Are Video Games making kids smarter response

WOW. That video was so inspiring and has my brain a buzzing! I'm going to do my best to answer these questions but I might be all over the place a bit:

3 things I learned:

•  I'm already out of touch but the kids are alright and I need to get into the game with my kids! This class really has me interested in playing more video games.....
• What the Flynn effect is - that human intelligence is rising every year. I need to learn more about this. 
• Gamification is a word and is being used to change the way we are living. Interesting because reward/motivation systems are very powerful, and I can see how this could really be beneficial. I'm still a bit nervous about how this could be used to fuel corporate profits (especially after taking the critical media literacy course last semester). But it also makes me excited about the possibilities.

 

2 things I agree or disagree with:

• The speed lottery is a great idea! 
• I'm not sure if I agree that our world is too slow.... I'm not sure that was the right language to use to get across his point. I am just thinking about the media bombardment that we seem to have as a culture. The constant advertisements, the 24 hour news cycle, the instant access via smart phones to mass amounts of information.

1 question I have:

• I want to do more research on gamification, and on Ananth Pai, who transformed his 3rd grade classroom using games.... how'd he do it? It also seemed interesting to me that he used both games and learning styles to determine the best course for each student. I use a learning styles assessment in my class, and have had a lot of success tailoring lessons to individual needs... I could see the usefulness in combining the two.