Let’s talk about Pokemon Go!

Educators are always looking for an in.

Here are a few reasons we need to know something about Pokemon Go! before our students return to school this fall.

The technology!  This is Google Maps and Google Earth, coupled with a very intriguing GAME. Every kid likes to play. Adults do too. Not sure? Check out the local park and shopping zones during a Pokemon Go event!

The technology. (Again!)  I’m a huge believer that content, learning, and purpose should drive instructional delivery. Technology should not necessarily be used in the classroom simply because it’s cool. When technology advances a learning purpose in a significant way. I’m all in. 

That said, this technology, geo-located-augmented reality is engaging. Seriously engaging. But it is more than that. A person can learn ALOT about their environment simply by playing the game.

Want to really engage in the sites of import in your town?  I’ve learned so much about historical and significant sites. And not only in places I’ve visited this summer but also in this small seaside town where I’ve lived in for 27 years. All while playing Pokemon Go!  I’d forgotten about the all the astronaut plaques along a local street. And I hadn’t realized there were new art installations. (Check out the Kalpa by Hoon Kwak at Angels Gate Cultural Center.) I’ve also learned there is a National Geodetic Survey benchmark disc from 1978 in town. 

(Side note: I caught my first Pokemon – a common Zubat, in Rome this summer. Talk about content! I learned about far more of the ancient sites in the city from the game than I did from the tour guide!)

Saint Rocco? See the arrow in the upper box? Click and it’ll tell you. (It’s a beautiful church.)

We must use technology that is at the cutting edge of what is possible. This is the world our children are growing up in. And it is growing and changing exponentially.  Our children can navigate better new technology seemingly without effort.  

We know they’re going to come back to school having learned something about this new game.  I’m guessing it will be a popular personal narrative topic for many of our students.  

Bring it on! Let’s talk about it. 

Let’s be ready to listen to their thinking, hear what they’ve been learning and capitalize on the phenomenon.

Parents can capitalize too!  See this great post by Erin Brownfield of Ed Source.  And this is a timely post by Nick Statt over at The Verge.

How might you envision engaging students captured by Pokemon Go! this school year?

What else do YOU want to know about the game? The technology?

 

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