Background. Qian and Clark reported that little is known on the acquisition of 21st-century skills through video games and no educational model exists on how to best teach these skills in the classroom. Studies that explore educational models exhibited through video games like Minecraft contribute to the growing body of research in the field of game studies, game-based learning, and virtual environments. Aim. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the 21st-century design processes, skills, and behaviors of high school gamers in order to generate an educational model that illustrates how those classroom gamers attempted to critically think, create, communicate, and collaborate (Four Cs) in Minecraft. Method. The triangulated data collection included six qualitative case study interviews, observation data (with demographics) from thirteen participants, and visual artifacts from six classes grounded in social constructivist, social constructionist, and interpretivist theories. It should be noted that ninety-five students collaborated with the participants on the six Minecraft projects. Results. The data collection generated two educational Four Cs models that illustrate the participants’ leadership and design processes. Four 21st-century themes emerged from the research study: 1.) Leadership: Models for Design 2.) Navigating the 3D World, 3.) Think Outside-the-Box, and 4.) Real-world Connections. Conclusions. It can be concluded that Minecraft can help students learn to problem-solve, improve their research skills, be resourceful, multitask, and develop their social skills through teamwork (Four Cs). When students are given a task in Minecraft they will self-organize and student leaders will emerge. Minecraft challenged the participants to assess a problem, analyze it from another perspective, and find a creative solution collaboratively.
The 21st century has given rise to gaming industry technologies that drive a new type of learner in the classroom. This article draws data from four case studies that were conducted as part of a sequential mixed-model study. The study explored the 21st-century skills students reported learning through their video game consumption and creation of intellectual property. The qualitative data analysis led to the development of five major findings: (1) the strategist: accomplishing the mission, (2) the creator: the art of gameplay, (3) the communicator: building relationships and communities, (4) the hero: to be the hero of a great adventure, and (5) I am an “elite”: a digital native. These findings attempt to create a profile of the 21st-century classroom gamer based on the data. They represent and support research trends that explore the gaming phenomenon, gamer traits, and 21st-century skills learned through playing video games.
Four reading professionals share strategies for balancing the many roles, specifically those of literacy coach and reading interventionist, that fall under the title of specialized literacy professional in a school.
The authors aim to build awareness of questioning strategies and techniques in specialized literacy professionals (SLPs), specifically those in a literacy coach role. Whereas questioning is a technique that may promote reflective thinking in teachers, the authors note, providing examples and solving problems for teachers may come more naturally to SLPs than the use of questioning to probe reflection. Further, SLPs often express the desire to find and use the language of coaching conversations so they can promote deep reflection and critical analysis in teachers through one‐on‐one coaching conversations. To help SLPs build their coaching discourse, the authors share various types of questions and prompts that align with each category. Implications for SLPs, school districts, and university programs responsible for preparing SLPs are also addressed.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.