines, and Facebook.

8. Be careful about explicit content and copyright.
Although pop culture can be fun and useful in the classroom, it's not always the right fit. Consider the age and maturity of your students when presenting material, and be sure that if you are sharing explicit content, it is academically relevant. Educators should also become familiar with fair use guidelines that govern copyrighted material. Although fair use allows for generous educational use of copyrighted works, some material may not be used in its entirety or distributed as copies in the classroom.

You may feel silly or out of place bringing pop culture into the classroom, but the benefits of its educational use are too great to ignore. Pop culture is more than entertainment; it's a useful tool for connecting with students, improving engagement, and deepening understanding. And of course, it's fun to turn students from uninterested zombies into students interested in zombies.

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8 Tips For Integrating Pop Culture In The Classroom

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When you see a Lady Gaga music video, do you think of it as a teachable material for your classroom? Probably not. But for some visionary teachers, pop culture is a useful tool that can help get students interested and engaged in learning, and even offer resources for better understanding classroom material.

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James Paul Gee, Mary Lou Fulton Presidential Professor of Literacy Studies at Arizona State University,  and cited by all three assigned articles, writes widely about education, including gaming in education.  PDF's of his recent publications can be found at this site.

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nbsp PDF &nbsp &nbspA Language-Based Perspective on Assessment

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Jane McGonigal: Gaming can make a better world.

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Jane McGonigal: Gaming can make a better world.

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In her TED talk, Jane McGonigal explains the appeal of games like World of Warcraft by saying, "...it's a mission that is perfectly matched with your current level in the game. Right? So you can do it. They never give you a challenge you can't achieve. But it is on the verge of what you're capable of, so you have to try hard." We can inspire students to want to learn by incorporating some of the same principles that game designers use to motivate gamers.

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Jane McGonigal: Gaming can make a better world

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Games like World of Warcraft give players the means to save worlds, and incentive to learn the habits of heroes. What if we could harness this gamer power to solve real-world problems? Jane McGonigal says we can, and explains how.

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A staple in classrooms in the 1980s. This website allows you to play this classic game and bring back memories of being a kid in the 80s.

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Press Enter Key to start or stop walking Use Arrow keys to point the rifle (novice hunters) Press Space bar to fire the rifle. Control-A also allows you to erase messages (epitaphs) written on the tombstones for “emigrants” who died along the trail.

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Transforming Pedagogy with Multiliteracies in the Classroom

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Transforming Pedagogy with Multiliteracies in the Classroom

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A website created by Amanda Healey focusing on how to incorporate multiliteracy practices into current teaching styles, and why that is so important today.

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Transforming Pedagogy with Multiliteracies in the Classroom

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Transforming Pedagogy with Multiliteracies in the Classroom

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This site was developed for Assignment 2 for EDU8415 Multi-Modal and New Literacies as a critical reflection on current pedagogical practice. The aim of this in-service presentation is to provide a...

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The interview with The Incredibles director Brad Bird used to connect students to the importance of revision.

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the walt disney company (production company)

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The Incredibles Alternate Opening with Intro and Outro by director Brad Bird

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Here is a re-uploaded version of my previous video with enhanced sound.

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A clip that is intended to introduce students to similes and metaphors by using popular music, movies, television, and even commercials with which the students can connect.

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Teacher Uses Game Design to Improve His Classroom

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Teacher Uses Game Design to Improve His Classroom

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Paul Andersen, and AP Biology teacher, engages his students via technology using a video game format.  Students complete levels to acquire experience points and move up the leader board.

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Using Game Design to Improve My Classroom

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Paul Andersen explains how he is using elements of game design to improve his AP Biology class. The entire class revolves around Moodle. Students complete levels to acquire experience points and move up the leader board.

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Below is an illustration of creating different zones in the classroom, which can facilitate learning and creativity. Using a multiliteracies approach in a classroom needs to be facilitated by having a classroom which promotes differentiation.

Link to article: https://www.edutopia.org/blog/visualizing-21st-century-classroom-design-mary-wade

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Schools Use Games for Learning and Assessments

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Schools Use Games for Learning and Assessments

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This youtube video shows how computers games and simulations are a natural learning tool for a generation of video game players, and their application to math, history, physics, science, geography, etc.

