Supporting Their Passions

Devin has recently began playing the online game World of Warcraft. I posted his new passion as a Facebook update and received some pretty surprising comments! I even had a long-time friend "unfriend" me for our choice to support Devin's passion. It seems that video game play brings up some intense emotions for some people.

Devin's new interest has branched off in wondrous directions! He has a new found skill creating weapons from materials that you can find in any hardware store. Here is a picture of what he calls a "double-sided blunt weapon" created from PVC pipe, a pool noodle and duct tape. He wants to make and sell these at the next conference we attend. (He is a natural-born entrepreneur.)

I recently read a few quotes online about the game World of Warcraft that I wanted to share,

"Researchers who gathered in Boston for the American Psychological Association convention detailed a series of studies suggesting video games can be powerful learning tools — from increasing younger students' problem-solving potential to improving the suturing skills of laparoscopic surgeons.

The research found the game encouraged scientific thinking, like using systems and models for understanding situations and using math and testing to investigate problems.
The vast majority of the discussion participants, 86 percent, shared knowledge to solve problems and more than half, 58 percent, used systematic and evaluative processes, researchers found.

The forums show that gamers are "creating an environment in which informal scientific reasoning practices are being learned," said Sean Duncan, a doctoral student who worked on the "World of Warcraft" report with lead author Constance Steinkuehler."