This means not mistaking interest for entitlement to be a part of something, but rather recognizing affinity as a point of access through which to pursue thoughtful collaboration.Our use of the term “interest,” then, is not meant to signal an individual or innate quality; we see interests as cultivated through social and cultural relationships and located within what we call an “affinity network” of commonly felt identity, practice, and purpose.

Many have grown disenchanted with the role of “capital P” politics in everyday life and want to distinguish themselves and their work from the figures who self-identify as politicians and from the kinds of events typically understood to be motivated by politics.

And civic educators are much more likely to stress involvement in civic and state institutions than they are to look towards popular culture and youth-centered identities and affinity for evidence of students' political imaginations and actions.

Thus, we need to actively support learning and consequential connections between spaces of youth cultural production, their agency, and their civic and political worlds.

Whether it is the “news” about a newly minted couple shared through a Facebook status update, or a call to participate in a political activation, more and more of young people's connection to public life is mediated through these online infrastructures.

If youth are to participate, educators must help youth learn to employ these online forms of activity.

Judged by traditional measures, current levels of youth civic knowledge and participation are problematic.

Staaby also used the post-apocalyptic zombie survival game The Last of Us in his literature class. Critics swooned over its intricate storyline and engaging character development, which his students studied much as they would any traditional work of literature—with a few differences.

It can also be a great source of discussion when the laws of physics are broken!” Students think about how the simulation deviates from reality, and transforming what might be perceived as a game’s shortcoming into a critical thinking opportunity.

The unit concluded on a metacognitive note, as students reflected on gender issues in games, video game addiction, and the unique affordances and limitations of video games as a medium.

Professor Layton and the Curious Village

“You can turn the things that might not be necessarily correct into learning experiences,”

Gilbert restrains himself from correcting them immediately, instead letting them figure out where they went wrong.

All good games offer challenges in intuitive ways. In fact, this is the reason games work so well for learning: Players are intrinsically motivated to identify and succeed at understanding the game’s mechanics.

Sure, pop culture gossip would satisfy the engagement criteria, but it wouldn’t satisfy any of the other academic criteria.

using Angry Birds as an intro to Physics.

students shouldn’t be siloed into one platform or another.

One is not an alternative to the other; they are two different types of communication.

literacy is as much about creating a love of formal self-expression and articulation as it is about learning to write letters on lined paper. Both are necessary

Most of the top-selling reading apps appear to teach only the most basic of literacy skills. They lean toward easy-to-teach tasks, such as identifying the ABCs, but don’t address higher-level competencies that young children also need to become strong readers, such as developing vocabulary and understanding words in a narrative.

lower-performing students show increased engagement with content,

motivating learning environment.

Emotional benefit: Games induce positive mood states; and there is speculative evidence that games may help kids develop adaptive emotion regulation.

Social benefit: Gamers are able to translate the prosocial skills that they learn from co-playing or multi-player gameplay to “peer and family relations outside the gaming environment.”

kids’ metacognitive skills and empathy,

introduce and explain the game to their fellow classmates.

Students experimented with the digital model prior to doing an actual DNA extraction in the lab.

educator comfortable with project-based learning

figured out

standardized test scores, rather than a love of learning, and which result in experiences that are efficient (e.g. metrics driven) yet rarely child-centered.

s “teacher-directed-ness,” this environment was characterized by the teacher presenting thegame structure that students inhabited. The teacher did provide guid-ance, as in this day when she set the tone; however, students were respon-sible for working within that, consulting and reviewing resources andconstructing cognitive tools

Students took to these roles quite readil

Cansuch an augmented-reality game work within a school context?

these basic values are com-mon to the generation and are among those that define them.

though it may seemcounterintuitive to some, players invest in these forums “outside thegame” because they are sites of collective intelligence; participating inand contributing to such sites allow them to know more collectively thananyone could individually

will students have the necessary problem-identificationskills, technological expertise, underlying conceptual understanding,creativity, and ability to communicate via multiple forms of media thatthey need to stay globally competitive

n most every other knowledge working sector,expertise is defined by one’s ability to identify problems, mobilizeresources to solve them, leverage social networks, communicate effec-tively, work over an extended period of time, and develop complex mul-timodal representations

ill we continue to ban these technologies, or willwe come up with pedagogical models that leverage students’ constantconnectivity?

