by Marc Prensky (c) 2004 Marc prensky

Research published by University of Rochester neuroscientists C. Shawn Green and Daphne Bavelier has grabbed national attention for suggesting that playing “action” video and computer games has positive effects – enhancing student’s visual selective attention. But that finding is just one small part of a more important message that all parents and educators need to hear: video games are not enemy, but best opportunity we have to engage our kids in real learning.

Any observer knows that attitude of today’s children to video and computer games is very opposite of attitude that most of them have toward school. The amount of time they spend playing computer and video games – estimated at 10,000 hours by time they are twenty-one, often in multi-hour bursts – belies “short attention span” criticism of educators. And while years ago group attracted to video and computer games was almost entirely adolescent boys, it is now increasingly girls and all children of all ages and social groups. One would be hard-pressed today to find a kid in America who doesn’t play computer or video games of one sort or another.

The evidence is quickly mounting that our “Digital Native” children’s brains are changing to accommodate these new technologies with which they spend so much time. Not only are they better at spreading their attention over a wide range of events, as Green and Bavelier report, but they are better at parallel processing, taking in information more quickly (at “twitchspeed”), understanding multimedia, and collaborating over networks.

What attracts and “glues” kids to today’s video and computer games is neither violence, or even surface subject matter, but rather learning games provide. Kids, like and all humans, love to learn when it isn’t forced on them. Modern computer and video games provide learning opportunities every second, or fraction thereof.

On surface, kids learn to do things – to fly airplanes, to drive fast cars, to be theme park operators, war fighters, civilization builders and veterinarians. But on deeper levels they learn infinitely more: to take in information from many sources and make decisions quickly; to deduce a game’s rules from playing rather than by being told; to create strategies for overcoming obstacles; to understand complex systems through experimentation. And, increasingly, they learn to collaborate with others. Many adults are not aware that games have long ago passed out of single-player isolation shell imposed by lack of networking, and have gone back to being social medium they have always been – on a worldwide scale. Massively Multiplayer games such as EverQuest now have hundreds of thousands of people playing simultaneously, collaborating nightly in clans and guilds.

© LeAnn R. Ralph 2004

Early in May here in west central Wisconsin, I can count on seeing a Ruby Throated Hummingbird hovering in front of my kitchen window, flitting back and forth, as if to say, "there was a hummingbird feeder RIGHT HERE last year. Where is it?"

And then I know it is time to put out hummingbird nectar. I feed a 3-to-1 mixture of water and sugar (3 cups of water and 1 cup of sugar brought to a boil and cooled to room temperature). After hummingbirds' long trip from South America, they are thin and hungry.

The general rule-of-thumb is a 4-to-1 mixture, but to start out in early spring I always use a 3-to-1 mixture. Later on in summer, when there are more flowers available, I switch to a 4-to-1 mixture.

I know it is important to wash hummingbird feeder when I fill it to clean out any mold. I know it is also important to thoroughly rinse hummingbird feeder when I am finished cleaning it to remove any soap or other chemicals.

If feeder has visible mold, I use a bleach solution (1 teaspoon of bleach to several cups of water) to kill off mold and mildew. Then I rinse feeder thoroughly, under running water, for several minutes with hot water and for several minutes with cold water.

The best hummingbird feeder I've found is a Rubbermaid feeder. It holds two cups of nectar, and it is as sturdy now as it was when I bought it four years ago. Other hummingbird feeders cracked when I tried to wash them, either at end of first year or beginning of next.

I also set out two of those little "flower balls" for hummingbirds — little round balls that hold about a quarter cup of nectar with a large, brightly-colored plastic flower that fits down inside neck. The flower balls fit into a holder that mounts on a steel rod pushed down into ground. The hummingbirds love "flowers" that give them another source of food.

Usually, right around our yard, we have between four and six pair of Ruby Throated Hummingbirds. Later on in summer, when their offspring start coming for nectar, we have many more hummingbirds flying around yard. Pine trees on east and north sides of yard provide a perch for hummingbirds while they wait their turn to get at feeder.