LG2G News - The Advance Team Summer Institute
The LG2G Advance Team came together in August for their first Summer Institute at the MPT studios in Owings Mills, MD. Twelve members of the Advance Team attended the initial three-day event (August 8-10), while the other five members of the group participated in a shorter version of the Institute on August 10. Attendees included teachers from Baltimore County, Dorchester County, Allegany County, Caroline County and the Archdiocese of Baltimore, as well as two representatives from the U.S. Department of Education (the funder of LG2G), Cheryl Garnett and Brian Lekander.
The 17 middle-school teachers who make up the Advance Team came to the Institute with a wide range of gaming experience. Some were able to call themselves true “gamers,” while others had virtually no experience with digital games. By the end of the event, though, the entire team seemed convinced of the great potential that games hold for learning and teaching. (And to find out more about some of these teachers and their responses to the Institute, see the other articles in this month’s Update.)
Among the highlights:
- CTE introduced the group to the ELC (electronic learning community) that it’s hosting to facilitate further communication and learning among Advance Team members.
- MPT presented a history of gaming, along with a look at the distinction between what writer Marc Prensky calls “digital natives” (the younger cyber-types) and “digital immigrants” (the older analog folks).
- The teachers brainstormed some of the ways that games could help them address specific parts of their pre-Algebra curricula.
- The teachers got to experiment with learning games like “Zoombinis” and to play MMOGs (massively multiplayer online games). They were also presented with shiny new Nintendo DS Lites!
While many members of the LG2G team (including our friends from CTE and MIT) contributed to the Institute’s success, special notice should be paid to Diane Rymer and Jennifer Pleszkoch of MPT who brought the event together and turned it into a great experience for all concerned.
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