Games, of course, reflect the culture we live in—a culture wecan change

If we have to learn this from video games, and not from afield with as boring a name as cognitive science, then so be it.

global world today’s children and teenagers live in thando the theories (and practices) of learning that they see in school

“Wouldn’t it be great if kidswere willing to put in this much time on task on such challenging material inschool and enjoy it so much?”

In that sense, each of ushas multiple identities.

Different people can read the world differently just as they can readdifferent types of texts differently.

How are they shaping, misshap-ing, or transforming kids’ approach to learning?

This strikes us as a fascinating social organization where adultswith particular interests/backgrounds/resources can serve as targeted learning brokers for the children

Designers of cell phones, operating systems, and new learning spaces would do wellto learn from games.

“Can I try?”

It requires an attitude oriented toward risk taking,

Is this a way that kids learn how to debate or do history or math? Notnecessarily.

players mustbecome literate in the social norms of a specific gaming community, learning what degree oftransgression is acceptable and when a player has crossed the line.

quire’s work showsthat the value of gaming may not only be in the recruiting of productive, gaming literacies,but in driving kids to discover and nurture interests they may not know they have.

According to McGonigal,players of such games develop a new kind of digital network literacy, one specifically tunedto the techniques, challenges, and rewards of massively scaled collaboration.

each author argues for the distinctiveness of learninginstigated and acquired by each participanton his or her own terms.

“shifted from being able to remember and repeat information to be-ing able to find and use it.”

the systemic approach used by video games to construct argumentsabout the way social or cultural systems work in the world. Players learn to interpret thesearguments and eventually make arguments of their own.

He argues that making digital games accessible to a wider audiencebenefits everyone by providing opportunities for play across communities.

the cultureof video game play is one deeply “tangled up” with other cultural practices

How does gaming act as a point of entry or departure for other forms of knowledge,literacies, and social organization?

is its unparalleled advantages in training and educationalprograms.

As Papert maintains, it is the progressives themselves who have thus far been too timid in realizing their vision (1993, p. 14). We are too often willing to stay in our silos or subjugate promises for substantial change to co-option by the status quo by interpreting them as mere instruments of instruction.

It will become more and more difficult to see School as contributing value to people’s lives—not merely acting as an entitled gatekeeper—if it so aggressively ignores such a major part of them.

Phones are only used for texting your friends and Facebook! We are here to do real work”—and hence ban the use of them because they distract students from learning.

Could their practices have evolved further or more quickly were they more connected with others engaged in similar endeavors?6

Time. If it is important, take your time with it.

so far none of those who challenge these hallowed traditions has been able to loosen the hold of the educational establishment on how the children are taught”

“Why, through a period when so much human activity has been revolutionized, have we not seen comparable change in how we help our children learn?

a way for students and teachers together to begin to explore a new kind of mathematical thinking that went far beyond math class and made explicit connections to non-mathematical parts of life.

ow individuals and groups can interpret mobile technologies to achieve a higher degree of self-determination in the learning they create or engage in.

It was quite a while before I realized that it is more about an attitude than about anything else.

earning as a meaning-making activity, self-determination as a goal and value, learning that is co-constructed among its participants, and learning that happens through making new connections.

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In order to support these ideals, we developed protocols to guide group decision– making and allow students to move between the classroom and the community as needed

She particularly tuned into how the unique constraints of television shaped how the events were being reported

. With little prompting, the students asked clarifying questions, gathered additional background information, and identified key issues and questions they wanted to explore through fieldwork, documentation, and additional online research.

. First, it shows students commitment to representing the debate from multiple perspectives instead of producing a story that was explicitly persuasive

reater stress and loss of focus

Other scholars suggest that digital media engagement is tied to declining literacy and reduced capacity for sustained and reflective thought

And it’s kind of like they was fucking right. We all dropped out. It was kind of like [inaudi-ble]...fuck, they were right.

