“Are we going to play games?”
It’s the question I hear most often as the school year gets under way and I pull out a device in a classroom. In their little minds, devices are tools for fun and they have experiences with a variety of games, both learning games and purely for fun games.
But it’s time to open the door for them. To help them understand how a simple device can be used for big learning. How they can create and develop something amazing with an app or program.
I
think the whole concept of “Digital Natives” is misleading and a bit of myth. Kids today may have been born in a different time, but their sense of wonder, curiosity, and zest for learning has not changed one bit. They don’t intuitively know how to work every device, they just have no fear and play is their method for figuring things out. Play, it turns out, is exactly how to figure out how devices work. Especially play followed up with instruction, collaboration, practice, and problem solving. We could ALL use a little more play.
They don’t need 16 billion apps to learn, a five year old doesn’t need a 1:1 ipad classroom where they isolate their thoughts and shut down communication by staring at a device, and they don’t have to think everything they do on a device is a game. Gamification for elementary kids? Let’s call it learnification instead…
They need play, engagement, hands on, collaboration, thinking, and time to get creative. The device is a great way to offer that, but it’s never the only way. There are also blocks, pipe cleaners, paper, cardboard… and so much more.
It’s okay to step back and ask yourself, is this tech adding value? Sometimes? It’s not. It’s that careful line between learning and overload. Less can be so much more. Less flashy distraction, and more deep learning. Big, giant learning.
And for every kid who has ever asked, “Are we going to play games?” I’ve not yet had one complain when they find out that, no, we were doing something even better…
We were learning.
