Importance of Play --> Technology

In my Child Development class last term at Bank Street, I learned about the importance of play for children. Through physical play with each other, children learn social skills (cooperation, negotiation, sharing, etc.) that are fundamental for their development. I will be the first to admit that I hate technology – it scares me, and I yearn for the days when you had to write letters instead of e-mails, and had the chance to run around at a park with friends, instead of getting together to play games on our DX. Even though I am not that much older than my students (2nd and 3rd graders), I can definitely feel how our understanding of technology in our lives creates a generational gap between ‘What Ms. Do wants us to do in school’ – read, write, do math in our journals, play outside and ‘What we want to do in school’ – go on the computers, play (reading) games on the PlayStation, etc.

Our readings this week (and our time in this class) have definitely reshaped how I look at my teaching. While my breakthrough last semester was the importance of play for children (why I will never take away my students’ recess), Klopfer, Oserweil, Groff, and Haas have shined another light on the development of such social skills through play in the context of technology. In their study of the 7th grade teacher, Ross, they showed that his use of the game DIPLOMACY becomes a vehicle to teach his students “the skill of negotiation….show to solve problems collaboratively, and …. be mindful of their actions/impact on others.” Like our readings and many have mentioned below, technology is going to evolve. Instead of pushing against it, I must embrace it to effectively teach my students.