Sara Saunders

Hi, my question relates to a recent post.
My son (7) has recently discovered Stampy Longnose Minecraft videos which he is enjoying immensely and watches for long stretches nearly every day. He plays a little Minecraft too but only enjoys to play with either myself or preferably a friend.
I can see that he is getting a lot out of watching these videos and it delights me to hear him giggling away, I would just love some feedback as to what he might be learning, I cannot seem to articulate in my own mind what that might be. Maybe I don't need to know but would love to hear some ideas anyway.
Thanks
Sent from my iPad

BRIAN POLIKOWSKY


<<<<<<<<<<<I can see that he is getting a lot out of watching these videos and it delights me to hear him giggling away, I would just love some feedback as to what he might be learning, I cannot seem to articulate in my own mind what that might be. Maybe I don't need to know but would love to hear some ideas anyway>>

There is a lot of contradiction on what you wrote above. You see what he is getting but you want us to tell us what he is learning. You do not need to know but you would to hear it from people who do not know your kid.

How about joy? How about it makes him happy and giggly ? Would that be enough?

But the best of all you can do is sit with your son and watch those videos! Play some Minecraft!!!!! Have fun and do it just for the joy and for connecting with your son!

My daughter is 8 and has been a Minecraft fan for years. She was watching Minecraft videos when she was very young. She has learned so much from playing and watching videos.

Here is a video of her singing a song for Simon and Lewis ( Yogscast) she had just turned 5.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCcAXAcOBFk#aid=P-3t1uhydng

Here is Gigi a year ago ( at 7 years old) playing Minecraft and singing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMK6lxRqM-w

Here is Gigi in a  video of a famous Youtuber . She had told me and her friends saw her and message me:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6gNX06Eg4k

She is MooShroomCrystal and she lagged out.

If all Gigi had gotten out of it was joy and happiness that is enough for me. :)

Another thing that comes to mind is that if a kid is reading a book a parent would not worry that all he is getting is the joy of the story but when it is a video they do .
Why is reading a story more valuable than watching a story ( that has images and sounds on top of it!!)??

It maybe a question to ask oneself.
 
Alex Polikowsky
 
 
 


Joyce Fetteroll


On Apr 9, 2014, at 9:35 AM, BRIAN POLIKOWSKY <polykowholsteins@...> wrote:

How about joy? How about it makes him happy and giggly ? Would that be enough?

Since entertainment and education are seen as opposite ends of a spectrum in this society, it's doubtful for most people! 

But this is another area where living an unschooling life shifts the view point. It's not that unschoolers ignore the difference between entertainment and education. It's that we come to see that it's a false division. 

For educators, entertainment is a sugar coating that can be put on the important stuff to make it easier to get it in. 

For unschoolers, that division doesn't make sense. For unschoolers the division is interested in and not (yet) interested in.

Engagement, joy, interest, fascination are all indications a child is making connections between ideas. Unschoolers come to realize that the connections are  not just the important part of learning but the only real learning. But that realization isn't easy to come by. Kids don't give us much feedback! It comes from reading about how and why learning happens, trusting that it really is there, then learning to see the learning in its wild state when kids give us those rare glimpses. (Though the glimpses get more frequent the better we get at seeing what real learning looks like.)

Education looks like 1+1=2 and the child showing through various ways that they can parrot that back in the right contexts. *Sometimes* that parroting back means they understand. But it can very often mean they've memorized someone else's understanding well enough to pass the tests.

Learning, on the other hand is aha moments which occasionally are big but are usually lots and lots of teeny tiny aha moments. It's making connections and growing an understanding that when you have one thing and another thing comes along that you have more. And how that relates to *any* increases. And *any* decreases. It's "Oh, ducks are like geese," and "5 pointed stars are like stars in the sky but also not." And on and on.

Kids are gathering data, making connections between ideas, seeing patterns. They're creating theories to explain their growing understanding. They test those theories on more real world stuff. The theories either work better or work worse than their previous theory. Either way they understand the world a bit better.

Since the process is so random, it isn't testable. And most of it is invisible.

So what unschoolers do is know it's there. And they feed their kids'  interests. And they create a rich life where kids can be exposed to new ideas that will offer a bit more and perhaps new interests.

