Reflecting on My Research

When my game partner, Neale, first suggested oil spill cleanup as a game topic, I was very eager to demonstrate how complex an issue it is. In a society of quick-fixes and instant gratification, the big picture is hard to see. Though the news networks give fair coverage to the story, I wasn't sure that most of our population cared as much about the complexity of the issue as about the oil blobs on the beaches. Also, though I do hold BP to blame for the disaster, everyone seems surprised that they just can't go in an fix everything and be done with it.

In doing research, I have found it to be more complex than even I understood with a background in zoology and environmental science. For one, I didn't know that another threat to the brown pelicans is that oil in their nesting grounds can soak into their eggs. We only see images of oiled pelicans being cleaned and released into the wild.

Though very complex an issue, I found a video that sums it up very nicely. The image above is a still from SPILLEDOIL.COM, click here to see the clip. Also, check out the MAKE website who created this animation and re-released it to the web in response to the oil spill.

A Deeper Understanding

After the end-of-day discussion led by Dr. Idit Caperton, I started to think more about the purpose of our game idea. I wanted to get a real feel for the "what" and "why" of Mission:Impossib-oil. It is very easy to get excited and wrapped up in the Flash skills that we learn and use to create a socially responsible game a a learner. As a teacher, though, Dr. Caperton was right when she posed the questions about what idea in our games was hard enough for the audience to comprehend that it required a creative approach to teach or model.

When my partner, Neal Garvin, suggested the idea of oil spill cleanup, our research lead us to the Environmental Sensitivity Index (E.S.I.) as the "what." This is the practice of prioritizing cleanup and prevention based on three criteria: shoreline type, human resources, and natural resources. This was a practice that was going on all the time but, even as a science teacher, I didn't know anything about it. This leads me to the "why."

The reason I see this as being a hard subject for the audience to understand is that it involves interests that not everyone completely understands or appreciates. Most of us have been watching coverage of the oil spill in the Gulf and are inundated with images of tar balls on beaches, oil-covered wildlife, and "The Whale." Experts and laymen alike all have suggestions on how to fix it. Put the picture is so large, the options so fraught with pros and cons, and the interests involved are so varied that the big picture can be difficult to filter out. That big picture is that there is no perfect solution and no easy fix.

The Best of The Beatles

In my opinion, the Best of the Fab Four has to be.....RINGO.

I chose Ringo Starr because of the Beatles, he was the one I always felt was the most fun in his career and he didn't take himself too seriously.

It also didn't hurt that my first impression of Ring Starr was the movie, Caveman.



He even invented music as seen here in this clip...


In a close second as my favorite Beatle....Herbie, The Love Bug!!

New Kids On the Blog

After reading several of the new educator's responses to "Who is your favorite Beatler", I was very impressed. In Jennifer's blog I found a good sense of whimsy and word play in combination with the photo she chose. In Becky's blog, I saw a great combination of research and blogging through the many links she included. http://mrrosssblog.blogspot.com/,shared a good take on the Beatles as the original Boy Band through his own very personal story.



These were very good examples of people jumping into blogging feet first. They all show the inclusion of self and effort that help to make blogging a healthy, helpful, and hearty part of a Globaloria class. I think I can take what I learned from all three and use it to push my own blogs even further and model good blogging techniques for my students.