The Globaloria Community - What is your role?

In any community, each citizen has some sort of role, and hopefully some sense of responsibility. This is in fact one of the basic ideas behind the focus on Civics as pertains to Globaloria. As our classes and our students work to create civics based games, we have the larger goal that they (as well as the end users of the games) will learn to think about their role in the community, the state, the country, and the world.

However, we can also scale back and consider the Globaloria community a place where roles are important. We are all working independently in our individual schools and teams trying to create our games. In some cases, we are even in competition with one another as we enter the contests for Civics and STEM games. But when it comes down to it, the community as a whole only truly thrives when we (Students, Teachers, Mentors, Interns, World Wide Workshop Staff, Administrators, Researchers, etc.) step into our role and not only do our best to complete our piece of the pie, but also share our successes with those who can benefit from them.

Students - Have you found a skill that you are comfortable with (i.e. Art or Coding in Flash)? If so, how are you using that skill to help those in your Globaloria Community?

Teachers - What are we doing to not only help our students, but to make sure that as we gain knowledge, it is shared with those around us?

The tools for these interactions are readily available to us with our blogs and the wikis.

In order for our community as a whole to grow and move to "the next level", we must be willing to learn from each other and stand on the shoulders of the giants who have had success in various areas. Borrow good code, and try to understand it. Then share it with others. Ask for help in areas where you need it, then don't be shy about sharing your strengths with those who may benefit from your assistance.

It is our civic responsibility to the Globaloria community to find our roles and maximize our strengths within those roles. What can you do to achieve this?

Within the next week, try to reflect on your role and examples of sharing strengths in the community. Write a blog post of your own in which you discuss your reflections.

Till next time.....

Science Projects and Globaloria Games: Solving Problems

Last October, President Obama held a science fair in the oval office, to recognize the importance of thinking about solutions.

The president said:

"If you win the NCAA championship, you come to the White House. Well, if you're a young person and you produce the best experiment or design, the best hardware or software, you ought to be recognized for that achievement, too."

We are looking forward to seeing achievements that come from Globaloria students in West Virginia, Austin and Brooklyn.

Learning step by step

Globaloria is a social media based platform where kids learn about social issues. Sixth grade students in East Austin are making games. Here is what one student expressed:

In Globaloria Im proud of being able to make a game.im also proud of I have learned about how you need a code for any action you want in the game you are making.

Globaloria has tools that help kids learn to create games in Flash.

In addition, students are thinking about issues in their community that they want to address. Here is one student's step-by-step learning process:

A social issue that i would like to explore in my game is bulling

3 questions people generally have about this topic:

* Question 1:why do people do that to people?
* Question 2:Is people try to stop it?
* Question 3: does it make the bully-er feel better when they bully people?

The support for learning about social issues AND building a game exploring solutions to those problems AND being able to share ideas- this all comes together in Globaloria.

Being Thankful After Thanksgiving

Over the Thanksgiving Day holiday, we all give thanks for the good things in our lives. As the holidays rush by, the semester draws to a close, and things seem to get hectic, I offer the following suggestions for what we as Globaloria educators can be thankful for as well.

BE THANKFUL FOR...
the hard work performed by our motivated and exceptional students.

the hard won victories of our less than motivated students.

the added opportunities to learn new skills and techniques in Flash.

the occasional frustrations and pains that signal true growth.

the opportunity to be a part of data-driven research.

the reports; reminding us how it feels to be a learner and contributor.

the new friends made around the state, country, and world.

the constructive support we offer each other.

all the good we see in our results.

all we learn from the setbacks and stumbles we experience

Thanks for the opportunity to share my voice.

Until next time the soapbox is yours,
Bill

A Dip Into Serendipity

According to wikipedia, serendipity is the effect by which one accidentally stumbles upon something fortunate, especially while looking for something entirely unrelated.
Sometimes we ask students to do one thing and they end up stumbling on something new all on their own.

I had this happen last week when I asked my students to update their blogs, learning logs, and versions of their most recent project. My student, Sierra, not only uploaded her most recent progress and blogged about it, she figured out how to insert a link directly to the file from her blog. She was so proud of herself and so was I. She had taken what direction was given to her and added a whole new dimension to it.

