Examples Of Effective Pedagogies

When Moral Systems Miss the Point in Newsgames

In " Newsgames: Journalism at Play ," we argue that the news quiz "is an incredibly simple type of game, but one that nevertheless can transmit factual information in a refreshing way." Perhaps our favorite example is an op-ed suite from The New York Times called "Turning Points, 2008 Edition," which couples a Trivial Pursuit-style question card with a series of short columns on the 2008 presidential campaign.

While I can't speak for my co-authors, I personally believe that we were being a bit generous in this assessment. The truth is that I'm tired of quizzes, and I'm not convinced that the form has intrinsic pedagogical value. In order for a quiz to actually educate, it needs to be built into a competent curriculum or wider news ecology; the quiz is a capstone, not a keystone. Some designers of quiz newsgames make no effort to integrate them into a lesson or tie them to a current event, so they usually lack context or linking to relevant news sources.

For instance, Sunshine Week's Ray of Sunshine Game quizzes its players on First Amendment rights and the Freedom of Information Act. There's a small link to Sunshine Week's website at the bottom left-hand of the screen, but there's little contextual information about why the game exists and where players are meant to pull information from in order to answer the questions.

The game begins with a general question about rights and freedoms before quickly descending into a gauntlet of esoterica.

You'd need an encyclopedia or a law degree to know the answers to some of them off the top of your head. But answering the questions correctly doesn't really seem to be the point. On every incorrect guess, you're simply told to try another answer. Finally stumbling upon the correct choice, you're given a short blurb explaining why that answer is correct. The entire process feels backward.

Nevertheless, we recognize that there is a deeper missed opportunity in the design of most news quizzes: "to inspire players to perform more detailed analysis and synthesis of facts into information that might inform civic decisions," as we note in "Newsgames."

Perhaps in an effort to accomplish this goal, a few recent newsgames do something curious: They hide basic trivia questions under a layer of moral decision-making. And this might come as no surprise to those who pay attention to the discourse surrounding the "maturation" of games as a medium. It is often assumed that taking a tired design and adding some nominal amount of ethical choice -- usually in the form of binary story branches or good/neutral/evil alignment meters -- will somehow reinvigorate and edify its players.

Dave's MSc Blog: Anthony & Walshaw 2009 Effective pedagogy in ...

"When making sense of ideas, students need opportunities to work both independently and collaboratively. At times they need to be able to think and work quietly, away from the demands of the whole class.At times they need to be in pairs or small groups so that they can share ideas and learn with and from others. And at other times they need to be active participants in purposeful, whole-class discussion, where they have the opportunity to clarify their understanding and be exposed to broader interpretations of the mathematical ideas that are the present focus." (p9) "Instead of trying to fix weaknesses and fill gaps, they [effective teachers] build on existing proficiencies, adjusting their instruction to meet students’ learning needs. Because they view thinking as “understanding in progress”, they are able to use their students’ thinking as a resource for further learning." (p11) "Existing competencies, including language, reading and listening skills, ability to cope with complexity, and mathematical reasoning, become resources to build upon."(p11) Some mistakes are due to insufficient time or care but others reveal "alternative interpretations of mathematical ideas" (p12) which can " provide opportunities for students to learn from their errors" (p12). You can ask students to share their ideas and get other students to challenge them or you can provide problems in which the inadequacies of the present conception will fail so students will need to change their paradigms. "By providing appropriate challenge, effective teachers signal their high but realistic expectations. This means building on students’ existing thinking and, more often than not, modifying tasks to provide alternative pathways to understanding. For low-achieving students, teachers find ways to reduce the complexity of tasks without falling back on repetition and busywork and without compromising the mathematical integrity of the activity. Modifications include using prompts, reducing the number of steps or variables, simplifying how "Tasks and learning experiences that allow for original thinking about important concepts and relationships encourage students to become proficient doers and learners of mathematics.

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