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Schools Use Games for Learning and Assessment

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Computer simulations are natural learning tools for a generation of video game players. See other ways teachers are bringing their schools into the twenty-first century: http://www.edutopia.org/tech-integration

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One component of addictive games, whether slot machines or games like Flappy Bird, is that a near miss inspires the player to want to immediately try again.  Could educators use this drive to teach to mastery?  Could teachers foster and capitalize on a student's desire to do better next time to try again and again until success is reached?

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I've always believed that Las Vegas is a powerful window into human nature. On the one hand, the act of gambling in a casino is a deeply irrational behavior: the odds are clearly stacked against us. Over the long run, we are all going to lose lots of money playing these dumb games of chance. And yet, Vegas is fun! There is something perversely pleasurable about putting quarter after quarter into a slot machine, or seeing if a bouncing ball lands on a red number, or rolling a pair of dice on a green felt table.

The question, of course, is why Vegas is fun. Why do we choose to squander our hard earned cash on various forms of randomness?

A new paper in Neuropsychopharmacology, by neuroscientists at the University of British Columbia and Oxford University, helps explain the allure. Their answer revolves around the potency of near-misses, or those moments when we almost win. Think, for instance, of a slot machine showing two cherries instead of three, or a blackjack hand that adds up to 22, or a roulette spin that lands on 17 instead of 18. Such losses are excruciating. And extremely exciting. In fact, previous research has shown that near-misses on a slot machine are especially intoxicating for compulsive gamblers, leading to a spike in activity in the dopaminergic midbrain.

This new paper on near-misses investigates the molecular mechanics of the near-miss effect. The scientists began by setting up a clever paradigm to test rat behavior, a kind of casino for rodents. There were three flashing lights above the cage, "loosely analogous" to the three wheels of a slot machine. If all three lights turned on simultaneously, the rat won the game, which meant the animal could collect a rewarding pellet of food by pressing a lever. However, if the rats pressed this lever when they hadn't won the game - not all three lights were on - then the lever inflicted a time penalty, and they had to wait a few minutes before the lights would flash again. Waiting sucks.

Here's where the results get interesting: While the rats were much more likely to press the collect lever after a winning trial (three lights), they also tended to press the lever when only two lights flashed (a near-miss). According to the scientists, this suggests that near-misses have some intrinsic appeal for our reward circuity, tricking those brain cells into believing that we won even though we actually lost. Furthermore, various drug manipulations dramatically skewed the behavior of the animals. When they were given various compounds that increase the release of dopamine in the synapse - such as amphetamines or dopamine receptor agonists - they became even more likely to seek a reward after a near-miss, even though this led to a time penalty. This suggests that, from the perspective of our dopamine neurons, near misses are virtually indistinguishable from actual wins. Both forms of feedback tickle our reward circuitry, which is why Vegas invests in games and algorithms that are full of close calls. For a casino, the beauty of a near miss is clear: Although we've lost money, if feels as if we won. As a result, the casino is able to make us happy while robbing us blind.

Why would the mammalian brain be designed this way? One answer is that we didn't evolve for Vegas. Rather, near misses help us stay motivated when engaged in activities that require actual skill, and not dumb luck. Let's say we're learning to play basketball. At first, our shots are going to be all over the place, a seemingly random distribution of bricks and airballs. And yet, as we slowly get better, those shots will get closer to the rim. A few might even go in, which is pretty thrilling. The purpose of near misses, then, is to keep us motivated while we slowly improve our form. If we only got excited by makes, we'd quickly give up, which is why the brain also needs a mechanism to register progress.

And yet, this useful cellular mechanism is cruelly misled by games of chance. There is no skill with slot machines; throwing dice doesn't take talent. And so our near miss dopamine neurons - these peppy cheerleaders in the brain - urge us onwards, insisting that we keep on playing. Alas, the only thing we're getting better is losing money.

PS. Thanks to David Dobbs for the tip!
Photo credit: Flickr/Marionzetta

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I've always believed that Las Vegas is a powerful window into human nature. On the one hand, the act of gambling in a casino is a deeply irrational behavior: the odds are clearly stacked against us. Over the long run, we are all going to lose lots of money playing these dumb games of chance.

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The Mister Handy is located in a house in George Town. If you activate him via the terminal ajacent to him, and choose "Read children a poem", he will go to a room and recite "There Will Come Soft Rains" by Sara Teasdale. The poem was written about the time of the end of World War 1.

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How Video Games in the Classroom Will Make Students Smarter  

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How Video Games in the Classroom Will Make Students Smarter  

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Article and youtube presentation by author Jordan Shapiro.  The author writes for Forbes.com.