Encourage your students to take a little dip in serendipity as often as they can.

Until next time the soap box is yours.

Globaloria Educators Are Superheros

We all knew that they had superpowers - no reference to a documentary film about charter schools intended. But on Halloween they decided to dress as their super-alter egos all day.

Introducing: the Galactic Tech Crusader




and the Wiki Witch of the Web



Both are able to open minds of previously bored students in a single bound. Note that the Wiki Witch also goes by WWW for short. Thanks to East Austin College Prep Academy administrator Marisol Rocha for the photo of GTC.

A MILLION STARS ARE BORN

Often, in our commercial society, we applaud all the antics of our favorite stars. The biggest problem I have with this is that WE should be our favorite stars. Too often in the past year as a mentor, I would see students' wikis that showcased images of their favorite actors and musicians more than anything else. There is nothing wrong with having imagery that depicts our likes and dislikes. I just think we should blow our own horns a bit more.

So, in this post, I thought I would highlight some students who have really put themselves onto their wiki user page. First, at South Charleston Middle school, Kaitlin shows her love of softball. Nicole at George Washington High School shared a great picture of her beautiful daughter.

Like the sun, the star you see the most of often seems to shine the brightest. But, in a nebula, millions of stars are born and shine just as bright. Our students should see their own light as brightly as that of their idols.

Until next time, the soapbox is yours.

Connections

Globaloria game design leads students to interact with big ideas. Here's an example from the blog of a 7th grader in East Austin:

If we stop caring and start damaging these coral reefs would just be a huge open space of land. The people in this movie think that these coral reefs could be endangered because of overfishing. Which means that if we could fish less we could stop damaging these coral reefs. I'm not saying that we should stop fishing but just fish less because that's how we are losing our fish living in the coral reefs. And not only are coral reefs beneficial to the fish and plants, but they are also beneficial to us. They are a lot like the rainforest this is also where we can also get our medicines from the coral reefs. So if these coral reefs are beneficial to us why shouldn't we care for it? Another way we can stop harming it is by not dumping stuff in the water anymore. Toxic waste kills the animals and kils the plants and it kills the whole coral reef. And as I say if we have no more coral reefs it will not be good for anybody. It kills the plants and kills all the other organisms and could also harm us.

Juan is thinking of a problem in the world, and begin to connect to possible solutions. He thinks about another ecosystem in trouble, the rainforest, and makes connections. The students in East Austin are just beginning to design games using these big ideas, and I will share more about the games here.

Creativity in the Globaloria Classroom

Recently in a sixth grade Globaloria class at East Austin College Prep Academy, I heard one student muse aloud ‘but how is that like a game?’ The students were doing some research about social issues, which are central to the Globaloria game concept process. He was reading about ocean pollution. It was interesting to him but it struck him that it was NOT fun in the way you might expect a game to be. That day, the student answered his own question with an idea, which quickly drew a comment from another student, who was a sudden collaborator. A spark caught and quickly led to the bright light of their discussion.

This excitement and spontaneous creativity is happening before with kids even begin to make their game. Students know there is a big difference in this class. I think most kids haven’t given the difference a name yet. To be sure, they know there is much more to come.

What sparks have you noticed in Globaloria classrooms?

Laura Minnigerode is research manager for Globaloria in Austin, Texas.

Eastern Greenbrier Middle School Students Recognized

Two Eastern Greenbrier Middle School students were recognized for their Globaloria games they created in Mrs. Melanie Sheppard's class during the 2009-10 school year. Malachi received a laptop and Adobe Flash software for his grand prize game. His classmate, Ryan earned a digital video camera for his game.

Ryan (left) and Malachi(right) spoke to the audience in a crowded (standing room only) board room. They complemented their educator, Melanie Sheppard, for "making them work hard" and spoke quite eloquently about their Globaloria experience. Both students are in Jennifer Hayes' Globaloria class this year at EGMS.

So, the final awards have been presented...and the new school year is off to a fantastic start. I am looking forward to the new competitions added to the realm this year. Good luck to all Globaloria students (and their educators) in creating games this year.

Yours in Education,

Monica Beane