>...did anyone else "attend" that on-line STP workshop yesterday dealing with >"teaching the millennial student"? I was interested in that ARIES game D. >Halpern was talking about to teach critical thinking. Gary >
I was at the Ball State site. I thought the presentations were very well done. I was somewhat concerned at the level of implementation of the ARIES game. It looks like a lot of effort to create and yet the benefits are potentially limited. It might have an initial "Novelty" benefit, but I am not sure it is interesting enough to really get students to persist in playing until their understanding of the concepts is solid. I think that the principles behind the game are interesting and may be very useful. I am also very much in favor of using technology when you can to support or accelerate learning. Games are a great idea and even simple games can be much more interesting for students as they make use of some of our cognitive biases for attending to stories and applying things better if we have seen them in context and have personal experience with the concepts. (Jeopardy like classroom reviews are a big hit and seem to help) One of the benefits I see from games is that they encourage repetition which reinforces the concepts. It is going to be a real challenge to create enough scenarios in ARIES to really get the practice that many students need with these concepts. I would almost rather see something simpler that allows more repetition and that can move faster. I am not sure we really have a good grasp on how the millennial student is different in ways that will change our educational practice in effective ways. For example, I would have liked to see some good ideas on how to implement some more collaborative processes in the classroom that uses the connectedness of these students to get them putting their ideas out and learning to critique ideas and accept criticism. Suzi Susan J Shapiro Associate Professor, Psychology Indiana University East 2325 Chester Blvd Richmond IN, 47374 (765) 973-8284 [email protected] --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected])
