Teachers Seek Balanced Approach To Digital Learning Games

KQED San Francisco (3/25, Korbey) reports online about the balance between electronic games to teach mathematical mastery and traditional drill and practice. The piece quotes fifth-grade teacher Jenny Kavanaugh saying, "The goal is that a student can do division problems with speed and accuracy, and can also describe to me exactly what division is. I have found that my advanced students can move past division of fractions in the online game, indicating mastery, but when I ask for a verbal description of what it is they are really doing – what is the division of fractions, or when would you use that in the real world? – they have no idea." The article adds, "While experts like Gary Stager, founder of the Constructing Modern Knowledge Summer Institute, recommend that computers be used to add 'deep and meaningful experiences' to teachers' lessons, much of what the 91% of teachers with access to computers are doing may be just the opposite."