What's Old is New Again
It always amazes me how fascinated my digital native science students are when I pull out my old electric circuit boards to help with a cell studies unit. Immediately they inspect, observe, fiddle with, investigate, and try to figure out how the wiring is done. This presents engage and inquiry and a desire to want to "play" with the board. These are the same students that can't seem to keep their eyes off of the screen of their cell phones long enough to say hello to each other as they walk into the classroom. What's causing the fascination? I believe that my students are so inundated by and used to their new technology that it has become old to them and when presented with the "old technology" that is now the new one. Whatever type of technology is being used in your science classroom for learning, make sure it is fun. "PLAYING SHOULD BE FUN! In our great eagerness to teach our children we studiously look for "educational" toys, games with built-in lessons, books with a "message." Often these "tools" are less interesting and stimulating than the child's natural curiosity and playfulness. Play is by its very nature educational. And it should be pleasurable. When the fun goes out of play, most often so does the learning” (Joanne E. Oppenheim Kids and Play, ch. 1, 1984).
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"Why Use Games to Teach? - SERC." 2004. 11 Apr. 2015 <http://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/games/whygames.html>
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