A look at three news articles published this week. Common Sense Media...has just released a new ratings iniative to evaluate the learning potential of websites, video games and mobile apps." This provides a "system which is more than just categorizing subject areas..."
A look at Minecraft as a teaching tool. As well as sharing information from a recent study from the Joan Ganz Cooney Center they also discuss MinecraftEdu, a company working with Carnegie Mellon University to offer an educational version of Minecraft (http://minecraftedu.com/).
The use of Twitter in the classroom which explores the potential of using Twitter within educational settings.
And news from the Pew Internet and American Life Project on "millenials and their connected lives" and shares some of the predictions and arguments about millenials.
Do you think games have a place in your classroom? This newly released data is from a survey of 694 K-8 teachers in the U.S. that the Joan Ganz Cooney Center conducted in 2013 to see how teachers are using digital games in their classrooms.
What are some of the findings?
* 74% of teachers are using games in their classroom
* 55% of students play games at least once a week
* 72% of students access games on a PC or a Mac, and 41% of teachers use a white board to share games
* The two greatest barriers are the time it takes to implement games (45%) and the cost of the games (44%)
This post from Games and Learning provides the current data in both a visual and written form. There is much more to be found on the website. You may also want to check out the Joan Ganz Cooney Center. They have also published an article on this which may be found at http://www.joanganzcooneycenter.org/2014/06/09/digital-games-in-the-classroom-a-national-surevy/