Sometimes you will understand what your kids *could* be learning from something. Always they'll be learning much more, making connections with ideas that seems to have no relation to what they're doing, learning thousands of little bits about peripheral things like music, social interactions, history, math, who they are, who you are and so much much more. 

A lot of learning about unschooling is unlearning a lot of stuff that you're sure is true about learning ;-)

Joyce

<semajrak@...>

>>>>>I would just love some feedback as to what he might be learning<<<<<

My son is eleven years old, and has been playing Minecraft for years now.  He also greatly enjoys watching Minecraft inspired Youtube videos.  I asked him if he was to share what he gets from watching Minecraft videos what would he say.  Without thinking very long at all, he said two words...knowledge and enjoyment.  He says he learns things about the game and about different mods that he wouldn't have known by simply playing on his own.  As well, he says that the funny videos make him laugh and feel good.  I also asked if he was familiar with the Stampy Longnose videos and he said he wasn't.  So, we watched a bit of one this morning together.

Here are some things I saw in the short bit we watched:

* Someone sharing what they enjoy with others - over 2 1/2 million others!
* Humour and a celebration of silly fun.
* Gameplay.
* Creative building and resource gathering.
* Cooperative play.  (He was building a world with another person in the bit of one we watched.)
* Manipulation of available resources to maximize their utility.
* Invention.
* Exploration of another person's modifications of the game.
* Colour play.  (They were building coloured wool buildings from wool dyed from sheep.)
* 3 dimensional building, of course.
* Community consideration in building and sorting resources.
* Economic considerations with supply and demand of available and renewable resources.
* Puns and jokes based on in-game references.
* Virtual world skill testing using parkour - jumping, turning, landing.
* They talked about game settings, which touches on game design considerations.
* Video formatting and style considerations were evident. 
* Consideration for unique branding of the youtube channel was clear.

That's off the top of my head now, as I type, thinking back to what we watched this morning.  As we watched together, however, we simply enjoyed watching and being together.  Ethan's own words share much more information than my list above.  Knowledge and enjoyment.  It really can be that simple.    I think that's where all the good stuff - all the meaningful connections - happens.  :-)

Karen.

Rinelle

>>>>>I would just love some

feedback as to what he might be learning<<<<<

To an extent, I think it’s hard for  us to even conceive what our kids might be learning that they will need in the future. My daughter is 9, and LOVES watching minecraft, videos, even more than she enjoys playing the game.
 
One of the biggest things I think she’s learning is that people can make a living doing what they want to do, and sharing that with others. The world is changing rapidly. Many of these YouTubers are making a living doing this. A good enough living that their partners can stay home and help them. So in some way’s watching YouTube videos is studying a potential future career. My daughter wanted to make a Minecraft Let’s Play, so we pulled out the video camera and switched it on. I was amazed at how logically and clearly she presented her ideas and showed me things about the game I hadn’t known.
 
Her love of Minecraft has also led her to wanting to learn programming and 3D computer modelling. (I’m still working on how to help her achieve this!)
 
Most importantly to me though, is that it does make her happy. I’m confident that if she’s choosing to do this thing, then she is learning something from it. Something important to HER.
 
In a world were so many kids are suffering from depression, anxiety, and high suicide rates, that is the most important thing to me.
 
Tamara

<karendevon@...>

All of those above plus a few more - better understanding of dates, months and the calendar in general (relating to when Stampy, Squid, AmyLee, etc's birthdays are).  We are in Australia so my 9yo DD has been exploring England, Scotland and Ireland where they are all from.  She has watched them over and over for the past few months and we have all laughed out loud at the joy and fun Stampy brings.  Ordering online as she bought some figurines of their skins - money, postage, time to be delivered internationally, discussion on building a business with complimentary products to create other streams of income. The food chain with hunting/gathering food.  Physics with the building of a rollercoaster.  New vocabulary and different ways to pronounce words from different parts of the English speaking world (she pronounces inventory 'infantry' as that is how Stampy says it - discussion about the way the army is organised). These are just some of the discussions we've had recently.  We usually go for an hour walk a day to get our mail and discuss Stampy the entire way and she never runs out of conversation.  It has increased her vocabulary immensely.  A big part of her learning is my connection with what she's interested in. She can ask what new words/concepts mean straight away and slot them into the knowledge she has already.  

