Interactive

About 10% of K-12 learning takes place in the formal school system, according to a study at University Preparatory School in Redding, California. Homework is a wonderful tool to encourage bridging the gap between formal learning and learning in the home, and educational video games are doing their part to further connect the two. In addition, video games can bring an educational focus to the informal, exploration-based learning that takes place at play.

Interested to read up on this?

Quick post to share this article I found on social networks (primarily Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace), and the void they fill in our live. Or, more accurately, the role they serve.

"[Social Networks] can address some basic search failures: "It's hard to know what my friends are up to, but online I can catch up with them quickly." But they can also fix bigger search shortcomings, such as those related to establishing new relationships."


Read more!

Social networking can be addicting - or so they say.  Students are "facebook addicts," and their parents own "crackberries."  But why?  I read two articles on social networking this morning, one discussing the younger generation's internet use specifically, with some very interesting new statistics.  The other discusses why we feel this addiction.

There is a great debate on video games, with supporters and detractors coming from all over.  Educators, parents, researchers, publishers, policy makers, and manufactorers have all weighed in on whether the video game industry, as a whole, is a positive influence on students.

The Sun Journal, in Lewiston, Maine, recently asked another group to weigh in: the students.