The Pasteurization of Education
Shaffer, D. W., & Squire, K. D. (2006). The Pasteurization of Education. In S. Y. Tettegah & R. C. Hunter (Eds.), Technology and Education: Issues in Administration, Policy, and Application in K12 Schools (Vol. 8, pp. 43-55). London: Elsevier. http://epistemicgames.org/cv/papers/pasteurization_2006.pdf
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Berta’s Tower: Developing conceptual physics understanding one exploratoid at a time.
Svarovsky, G. N., & Shaffer, D. W. (2006). Berta’s Tower: Developing conceptual physics understanding one exploratoid at a time. Paper presented at the International Conference of the Learning Sciences (ICLS), Bloomington, IN. http://epistemicgames.org/cv/papers/svarovsky_shaffer_icls_paper_2006.pdf
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Engineering girls gone wild: Developing an engineering identity in Digital Zoo.
Svarovsky, G. N., & Shaffer, D. W. (2006). Engineering girls gone wild: Developing an engineering identity in Digital Zoo. Poster at the International Conference of the Learning Sciences (ICLS), Bloomington, IN. http://epistemicgames.org/cv/papers/svarovsky_shaffer_icls_poster_2006.pdf
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Electronic babysitting
A recent survey of more than 1,000 parents conducted by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation found that young children spend more time with TV, computers, and videogames than they do reading or being read to:
Children ages 6 months to 6 years spend more time using screen media, such as television, video games, DVDs, and computers, on a daily basis than they spend reading or being read to, according to a survey of parents…. On average, youngsters spent 59 minutes a day watching TV, 24 minutes watching DVDs or videos, six minutes playing video games, and seven minutes on computers, resulting in an average of more than 1? hours of screen-media exposure. The parents also reported that their children spent 40 minutes a day reading or being read to.
So that seems bad, and suggests in some way that electronic media are a “problem.” But when you look closely at the results, it seems clear that the issue is parenting, and the fact that electronic media are easier to use as “babysitters” than print media:
