Finding Common Ground

All the talk about social networking sites seems to be bad these days. MySpace is a predator playground, YouTube has inappropriate content, and the Wikipedia may have inaccuracies. Of course all of these arguments have been made about traditional media in the past and can be addressed by teaching our students how to use digital media appropriately.

I came across Club Penguin in Wired magazine. The article was written by a mother of two young children that were navigating their way around this virtual reality site. It was interesting to read how his children were learning values about money, stealing and responsibility by managing their coins. Users can play for free or join for a fee. Joining provides added fun - dressing your penguin, furnishing the igloo, adopting a puffle (virtual pet) and the chance to make new friends.

Seems really interesting to me! My son is only three, but he may be ready for the site with our help. This isn’t something I did as a child, but of course it’s a new world and I want to prepare him for living in it.

Filed under: Learning From and