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“People are poor at learning what words mean when all they get is a definition that spells out what a word means in terms of yet other words. Recent research suggests that people only really know what words mean and learn new ones when they can hook them to the sorts of experiences they refer to—that is, to the sorts of actions, images, or dialogues the words relate to (Barsalou 1999; Glenberg 1997). This gives the words situated meanings, not just verbal ones, And, indeed, words have different situated meanings in different contexts of use (consider “The coffee spilled, go get a mop” versus “The coffee spilled, go get a broom”). Games always situate the meanings of words in terms of the actions, images, and dialogues they relate to, and show how they vary across different actions, images and dialogues. They don’t just offer words for words. School shouldn’t either.” —
(Source: gamesforchange.org)
“As I struggled, I thought: Lots of young people pay lots of money to engage in an activity that is hard, long, and complex. As an educator, I realized that this was just the problem our schools face: How do you get someone to learn something long, hard, and complex and yet enjoy it.” — James Paul Ge - Tashia Morgridge Professor of Reading, University of Wisconsin-Madison
(Source: gamesforchange.org)
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Video: Situated Cognition and Virtual Worlds - My presentation at Slanguages 2011 -
(Source: slanguages.net)
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“
You are underestimating the future. You are fretting about the now; worrying about little things that don’t matter. You are wasting precious energy obsessing over irrelevant details. You don’t believe that a better future is out there and can be built, that it can exceed people’s expectations, because you’re spending so much time considering the truth of the present and the seemingly important lessons of the past.
You are underestimating the future because you believe you cannot see it, but you can - you’ve seen it done before.
” — Steve Jobs(Source: youtube.com)
Is Gaming the New Essential Literacy? -
A critical part of being literate in the digital age means being able to solve problems through simulations and collaboration.
English City Blog: Flooding in Thailand -
This is what it’s all about…
Dear Friends in English City
Thailand got hit by huge flooding since beginning of this month. Almost 30% of the country is under water. Over 3oo people lost their life and ninety thousand people are homeless.
I live in the outskirts of Bangkok where flooding is still not severe but…
In a survey published in Study Travel Magazine 56% of respondents, all students students studying in the UK, claimed it was quite hard or very hard to practice English with native speakers.
Examining the nation with one of the most comparatively successful education systems on the planet, the film contradicts the test-obsessed, teacher-demonizing orthodoxy of education “reform”
“Research indicates that, at every age level, people take their writing more seriously when it will be evaluated by peers than when it is to be judged by teachers. Online blogs directed at peers exhibit fewer typographical and factual errors, less plagiarism, and generally better, more elegant, and persuasive prose than classroom assignments by the same writers.”
— Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn
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