Is Google Making You Stupid?

Have you ever wondered what the internet does to your brain?  Quite a lot, it turns out.

Edutainment

Can video games help you learn? Some scientists think so.

Many teachers, on the other hand, are rightly skeptical. What do you think? Should scientists determine how teachers do their jobs?

The video game approach does have one thing going for it–it’s interactive in ways that normal classrooms usually aren’t. The developers of this educational approach were probably trying to solve a legitimate problem, but they did so in the wrong way. They were right that a part of the learning process should be interactive, but you should interact with a community in learning–not a machine. A video game might help you remember facts, but it cannot shape your soul in the way that a solid community can. The scientists discussed in the article above were right to observe that a lecture has its limits as a useful education tool, but their proposed solution is lacking.

When teachers try to make learning fun with tools like video games, they too often keep their students from enjoying the satisfaction that comes from hard work well done. It’s that satisfaction that keeps serious students engaged—not the latest educational trend.

Learning to pay attention

How do you spend your time online?

If you are like most people, you probably have several windows open at once. You may be reading this blog post while logged into a social networking site like facebook or myspace, and chances are you have at least one or two conversations going in instant messaging windows right now. You may be shopping online in another window as you read this, and you are probably listening to music or talking on the phone.

Stop.

When was the last time you focused all your concentration on one activity?

Can’t remember? You’re not alone.

This is what it’s all about

On May 24th, a group of about 25 Wheatstone Academy staff, alumni and friends met for a viewing and dinner discussion of Prince Caspian. It was great fun. If you have not attended a Wheatstone alumni get-together in the past, you really are missing out. Keep an eye on this space and on the Wheatstone Academy main site for announcements of future events–we’d love to have you to join us!

After we watched the movie together we walked to a nearby restaurant and spent a couple of hours talking, eating, and enjoying one another’s company. Dr. John Mark Reynolds started us off with a few topics for discussion:

What are the characteristics of a good discussion?

Matt Anderson offers these ten tips:

1. Be content with “failure.” We interact with each other and the text in a discussion the same way we interact with the rest of our lives. Because of that, there is no such thing as failure–there are only learning opportunities. Be careful, then, how you define “success.”

2. Trust the method. If it seems like a discussion is going badly, be patient–the method works. If you let the discussion run its course, good things almost always happen.