Yeah. They set you up for failure. You know what I’m saying?

people from lower income families having an entrepreneurial and resourceful orien-tation that has served them well when they are given access to digital resources and related social supports

ising levels of stress and anxiety among achievement-oriented youth

In some instances what appears to be an opposition to academic achievement among African American and Latino students is, in fact, an opposition to the institutional authority and punitive practices that devalue their linguistic practices, distinct learning styles, and modes of self-presen-tation while also subjecting them to harsher in-school discipline.

Students from low-income house-holds are much more likely than students residing in high-income homes to attend schools where graduation is not the norm.

Well, my mom actually thinks I’m a com-plete waste to society, no matter what. She’s all, “Get a real job.

or me to have basically a time frame where I could learn on my own and practice.” College also gave him the time

a reduction in the wage premium gained by education

“schooled in the belief that ‘learning equals earning,’” have unrealistic expectations about how education will lead to economic opportunity.

Preparing children for creative jobs does not guarantee that those jobs will materialize just because workers are stand-ing by.

Americans do “creative work” and less developed countries do “routine work.”

21st Century skills” such as systems thinking, problem solving, critical thinking, adaptability, self-direction, and perseverance

that the current education system must produce students who are capable of the critical and creative thinking skills that will be

Income inequality, fueled by labor saving technological changes that favor skilled over unskilled workers, globalization, declining unionization, and a failure of minimum wages to keep up with inflation has sharpened significantly in the last few decades

Based on this history, the message to young people has been that they should seek college educations and professional certifications as a reliable eco-nomic investment.

he was not able to translate and connect his accomplishments to recognition in school or career

we risk reinforcing an educational system that only serves the inter-ests of elites, breeding a culture of competition for scarce opportunities.

preparing their children for a competitive and volatile market for profes-sional and fulfilling jobs.

These spaces are not confined to online worlds.

With a bit more support, invitations, and infrastructure for connection, we believe many more young people can experience the kind of learning that Clarissa enjoyed.

Not only was Clarissa able to reach out to form a new peer group that was knowledge and expertise-driven, but she was able to take what she learned from the online context and connect it to her school achievement.

Digital media also threaten to exacerbate growing inequities in education.

not just privileged youth who have these opportunities

onnected learning—learning that is socially embedded, interest-driven, and oriented toward educational, economic, or political opportunity.

the most resilient, adaptive, and effective learning involves individual interest as well as social support to overcome adversity and provide recognition.

Yet Schrier was surprised by another phenomenon: the young people took the game’s representation of historical evidence at face value, acting as if all of the information in the game were authentic

Such groups have long called for schools to foster a critical understanding of media as one of the most powerful social, economic, political, and cultural institutions of our era.

In fact, we do not need to protect them so much as engage them in critical dialogues that help them to articulate more fully their intuitive understandings of these experiences.

every child deserves the chance

Through such uses, children are most engaged—multi-taskin

His interest in computing originally was sparked by playing the popular video gam

but it is also a transition zone along a continuum between geeking out and hanging out and between interest-driven and friendship-driven participation.

Furthermore, it requires access to a community of expertise.

Geeking out often involves an explicit challenge to existing social and legal norms and technical restrictions. It is a subcultural identity that self-consciously plays by a different set of rules than mainstream society.

aluing geek cred is a unique feature of geeking out as a genre of participation and is signifi cantly different from the ways in which information is assessed while messing around

aratexts take many forms, varying from gaming magazines and offi cial guides published by game manufacturers, to player-generated guides and tutorials, to materials more recognizable as fan texts such as fan fi ction and fan art.

