About half way through 23-24 I replaced computer time with fun books. To be honest it solved a lot of problems. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I’d be negotiating video game time when I wanted to adopt Chromebooks back in 14-15. It’s insane to me that this is the route we’ve taken.
I’ll still defend computers for testing and it solves a really terrible scheduling mess. If you’re testing for retention and you have to ship your test packets to the doe it’s a real problem. You have to test in the first of April to get them back in time for summer school with mandatory retention which leads to a terrible no ela in April almost no math in March to review everything and finish. There’s also good learning projects to be done that really aren’t gamified at all and non-trivial applications.
I let out an audible whoop when I hit the Crusader Kings reference--I love The Argument. I think people will find an increasingly rich selection of deep historical board games as well, whether about queer relationships in 1700s London (Molly House), the devastating housing policies of Robert Moses (Cross-Bronx Expressway), or the operation of the East India Company and its abuses of power in India (John Company). In fact, I think historical games are often the best entry point for getting into complex history, since you inhabit a specific role and feel their pressures, incentives, and problems in a direct way.
I saw a quote recently that sums up how policymakers make decisions about tech in schools.
Somewhere in a state legislature two committees are working on legislation. One committee is drafting AI literacy standards that require students to be proficient users of AI. The other committee is writing a law that limits high school students screen time to ten hours a month.
Still, I’d be interested to know what Kelsey thinks about how schools might best prepare kids for an AI-rich future, since her main beat is AI.
Opus Magnum and the rest of the Zachtronics collection are fantastic! If only Zach Barth could figure out how to make the process of writing a research paper as compelling as his programming/engineering puzzles.
About half way through 23-24 I replaced computer time with fun books. To be honest it solved a lot of problems. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I’d be negotiating video game time when I wanted to adopt Chromebooks back in 14-15. It’s insane to me that this is the route we’ve taken.
I’ll still defend computers for testing and it solves a really terrible scheduling mess. If you’re testing for retention and you have to ship your test packets to the doe it’s a real problem. You have to test in the first of April to get them back in time for summer school with mandatory retention which leads to a terrible no ela in April almost no math in March to review everything and finish. There’s also good learning projects to be done that really aren’t gamified at all and non-trivial applications.
I let out an audible whoop when I hit the Crusader Kings reference--I love The Argument. I think people will find an increasingly rich selection of deep historical board games as well, whether about queer relationships in 1700s London (Molly House), the devastating housing policies of Robert Moses (Cross-Bronx Expressway), or the operation of the East India Company and its abuses of power in India (John Company). In fact, I think historical games are often the best entry point for getting into complex history, since you inhabit a specific role and feel their pressures, incentives, and problems in a direct way.
EU4 in every classroom!
I saw a quote recently that sums up how policymakers make decisions about tech in schools.
Somewhere in a state legislature two committees are working on legislation. One committee is drafting AI literacy standards that require students to be proficient users of AI. The other committee is writing a law that limits high school students screen time to ten hours a month.
Still, I’d be interested to know what Kelsey thinks about how schools might best prepare kids for an AI-rich future, since her main beat is AI.
I think you're going to need to get rid of homework and extend the school day.
To make sure kids are actually doing the work in a proper environment
One with no cell phones or other internet connected personal devices
You just aren't gonna get learning otherwise.
Opus Magnum and the rest of the Zachtronics collection are fantastic! If only Zach Barth could figure out how to make the process of writing a research paper as compelling as his programming/engineering puzzles.