New terms for describing the Millenials and how they work ... direct from:
Studying the game-brained screeniebopper
Dennis Furini
APRIL 25, 2006
http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,18914376%5E15851%5E%5Enbv%5E15309,00.html
Professor Akio Mori, of Japan's Nihon University College of Humanities and Science, has found that playing computer games for long hours impedes the performance of the brain's prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for abilities such as reasoning and creativity. The condition Mori calls "game brain" is associated also with writing emails on mobile phones, reading comic books and watching cartoons.
I have noticed a reluctance to demonstrate creativity among my students, but it seems that with a little nurturing, you can see the creative side of these kids is still alive and kicking. You just have to motivate them to get into that mode (that's the hard part, of course).
On the positive side, electronic games can be an important building block to computer literacy in that they develop spatial and fine motor skills, enhance the ability to read, visualise images in three-dimensional space and track multiple images simultaneously.
I have come across the notion that the ability for children to control their own media accelerates their cognitive development in both Prensky and Tapscott. Hmmmm. This is very much an area that I want to know more about.