Marina Moses

When my daughter (18) was 12-15ish she watched competition dance videos on YouTube for many hours almost every day. She learned to recognize different choreographers and studios through their dance styles. This year she choreographed her first group dance for competition (she is in her third year of teaching and has choreographed solos for competition and group recital dances). One of her dances has gotten the highest score of her studio at both competitions (beating both of her previous teachers!) with an almost perfect score. 

We did not see the learning when we wrongly thought she was wasting her time watching those videos. I'm really glad we didn't stop her. I believe those videos were the most important component of her education so far.

She still watches YouTube dance videos but doesn't spend as much time because she has seen them all multiple times and now only watches new posts (except when she watches old favorites!).    


On Wed, Apr 9, 2014 at 8:32 PM, Rinelle <rinelle@...> wrote:
 

>>>>>I would just love some feedback as to what he might be learning<<<<<


To an extent, I think it’s hard for  us to even conceive what our kids might be learning that they will need in the future. My daughter is 9, and LOVES watching minecraft, videos, even more than she enjoys playing the game.
 
One of the biggest things I think she’s learning is that people can make a living doing what they want to do, and sharing that with others. The world is changing rapidly. Many of these YouTubers are making a living doing this. A good enough living that their partners can stay home and help them. So in some way’s watching YouTube videos is studying a potential future career. My daughter wanted to make a Minecraft Let’s Play, so we pulled out the video camera and switched it on. I was amazed at how logically and clearly she presented her ideas and showed me things about the game I hadn’t known.
 
Her love of Minecraft has also led her to wanting to learn programming and 3D computer modelling. (I’m still working on how to help her achieve this!)
 
Most importantly to me though, is that it does make her happy. I’m confident that if she’s choosing to do this thing, then she is learning something from it. Something important to HER.
 
In a world were so many kids are suffering from depression, anxiety, and high suicide rates, that is the most important thing to me.
 
Tamara




--
Love and Prayers,
Marina

<claire.horsley08@...>

My daughter, also 9, loves watching minecraft youtube videos too! As well as the things mentioned above (which I second wholeheartedly) she has amassed a huge body of knowledge about how to play the game - the recipes for crafting items, which tool is right for which job, how to tame animals, how to interact with villagers, change skins, build incredible structures, the list goes on and on! At first she watched a lot more than she played, now it's roughly 50-50. I think one of the ways humans naturally learn is by watching another person, and then having a go ourselves. So because she already knew a lot about the game, she became proficient at playing it very quickly. There weren't many frustrating moments when she didn't know what to do. All of us have learned a huge amount from these videos. Our latest discovery is the Studio Ghibli mod - I highly recommend it!

Claire
Melbourne, Australia

Annie Regan

My kids (aged 9, 7 and 4) watch Stampy Longnose videos regularly, he is definitely their favourite, and a good friend of theirs (age 7) watches him for at least 3 hours a day. He is funny and friendly and I find it enjoyable just listening to him chatter, even if I'm not watching the video with them. They have all learnt SO much about how to play Minecraft, as well as a lot of new vocabulary. He talks constantly about his process and he tries new things, some of which work and some don't, then he tries again a different way, chatting all the time about what might have gone wrong or what he could do differently, so they are learning about taking risks, trying new things, dealing with frustration and disappointment in a positive way, perseverance and so on. When I asked LiAM why he loves watching Stampy he said 'I just want to learn how to be as good at Minecraft as he is' - while Caitlin likes seeing that he's not perfect at all parts of it (apparently he's not so good at parkour) so that makes her feel better when she isn't good at all aspects of the game. LiAM has also discovered new games by looking for Stampy's videos, so is now exploring those games and learning a whole range of new skills from them.

Annie

blossomholly@...

My seven year old loves BajanCanadian, Stampy and others. He gets to see what different and unique and difficult Mods would be like to play, and when we install them he "gets" it and feels freer to create in the mod. Just a thing he likes and gets from YouTubers.

Holly