ISTE 4 Module- Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making

What are ways in which students can use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve problems, and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources?

My Triggering Event Question: How would gaming fit into the health and fitness curriculum?

Resource: Exploring the potential of computer and video games for health and physical education: A literature review (Papastergiou, 2009)

Link to article: http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezproxy.spu.edu/science/article/pii/S0360131509000840

The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE)’s Standard 4 set forth the following learning targets for students: “1) Use technology to help identify and define problems for investigation, 2) plan and manage projects with the help of digital graphic organizers, 3) utilize technology to collect and analyze data, identify possible solutions, and make informed decisions, and 4) explore and compare solutions with various technology tools” (ISTE, 2007). For this blog, I will focus on the third and fourth learning targets.

Yang and Chang (2013) concluded in their research article that, “There is great potential for DGA [Digital Game Authorship] as an extension of digital game-based learning for empowering learners in their construction of knowledge and the creation of authentic learning materials.” After reading how gaming enhanced biology and programming curriculum, I began to wonder how gaming would fit into my subject-specific content area. Which is why I posed the following question for my triggering event: How would gaming fit into the health and fitness curriculum? I chose Papastergiou (2009)'s literature review for the exploration of my triggering event question, because the study aimed to identify how gaming contributes to physical education and provide evidence on the educational effectiveness of gaming. In order to put together a literature review, 34 articles focusing on the examination of electronic games as potential educational tools for the health and fitness curriculum were utilized (Papastergiou, 2009). After each article was categorized and synthesized, the following potential benefits were noted: “(a) games can support interactive, experiential learning, which can improve players’ health-related self-efficacy and behaviors, (b) games are particularly motivational for young people, who may be difficult to influence through traditional HE interventions, (c) games can provide individualized feedback on health choices, (d) games can support progress at one’s own pace, (e) games can offer opportunities for social interaction and health-related social support both within the game and around it, which can enhance players’ motivation to improve health behaviors, (f) games can offer unlimited opportunities to re- hearse self-care skills, which may favor the transfer of those skills to real-life situations” (Papastergiou, 2009). Papastergiou (2009)’s literature review concluded that students’ fitness, motor skills and behaviors towards health and fitness improved. In regards to my teaching experiences, I can relate to each the findings of the literature review. For example, in my yoga core class, my students often times struggle with their balance and coordination in poses. I have found that through the use of dancing my students have the ability to improve on these areas. To implement a fun and innovative way of dance, I have given my students the opportunity to play Wii Dance on a shorted day. This gives students the opportunity to not only think about the curriculum in a different way, but also helps them to progress in their ability to perform poses. Additionally, after doing some research about games available for my yoga core class, I found that Nintendo’s Wii Fit has yoga practices.

Example of Yoga on Wii Fit 

Given the practicality of gaming in regards to my content area, I can answer my question by saying that gaming has the potential to fit into the health and fitness curriculum both effectively and realistically.

References

International Society for Technology in Education. (2007). National educational technology standards for students. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/standards/standards/standards-for-students.

Papastergiou, M. (2009). Exploring the potential of computer and video games for health and physical education: A literature review. Computers & Education, 53(3), 603-622.

Yang, Y. T. C., & Chang, C. H. (2013). Empowering students through digital game authorship: Enhancing concentration, critical thinking, and academic achievement. Computers & Education, 68, 334-344.

ISTE MODULE 3 – Research & Information Fluency

What are ways in which students can apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information?

My Triggering Event Question: How could blended learning enhance students’ enjoyment and understanding of health and fitness curriculum?

Resource: A creative way to utilize social media to enhance fitness and health knowledge (Polsgrove and Frimming, 2013)

Link to article:

http://www.tandfonline.com.ezproxy.spu.edu/doi/full/10.1080/08924562.2013.764794

The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE)’s Standard 3 set forth the following learning targets for students: “1) Define information fluency, and explain why it is important for learning, 2) identify strategies for guiding inquiry, 3) learn how to locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from a variety of sources and media, 4) evaluate and select information sources and digital tools based on the appropriateness to specific tasks, 5) explain how technology can be used to help process data and report results, and 6) discuss research related to the effectiveness of technology when used to aid learning” (ISTE, 2007). For this blog, I will focus on learning targets 5 and 6.

         In my teaching experiences thus far at my internship, given the demographics of the school, I have observed that each of my students has access to a smart phone or computer outside of my class. This allows for me to implement a blended learning approach, as discussed by Wong (2014). Which is why I posed the question: How could blended learning enhance students’ enjoyment and understanding of health and fitness curriculum? I chose the following resource Polsgrove et al. (2013) for the exploration of my triggering event question, because it highlights students’ level of engagement with health and fitness curriculum through the use of social-based programming outside of the physical education classroom. Utilizing a social-based program (such as Facebook, Twitter, or Blogger), I can create a community of practice for my students. As students interact with the program I’ve set up, Polsgrove et al. (2013) suggests that students will have access to sharing and collecting health and fitness information in an informal setting and further apply the ideas of others in order to enhance their own performance in class. Through blended learning, “It could be thought that the establishment of a positive social network focused on increasing self-efficacy by exchanging and sharing fitness and health information could help increase a student's fitness and health knowledge. Students with an increased fitness and health knowledge may in turn be empowered to apply these ideas to their daily lifestyles” (Polsgrove et al., 2013). Allowing for me to conclude that through the use of blended learning (i.e. participation in physical fitness inside of class and in a social-based program outside of class), my students can gather, evaluate, and use information to enhance their enjoyment and understanding of the health and fitness curriculum.

References

International Society for Technology in Education. (2007). National educational technology standards for students. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/standards/standards/standards-for-students.

Polsgrove, M. J., & Frimming, R. E. (2013). A creative way to utilize social media to enhance fitness and health knowledge. Strategies, 26(2), 3-7.

Wong, W. (2014, April 1). How Technology Enables Blended Learning. Retrieved February 05, 2017, from http://www.edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2014/04/how-technology-enables-blended-learning