I watched this video and from it stemmed many ideas...
http://blog.ted.com/2011/01/14/gaming-to-re-engage-boys-in-learning-ali-carr-chellman-on-ted-com/
Firstly, I agree with many of the points the speaker makes. Second, she mentions how many boys are diagnosed with ADHD compared to girls, which confirms what I have been thinking ever since I heard of the disorder: they are just being boys. Obviously there are people who actually have ADHD but it is tough to diagnose a little boy with it because that's just how little boys are--endlessly active and energetic.
Also, a few games came to mind that can be played in school or outside of school. One is called Machinarium and it is a computer game where you play as a robot and make your way through levels by solving problems and algorithms. It is neat, different and addicting, and I can see a good educational use for it in 7-12 grades. Another game I thought of was Spore: it is a game where you begin as an single celled organism and grow into a real organism where you move from the more savage creature stage to the tribal stage to the civilization stage to the space stage. Every time the game is played it is different because gamers have to choose what their character will look like, what his demeanor will be (do you fight your neighbors or ally them?) and choose whether characters will be carnivores, herbivores or omnivores. I can see a game like this being played at the 4-8 grade levels.
Rather than fighting this new technology why not embrace it and mold it to be educational, revolutionary and fun?
I've always thought the same thing about diagnosing kids with ADHD. Seriously? How many kids do I know who have boundless energy? All of them!!
ReplyDeleteI remember in the late 90's/early 2000's, psychologists were writing prescriptions for adderol like it was candy. I was diagnosed as having ADHD!! I won't go into the details of it here, but, at the time, I was anything but hyper. I hardly wanted to wake up. I slept all day during school. Yeah, hyper, definitely.
And, I can even understand the desire to just put kids on medications that will get them to just chill out and focus. When I first started tutoring the little boy I've tutored every weekend for two years, I thought that maybe he should get an evaluation for ADHD. I had much less knowledge of adolescent development then, certainly. He was 9 years old! How naive that I didn't just realize that that's how 9-year olds act. They can't sit still. He's 11 now, has never been on medication, and, I've seen him transform into an astute and focused learner. I truly believe that happened because of his parents, myself (and I'm not being self-absorbed. It's a good feeling to believe you've influenced someone's life for the better.), and because he has grown two years older. That's it. He grew up a bit, and his actions have followed. I wonder how many kids are on drugs right now for "problems" that would have solved themselves given a year or two.
I completely agree, and that is a great example! It is so easy to just medicate kids when all they need is to grow up! Sometimes I feel like teachers think kids need to be 'fixed' when really there is nothing anyone can do but wait and let the kid grow up on his own. Also, it's good that that student had you and his parents to help him focus and that nobody rushed into medicating him.
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