Caine’s Arcade
Caine is a 9-year-old boy whose afterschool and weekend project turned into an international imagination movement. As the Caine’s Arcade video explains, Caine built a gaming arcade almost entirely out of cardboard and opened it up for business in the storefront of his father’s auto parts store. This story provides an excellent example of how characteristics of Caine’s personal identity might affect how and what he learned from the specific experiences portrayed. The cultural values that nurtured Caine’s curiosity and inventiveness can be identified within his video story and the factors contributing to his “funds of knowledge” going into the project can be readily analyzed in the video. After viewing Caine’s amazing story, reflect on the different skills he learned and applied as he completed his “project,” and consider how his personal identity shaped, and was shaped by, his amazing experiences. To help you better understand the underlying influences affecting Caine’s learning experiences, read the following sections of the course text:

• Chapter 7 (pages 198-209)
• Chapter 8 (pages 228-251)
• Chapter 11 (pages 330-340)

The pages in these chapters present information and examples associated with how poverty, diversity and family factors influence student achievement and behavior in school.
You also need to read the article by Moll, Amanti, Neff and Gonzalez (1992) addressing funds of knowledge for teaching. The full text of this article is available for downloading from the Ashford University library. 

Initial Post: View the Caine’s Arcade video and construct an initial response that addresses the following five questions:

• What motivated Caine to build his arcade?
• What external factors influenced Caine’s ability to successfully create his arcade? (e.g., what role did his father play in encouraging his project?)
• What internal factors influenced Caine’s ability to successfully create his arcade? Consider his world view, values, and funds of knowledge as internal factors.
• What major skills did Caine learn and apply as he developed and improved his arcade?
• How valuable do you think these skills are in the real world? How well do they align with one or more of the 21st-century skills identified on the Framework for 21st Century Learning web page?