Epiphany ProjectBy Jill Donnel

TCH 579

A constructivist view of learning espouses “the value of posing problems of emerging relevance to learners” (Brooks & Brooks, 1999, p. 35).

The question is: In the twenty-first century, how do we cultivate the imagination? (Thomas & Brown, pp. 19 and 20)

How do we know that our students “know”? What assessments are we using?

“…smart kids have long known not to let schooling get in the way of their education” (Jenkins, 2004).

Hear James Gee:Good commercial video games are deep technologies for recruiting learning as a form of profound pleasure, and have much to tell us about what learning could look like in the future should we relinquish the old grammars of traditional schooling (Gee, 2005, p. 211).

“Whether in media production, game play, or other mediated contexts, opportunities to experiment, play, and fail with minimal consequence can support young people in developing problem-solving skills and learning to use resources wisely and creatively” (Ito, et al. 2007, p. 62).

“The game does not just teach programming; it cultivates citizenship” (Thomas & Brown, p. 22).

Hear Horst, Herr-Stephenson, and Robinson:

As with looking around, the social dimensions of experimentation and play are important, as peers are able to scaffold experiences for one another based on experience and the results of previous experimentation (Ito, 2007, p. 62).

“…knowledge can be built by groups of people, over a global network, using self-regulated norms” (Ilon, 2011, p.4)

“Members of a collective intelligence would not simply gather, master and deploy pre-existing information and concepts. Instead, they would work with the collected facts and viewpoints to actively author, discover and invent new, computer-fueled ways of thinking, strategizing, and coordinating” (McGonigal, 2004, p.1).

• A game-player makes decisions based on “trial-and-error behaviors that eventually lead to a solution”, a problem-solving strategy that closely aligns with Thorndike’s theory of learning that suggests that “success occurs incrementally as a function of the trial-and-error attempts to solve the problem” (Bruning, Schraw, Norby, & Ronning, 1999, p. 163)

ReferencesBrooks, J.G., & Brooks, M.G. (1999). In search of understanding: The case for constructivist classrooms. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.Bruning, R.H., Schraw, G.J., Norby, M.M., & Ronning, R.R. (1999). Cognitive psychology and instruction (4th edition). Columbus, OH: Pearson.Gee, J.P. (2005). Pleasure, learning, video games, and life: the projective stance. E-Learning, 2(3), 211-223. Ilon, L. (2011). How collective intelligence redefines education (Research Report No. 2012:99). Retrieved from isutch579 website:

http://isutch579.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/91001574/How%20Collective%20Intelligence%20Redefines%20Eductation.pdf

Ito, M., Baumer, S., Bittanti, M., Boyd, D., Cody, R., Herr-Stephenson, B…Tripp, L. (2007). Hanging out, messing around, and geeking out: Kids living and learning with new media. London, England: The MIT PressMcGonigal, J. (2004). Why I love bees: A case study in collective intelligence gaming. Unpublished manuscript.Thomas, D., & Brown, J.S. (n.d.). A new culture of learning: Cultivating the imagination for a world of constant change. Retrieved from http://www.newcultureoflearning.com/newcultureoflearning.pdf