Geek cred involves learning to navigate esoteric domains of knowledge and practice and being able to participate in communities that traffi c in these forms of expertise

Although messing around can be seen as a challenge to traditional ways of fi nding and sharing information, solving problems, or consuming media, it also repre-sents a highly productive space for young people in which they can begin to explore specifi c interests and to connect with other people outside their local friendship groups.

hile schools may provide structured media production programs for youth, these programs are task focused

Whether in media production, game play, or other mediated contexts, opportunities to experiment, play, and fail with minimal consequence can support young people in developing problem-solving skills and learning to use resources wisely and creatively. As with looking around, the social dimensions of experimentation and play are important, as peers are able to scaffold experiences for one another based on experience and the results of previous experimentation.

Eventually, Zelan parlayed his interest in gaming into different forms of technical expertise, and he learned how to take apart and fi x game consoles and eventually computers. Now he is a local technical expert and gets paid for his services; he sees his future in a new media–related business.

t allows her to casually mentor her friends when a technology is not working

Many students such as Joan were often driven to learn about technology on their own when they encountered problems with the technology and did not have other support to learn how to fi x them

Many key dimensions of game play in complex games are not explicitly spelled out by designers, and players learn about them from other players either directly or through online resources such as fan sites, game guides, and walk-throughs.

The autonomy to pursue topics of personal interest through random searching and messing around generally assists and encourages young people to take greater ownership of their learning processes.

Without having to risk displaying their ignorance, they fi nd that opportunities for legitimate peripheral participation

By contrast, fortuitous searching relies upon the intuition of the search engine and the predictive abilities of the reader.

You know how in school you’re creative, but you’re doing it for a grade so it doesn’t really count?

She fi nds the community to be a “nurturing” one in which she is “able to fully develop intricate personalities and plots that in computer games, sports, and academics are simply not possible.”

These digital environments have grown increasingly important as pastimes and socializing places for Clarissa because she recently suffered a debilitating leg injury that robbed her of the ability to engage in her fi rst passion, ballet.

Just as recent studies indicate that “multitasking,” or engaging in multiple media activities at the same time, is on the rise among kids (Roberts and Foehr 2008), we note that the teens in our studies are becoming particularly adept at maintaining a con-tinuous presence in multiple social communication contexts.

And then if you’re in other classrooms you defi nitely need to text. . . .

the practice of hanging out is usually not seen by parents and teachers as supporting productive learning.

“When I start watching YouTube, I cannot stop. Each video takes me to another video. . . . It takes me to the author’s profi le page. . . . I like to click on related videos that YouTube gives you on the side, you know what I mean. . . . There are always pointers to other videos.”

“Michelle has taught me how to do everything on the computer . . . everything she has learned at school.”

hanging out together in a game is important when friends are in different locations and time zones.

This “hypersocial” social exchange is more generally a process through which people use specifi c media as tokens of identity, taste, and style to understand and display who they are in relation to their peers.

Yo, I was about to come outside.” And, if [I] tell you “coming out, wanna meet up?”

youth experience a sense of hanging out with their peers that is unique to online interaction, but that also has many parallels to how kids hang out offl ine.

how youth mobilize new media communication to construct spaces for copresence where they can engage in ongoing, lightweight social contact that moves fl uidly between online and offl ine contact.

Genres of participation take shape as an overall constel-lation of characteristics, and are constantly under negotiation and fl ux as people experiment with new modes of communication and culture.

65 percent reported feeling uncomfortable whereas only 15 percent felt comfortable.

minorities (blacks and Hispanics) were signifi cantly more likely to rely on nonhome locations to access the Internet

youth living in the most economically disadvantaged households had signifi cantly lower rates of Internet access in the home and tended to rely on nonhome locations, such as schools and libraries, to access the Internet

Although it is unlikely that Geo Gem would describe her after-school activities with media as “learning” in the same way that she might describe school-work or piano lessons (see Seiter 2007), Geo Gem’s home environment, the institution of the family, rules, and a variety of other factors constitute her everyday media ecology and her social and cultural context for learning

she notes that this often presents problems when her friends come over, “since they usually watch cable.”

T h e I n t e r n e t , for example, allows for the proliferation of communities of learning that cater to very speci fi c kinds of interests and that are available to anyone who has access to the Internet and the skills to understand them, such that even young learners can develop high levels of competence.

