The article, "Video games and digital literacies" by Constance Steinkuehler brought to my attention the disconnection between adolescent boys in reading skills that are based upon their interest in video game themes rather than English class themes. I did not know that there was such a measurable gap and the quote from the reading I selected reflects this: "We have found in our own research that, for some boys in particular, being a
gamer works against them in school."(Steinkuehler, 61) Having read the rest of the article I can understand this disconnection based upon the example given by the author. The literacy levels of boys that focus on particular subjects are changed based upon the subjects that they are actually reading rather than those that are part of their instruction.
I did more research on digital literacy on the internet and found a good website: http://digitalliteracy.us/ . This site has a video introduction and several other resources to understand this subject.
Reference:
Steinkuehler, Constance. "Video games and digital literacies." Journal
of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 54.1 (2010): 61.
Great site! It's still in development too! I'm going to keep an eye on this!
ReplyDeleteAndy, I thought the discussion on the difference in how video games affect boys and girls was interesting too. It seems apparent that the types of games kids play has a lot to do with the skills they develop, and it is reflected at school. We need to be aware of the content in games, and hopefully more well rounded games will become popular as time goes on.
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