Jul

30

Twitter Updates for 2009-07-30

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  • There is actually evidence to suggest that I have developed and implemented tailored visions repeatedly over the course of my career. #

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Jul

29

Informal learning doesn’t have to be declared

Filed Under animation, content development, education | View Comments

If I’ve learned one thing from being an animation fan my entire life, it’s that a cartoon doesn’t have to be educational to teach you something. I think it’s important to remember that when debating the “usefulness” of watching cartoons.

This isn’t meant to belittle the educational cartoons, either. I’ve spent many an afternoon watching Arthur and Cyberchase. To this day, the animation/live action-hybrid Blue’s Clues is still a favorite show. They’re all three well-done shows where a learning outcome is clearly displayed, regardless of whether it’s a lesson about friendship, math and science, or exploring the world around you.

The E/I rating (as near as I can tell) helps identify cartoons that aren’t necessarily educational in nature, but fit a certain criteria to be considered “educational enough”. More recent examples of this include Magi-Nation, which offered interesting and relevant moments of math and science instruction interspersed throughout the storyline, and Winx Club, which encourages girls to develop strong, positive characters.

Then you have the cartoons that are either built around a trendy toy or game (card or video). Because they’re really trying to sell something, they get written off. The cartoons are often shorter than cartoons in the educational or E/I categories, and the writing can get downright insipid at times. That said, though, the writers on these cartoons take advantage of the nature of the world they’re writing in to slip in mini-lessons from science and social studies. I can even think of a couple of cartoons that promote literacy simply by having the characters read frequently. My favorite cartoons tend to fall into this last group, and I can’t tell you how many things I learned from those cartoons in the 80’s are still with me now as an adult.

Just because something isn’t “educational” doesn’t mean you can’t learn something from it.

Jul

27

A M.A.S.K. fan looks at Dinosaur King

Filed Under animation, lifelong learning | View Comments

When  Dinosaur King first showed up a couple of years ago, I almost turned it off because it sounded like another Pokemon. Once I got past the voice actors, though, I found that the cartoon actually reminded me of my favorite childhood cartoon, M.A.S.K.

In Dinosaur King, a paleontologist’s son and his friends travel all over the world looking for modern-day dinosaurs. They’ll be tracking down a dinosaur, and then find that a team of adults is also trying to catch the same dinosaur. It becomes a race where each group’s dinosaurs often have to battle (and the good guys don’t always win).

In M.A.S.K., a philanthropist and his son would be somewhere in the world where the philanthropist was usually conducting business. Then, whatever they were supposed to be visiting would go missing or they would see the bad guys trying to mess with what they were supposed to be visiting, and the philanthropist called in his team and fireworks would ensue.

What caused me to draw the connection between Dinosaur King and M.A.S.K. was the globe-hopping. While the characters in either cartoon are on their mission or in the build-up to the mission, they’re exploring the location. When I was a child, I loved those parts of M.A.S.K. because it was a chance to learn about somewhere far away from where I lived, somewhere I probably wouldn’t get to go on my own. I see the same thing in Dinosaur King, a chance to expose a child to small facts about life around the world in an engaging setting. Even if all they’re doing is following the dinosaurs, they’re bound to pick up something.

Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to watch an episode of each together. It was the best hour I’d spent watching television in a while.

Jul

27

Twitter Updates for 2009-07-27

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  • At some point in every creator's work, failure must be admitted and decisions must be made. #
  • As a child, I watched M.A.S.K. while doing my math homework. Now, I'm watching it while writing a math guide. Some things don't change! #

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Jul

26

Twitter Updates for 2009-07-26

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  • I think the reason morning pages never worked for me is because I've always journaled. I just need to develop a more reflective process. #
  • My notes for redesigning my web site subconsciously consider personas. I find that interesting. #
  • Watching old M.A.S.K. episodes is making me think about the E/I rating, even though it wouldn't have met the few criteria I can find. #

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Jul

24

links for 2009-07-24

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Jul

24

The Token Girl

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Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been keenly aware of female characters in the everything I read or watch. I love a good strong female character, but was always very aware that there just weren’t that many, protagonist or otherwise, in the action series I was fond of.

I was so aware of how few girls there were that by middle school, I was calling characters like Gloria Baker and R.C. “token girls”, a term I still apply to the girl character in a group of guys. I was keenly aware of the token girl in every cartoon I watched or book I read. I resented when Gloria was knocked unconscious and one of the men had to rescue her. When Artemis Entreri took Catti-Brie hostage, I was nearly ready to walk out on IceWind Dale.

Playing with my boy cousins, I was invariably the person who got kidnapped by the “bad guy”. (I was always fairly well-treated by my captor, too.) When I grew up and fell in with a LARP crowd, I often found myself the only girl around and therefore the damsel in distress during games. Sometimes, both as a child an an adult, I didn’t really care because it made sense with the storyline of the game. But then there were times where it was clear that the caveman thinking went: She’s a girl. Girls always get kidnapped by the bad guy. Let’s go to great lengths to kidnap her in favor of a more easily snagged guy. And I protested.

There are plenty of examples where the token girl is allowed to just be part of the team, but there aren’t enough of them to have a strong impact on children, their games, and the stories they create.

Jul

24

Twitter Updates for 2009-07-24

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Jul

22

Twitter Updates for 2009-07-22

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Jul

21

Twitter Updates for 2009-07-21

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  • Which is better for writing formula- and fraction-heavy math resources, OpenOffice (Math) or Scribus? #
  • I want to read: Mask of Loki by Roger Zelazny – http://tinyurl.com/m7gho3 #
  • I want to read: Bridge of Ashes by Roger Zelazny – Error creating tinyurl: execution expired #
  • I want to read: Psychoshop by Alfred Bester – http://tinyurl.com/naloay #

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