Ashford 2: – Week 1 – Discussion 1
Your initial discussion thread is due on Day 3 (Thursday) and you have until Day 7 (Monday) to respond to your classmates. Your grade will reflect both the quality of your initial post and the depth of your responses. Reference the Discussion Forum Grading Rubric for guidance on how your discussion will be evaluated.
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
- Chapter 8
- Chapter 11
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 Lopez (n.d.) regarding Funds of Knowledge.
Initial Post: View the Caine’s Arcade video and construct an initial response that addresses the following questions:
- 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.
- 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?
Guided Response: Respond to at least two of your classmates’ posts. In your responses, comment on any similarities or differences between your response and those of your peers. Though two replies is the basic expectation, for deeper engagement and learning, you are encouraged to provide responses to any comments or questions others have given to you. This will further the conversation and provide you with opportunities to demonstrate your content expertise, critical thinking, and real-world experiences with this topic.
Respond
