Guest post by Marianne Malmstrom At the Elisabeth Morrow School, we have been on a journey to help our students develop the essential skills of creativity, collaboration, communication, critical thinking and citizenship. We turned to virtual worlds and MOGs because these are the same skills many young gamers practice through immersive play. Initially, we used these spaces largely for curriculum … [Read more...] about Mining Minecraft, Part 2: Brilliance when students drive the learning
School & Tech
Mining Minecraft, Part 1: Little gamers’ digital play through a teacher’s eyes
Editor's note: This week, my holiday gift to you, dear readers. Below you'll find Part 1 of a three-part series of guest posts by teacher Marianne Malmstrom about what students learning in digital environments can teach all of us – parents, educators, risk prevention experts, and anybody else who works with young people. Editing this series felt like a gift to me, and it'll keep on giving, because … [Read more...] about Mining Minecraft, Part 1: Little gamers’ digital play through a teacher’s eyes
A teacher’s view of teacher surveys about youth & tech
Monday's post was about two surveys of US teachers about what technology's doing to students' academic performance. Today, a guest commentary from Marianne Malmstrom, who teaches grades 3-8 at the Elisabeth Morrow School in Englewood, N.J., after I asked her what she thought of the research and the New York Times's coverage: "At least the New York Times and Pew stated several times the findings … [Read more...] about A teacher’s view of teacher surveys about youth & tech
Teachers’ views on how tech’s changing students: Studies
For a new report, the Pew Internet Project surveyed and held focus groups with more than 2,000 middle and high school teachers in the Advanced Placement (AP) and National Writing Project (NWP) communities and found that 77% feel "the Internet and digital search tools have had a 'mostly positive' impact on their students’ research habits, but 87% say these technologies are creating an 'easily … [Read more...] about Teachers’ views on how tech’s changing students: Studies
Global mobiles: Research
Almost half (46%) of the world's people now have mobile phones, according to The Economist, citing research from GSMA, the international mobile carrier association. That's 3.2 billion people who "have at least one active mobile phone" – compared to the mere 1-2.45 billion who use the Internet (the high end is from the ITU via Wikipedia). But they're not two separate figures, since many people in … [Read more...] about Global mobiles: Research