His recounting of the surprise and admiration of his teachers teach an important lesson about the missed opportunities for nurturing a child’s develop-ment when the school-based work is the primary lens through which teachers come to know their students.

Had his teachers been attuned to his expertise development earlier, they may have found ways to build on his excellent out-of-school learning skills to reengage him in academic content

our prior work on parents’ roles in their child’s learning about computers and technology identi fi ed several roles that parents played that directly or indirectly supported knowledge development. These included the roles of learning broker, project collaborator, teacher, employer, resource pro-vider, nontechnical consultant, and learner/audience

. His articulation of a possible future self (Markus & Nurius, 1986 ) as a programmer or game designer provides further evidence of the importance of his cross-setting activity for his identity development.

Luis actively sought out feedback, new representational tools, and ideas across setting

The clubhouse was critical for the development of Luis ’ s skill and identity as a producer of stop-animation fi lms. His prior interests and experiences with video and animation from his analog video work with his older brother and his love of video games and cartoons, primed him to take advantage of the digital video opportunities available at the clubhouse.

He estimated that he had taught fi ve boys at the clubhouse about stop-animation movies.

“I think if ... if they did have this kind of project in school, it would probably keep a lot of children out of trouble from going into the street and trying to fi nd some-thing bad to do.

the close attention Luis’s mother paid to his work at the clubhouse allowed her to recognize the importance of capitalizing on his outside interests to motivate his production.

But, um ... he needs to know that he needs to keep doing what he needs to do in school and then in the computer clubhouse he needs to do what he needs to do

They con-tributed ideas and offered advice in terms of what they liked or did not like.

“think about it, get some supplies to make it, and then do it.”

T h e c l u b h o u s e c o o r d i n a t o r s i n c l u d e d L u i s i n fi e l d t r i p s c o n n e c t e d t o h i s i n t e rests, including one to the game design company Electronic Arts.

. I think he just started ... I know, like his brain just started thinking up all these other ideas. He came up with just a bunch of different scenarios.”

“Well when I fi rst saw the camera I didn’t know what it was for, and [the clubhouse coordinators] didn’t know either, so my friends and me were just doing stuff

When Luis was 10 years old, his brother showed him how to shoot video and use the animation special effects avail-able within the tool.

A focus on engagement in research on learning, in contrast to an exclusive focus on knowledge acquisition, is consistent with contemporary theories of learning that conceptualize moments of learning as part of a process of identity development

I t i s becoming increasingly evident that differences in the types of participation youth engage in will further contribute to inequities along gender, SES, or cultural dimensions.

Those that can use technology in more advanced ways have typically been deeply supported by parents, peers, or teachers that have expertise.

participation in these informal collectives nurtures important twenty- fi rst-century capacities such as collaboration, knowledge of how to build social networks, man-age information, direct one’s own learning, engage in design, and capitalize on opportunities for distributed cognition and the building of collective intelligence

equitable access to tools, people, and ideas that support the development of techno-logical fl uency

We don't know how to reconcile quantum physics with the theory describing the physics of space and time, general relativity. This creates an acute problem as we ask questions related to the origin of the universe or the nature of physical reality.

as complementary and interdependent facets of human knowledge.

in a world increasingly more technologically driven, the humanities are an anachronism.

“The mansplainer explains things in a condescending way,”

we were all just reading and laughing,” she said. “That’s how you know right away that something will resonate.”

“It just snowballed from there because it was just so easy to consume and relate to and laugh about,”

Kawakami, who was a radical student protester in the 1970s, has said that Chindōgu is a rebellion against the tyranny of consumerism. “I despise materialism and how everything is turned into a commodity,”

Benedetto proudly displays a cease and desist letter he received from Crocs (Matty Benedetto) 

The Century Charger: A 100-foot iPhone cable.

“crotchet cult” and encouraged each other to make their own ski wear.With some mom-assisted training, Benedetto started crocheting beanies for his friends. Soon, he was getting so many requests that he decided to launch his own business.