James Paul Gee and Teens

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Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.usJames Paul Gee is one of the keynote speakers for the Gaming, Learning and Libraries Symposium by ALA TechSource this July. Next Thursday, at 2pm sl (PST) he will be available via live audio stream while trying on different avatars created by teens in Teen Second Life. Avatars are a digital representation of the self and give teens the opportunity for self-representation and to break out of any labels they might have been given in the offline world. Here’s how you can participate: Register for a free sloodle account here, click ‘yes’ when asked if you want to enroll in the course. Teens will know beforehand that there will be adults present. Don’t miss this free opprotunity! Can also launch this real player stream in a browser.

Posted by Kelly Czarnecki

Gaming and families

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My colleague recently shared this videocast (14 minutes) from a professor at Syracuse that demonstrates various board games that many people might not be familiar with.

While I liked the video, the host of the program starts off by saying, “Back in the day, families got together to play any variety of games at home, but in this day and age of electronics, it’s tough to unplug and get together.”

We recently had a family gaming night with console games such as Super Monkey Ball, Madden ’06, and DDR, board games such as chess and Monopoly, and retro games on the PC such as Pacman, Donkey Kong, and Tetris. Do other libraries have stories to share with family gaming nights at the library?

As James Paul Gee says in the following article in regards to computer and video-“that games are more a social pastime than an antisocial one.”

Don’t Bother Me Mom-I’m Learning! by Prensky talks a lot about the interaction that can take place with families and video gaming.

I think family gaming nights with video and board games can be valuable for libraries and teens-especially to help create those situations where teen participation can take place to figure out how such an event might run.

Posted by Kelly Czarnecki