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Around a billion and a half people all play video games of some sort. That's more than 20% of the world's population. Video games have become a part of life. They are now more than just leisure and entertainment. They are mainstream media, an everyday method of storytelling and representation. Games have become a common form of rhetoric for the 21 st century.

Therefore, it is not surprising that educators, policy makers, investors, and developers are trying to build games for schools. However, the real reason game-based learning is so popular is not only because video games are extremely effective teaching tools; they are also relatively inexpensive to build and to distribute. In other words, they're scalable, and replicable, and extensible, and all those other buzzwords that philanthropists, and venture capitalists, and policy makers like to hear. Video games have a lot going for them in a world that loves digital technologies and worships the concept of innovation.

Luckily, it is not all about semantics. Using video games as classroom tools that help teachers do their jobs with more impact is also good pedagogy. Video games can be exceptional teaching tools. To understand why, you don't need any fancy education or psychology terms. All have to do is think about the avatar...the game character. In video games there are almost always two "I"s. There's the "I" who holds the controller and the "I" that's within the bezel of the monitor. Gamers are distanced from their avatar and are accustomed to thinking about their actions like an outsider looking in.

The fancy way to say that is: there is a metacognitive distance built right in. The term metacognition is a key term in educational psychology. It describes the ability to think about your own thinking. Strong metacognitive functions give students an awareness, or an understanding, of their own thought processes. Metacognitive functions provide one with autonomy or control of one's own intellectual capacity. This matters in education because strong metacognitive functions lead to good academic skills. Through metacognitive functions, learners recognize their own strengths and weaknesses and adapt or iterate their performance accordingly.

In other words, academia can be understood like a video game: something students play again and again, practicing and improving with each new attempt. But what about the digital divide? If video games are so great, doesn't that mean equal access to educational technologies is even more important? Certainly. But in an imperfect world, it is also important to remember that you don't need fancy laptops or tablets to implement game-based learning. It is really just about imaginative play.

In his excellent soon to be released book (April 21), "The Game Believes In You: How Games Can Make Our Kids Smarter," Greg Toppo writes: "Kids make mud pies and paper airplanes, they climb trees and play the piano. The entire time they're exploring and learning about the world."

This is why folks have been using play therapy with children for more than a century. Both the Kleinians and the Jungians fill their consultation rooms with toy menageries and mandalas and sandboxes. They've always known that games and play strengthen metacognitive functions. They've always known that along with the guidance of a mentor--a great teacher--games and play can help individuals learn to recognize their own context. Play helps one recognize the structures, the systems, and the economies in which one participates.

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How Video Games In The Classroom Will Make Students Smarter

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VideoAround a billion and a half people all play video games of some sort. That's more than 20% of the world's population. Video games have become a part of life. They are now more than just leisure and entertainment. They are mainstream media, an everyday method of storytelling and representation.

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Middle school students create their own 3D virtual worlds and learn lessons about communication, collaboration, and digital citizenship through the first-person sandbox-style game called Minecraft.

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Middle school students create their own 3D virtual worlds and learn lessons about communication, collaboration, and digital citizenship through the first-person sandbox-style game called Minecraft. More resources at: http://www.edutopia.org/made-with-play-game-based-learning-resources This video is part of the Made With Play series, a co-production with Institute of Play.

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Using Popular Culture to Connect with Students

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Using Popular Culture to Connect with Students

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This scene in Spiderman 2 was used by Judy Beemer and Robyn Seglem (co-authors of 21st Century Literacies in the Classroom: Creating Windows of Interest and Webs of Learning) in their classrooms as a metaphor of what can happen if we don't connect with what we are learning.

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Spider-Man 2 - Bank Fight Scene (2/10) | Movieclips

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Spider-Man 2 - Bank Fight: Doc Ock (Alfred Molina) wreaks havoc and robs a bank, leading to a showdown with Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire). BUY THE MOVIE: http://bit.ly/2gpeOHR Watch the Best Spider-Man 2 Scenes & Clips: Spider-Man 2 Best Scenes playlist: http://j.mp/2h4wiYq About Spider-Man 2 Movie: Stan Lee's all-too-human superhero returns to the screen in this highly anticipated sequel to 2002's blockbuster hit Spider-Man.

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Oregon Trail | Minecraft: Education Edition

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Minecraft Education brings you The Oregon Trail Experience. Begin a great adventure, traveling the Oregon Trail across the rugged landscape of North America.