Thanks so much for coming to my session at MIEA!
As some people who attended one session also asked for the PowerPoint from the other, I am uploading both here – as well as the checklist of “What to Look For in Good Educational Games” that I mentioned in the “Tradition Meets Tech” session on educational games.
Session Summary: Today’s youth are experts when it comes to digital consumption – from social media to video games to YouTube to whatever is trending. What if instead passively interacting with the content, we could get youth actively creating it? While Native children are more likely to be consumers of technology than producers, we CAN change that in our classrooms – even if it’s a world away from Silicon Valley. So where do we start, and how do we support them? This session will explore ways to spark, encourage and guide student interest in tech – whether or not you’re tech savvy. Drawing from real world examples from tribal schools and Native youth serving program, the workshop will share ideas, activities and user-friendly tools that are easy to implement.
Think about how many times a kid will try a level of a video game over and over again just to see incremental improvement. Now think about how many times you’ve see a student apply that same level of effort, that same consistent resilience to failing in the classroom. Or if they continuously had that level of engagement during a lesson. What if we could get students to approach learning with the same enthusiasm they have for video games? This session will examine educational games – with an emphasis on Native-centered games from multiple publishers – and more importantly, delve into how the simple principles that make games so appealing can be applied to your day-to-day curriculum.
Our checklist on “What to Look For in Good Educational Games” can be found here.
Our curated (and expanding) list of educational video games that incorporate Native culture can be found here.
For more information on our games, Game Design curriculum unit or anything else, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me (Maria Burns Ortiz, maria@7generationgames.com)