Video Games in the Library?

I hate to admit it, but I am an absolute novice when it comes to video games. I have never really felt the urge to play them. I spend too many hours on the computer and on my smartphone as it is, so video games just never held any attraction for me. That doesn’t mean I’m against them at all. After researching the subject, I have come to the conclusion that they definitely have a place in a library’s collection and may also be beneficial in an educational setting.
Here are some choices I made that I think are suitable for a public library. What video games would you like to see in your library?

Forza 5 Motorsport
Platform: Xbox One
ESRB rating: E
Forza 5 Motorsport is a car racing game that was released in November, 2013 as the fifth installment in the Forza Motorsport series. The graphics are brilliant and make any car enthusiast feel like a real-life race car driver. This fast game can be played in single or multiplayer mode and helps develop such cognitive skills as faster reaction times, improved decision making, and multitasking. Players also learn about car models, engines, parts, and their operation.  Since Forza 5 is fun, educational, and appropriate for all ages, I would say it is a good choice for a public library.

Dance Dance Revolution (DDR)
Platforms: PlayStation, Dreamcast, Nintendo 64, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, GameCube, Wii, Xbox and Xbox 360, PC.
I like a video game that gets you out of your chair and pushes your heart rate up. Exercise is good for the body and mind! Players stand on a pad or platform and hit colored arrows laid out in a cross with their feet to musical and visual cues. This game is suitable for all ages and makes exercising fun. The health benefits of exercise are well established. DDR I believe would be a great addition to a library video game collection since it promotes physical fitness for the whole family.

Call of Duty: Black Ops III
Platforms: Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One
This first-person shooter video game will not be released until later this year. It is the third in the hugely popular Call of Duty Black Ops series. The game takes place in a dystopian future where science and technology have changed humans. Black ops soldiers with superhuman capabilities are on a secret mission in the game. This game was not a natural choice for me, since I don’t really enjoy violent entertainment. However, I am a firm believer in giving people what they want, and it seems Call of Duty is at the top of almost every gamers list. Every patron I talked to and asked about video games, mentioned Call of Duty. That’s exactly why I chose it. I wasn’t entirely sure what educational benefit one would gain from such a game, but research seems to have shown that Call of Duty has its positives.

I found several articles that confirmed the educational benefits of Call of Duty. I decided to cite this article: Video Games and Higher Education: What Can “Call of Duty” Teach Our Students. The authors claim that video games such as Call of Duty are cognitively stimulating, motivating, and improve visual acuity. They argue that “for the student there is value in ‘edutainment’ as an effective learning process that blurs the line between work and play, maintaining initial levels of concentration through the equilibrium of entertainment and education.”

Video Games and Higher Education: What Can “Call of Duty” Teach Our Students?
Nick Tannahill, Patrick Tissington, Carl Senior. (2012).Frontiers in Psychology. 2012; 3: 210. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00210

Wizard 101

I recently ventured into unknown territory and explored the virtual universe of the Spiral. That's a first for me! While I play the occasional game on my smartphone, I have never really felt the urge to play video games, until I was forced to for a class assignment. Let me tell you, traveling to foreign lands is something I enjoy regularly, but online worlds are something entirely different! After a few hours of learning the basics and fighting my first creatures though, I was hooked. Wizard 101 is great fun and will keep players occupied for a very long time!
Check out my travel video into the world of wizards. Maybe we'll meet somewhere in Wizard City?

"Scratch" that!

Remember a few weeks ago I mentioned Scratch the free programming language created by MIT? 
I just created this educational game below as my first project with Scratch. It was fun but took a lot more hours to figure out than I expected. Thankfully there are numerous resources to get you started or find help: How-to books, online tutorials, wikis, discussion forums, and you can also look at other people's code.
Give it a try yourself! Scratch

For the game, click on the states with the correct capitals before they disappear, and you will earn 2 points per state. If you click on a state with the wrong capital, 3 points will be deducted from your score.
There are a total of 22 states that will glide across the map.
The maximum score is 28.  Enjoy!

U.S. State Capitals

We've been crafty!

Check out the photo gallery for some pictures of the CD Scratch Art and Zentangle Programs.
Here's a quick slide show of the zentangle plates the teens made last week. If you want to join in the fun, we are meeting one more time to create zentangle greeting cards and mandalas on Wednesday, May 8th from 6-8pm. Call the library to register (302) 378 5588.

The slide show was created on my iPhone with Flipagram - a free app that's easy and fun to use. You can produce slideshows in just a few minutes!

Teen Volunteer Fair

Turn your passion into action! Volunteer!

The Appoquinimink Library in partnership with the DE State Office of Volunteerism will host a Teen Volunteer Fair for teens ages 12-18 and their parents/guardians. Meet representatives from 19 local non-profit organizations and learn about volunteer opportunities.

Wednesday, April 29th

Meet and Greet: 6:30pm-8:pm

Informational Session I: 6:30pm

Informational Session II: 7:15pm

Teens, this is your chance to find a volunteer position that fulfills your community service hours or honor society requirements. Volunteer hours also look good on college and scholarship applications! 

And you might just find that:

The best way to find yourself

is to lose yourself

in the service of others.

-Mahatma Gandhi 

I hope to see you there!

School is cool! Don't become a statistic!

I recently came across some interesting facts while reading an article about high school dropouts which prompted me to investigate further. Since I didn't want to bombard you with too many facts, I turned some of the data into graphs. Please take a look!

Did you know?

• Each year over 1.2 million students drop out of high school in the United States.

• Students who don't read proficiently by the 3rd grade are 4 times more likely to drop out of school.
  

• While males roughly made up half of the 16- to 24-year-old age group in 2013, they made up 54 percent of the dropouts.

• The percentage of graduating Latino students has significantly increased. In 2010, 71.4% received their diploma vs. 61.4% in 2006.

• Asian-American and white students are still far more likely to graduate than Latino & African-American students.

• Almost 2,000 high schools across the U.S. graduate less than 60% of their students.

• These “dropout factories” account for over 50% of the students who leave school every year.

• 1 in 3 minority students (32%) attend a dropout factory, compared to 8% of white students.

Earnings and Unemployment Rates by Educational Attainment 2014

Education attained	Unemployment rate (%)	Median weekly earnings
Doctoral degree	2.1	$1591
Professional degree	1.9	$1639
Master's degree	2.8	$1326
Bachelor's degree	3.5	$1101
Associate's degree	4.5	$792
Some college	6.0	$741
High school diploma	6.0	$668
High school dropout	9.0	$488

• A high school dropout will earn $200,000 less than a high school graduate over his/her lifetime. And almost a million dollars less than a college graduate.

• 90% of high school dropouts are on welfare.

• High school dropouts exact an economic toll on society. Each year's class of dropouts will cost the country over $200 billion during their lifetimes in lost earnings and unrealized tax revenue.

Be smart! Graduate!

Help!

I would like to start a library literacy program with teen volunteers who are willing to partner with elementary school students who need to improve their reading and comprehension skills. Please contact me, if you are interested in volunteering and making a difference in your community! This is your chance to prevent future high school students from becoming dropouts and to change the statistics! Not to mention that it also looks good on college applications... ;) 

Sources

Graphs: 

Child Trends Data Bank. (2014). High School Dropout Rates. In Indicators. Retrieved from

http://www.childtrends.org/?indicators=high-school-dropout-rates
Facts:
DoSomething.Org . (2015). 11 Facts About High School Dropouts. In Facts. Retrieved from
https://www.dosomething.org/facts/11-facts-about-high-school-dropout-rates
National Dropout Prevention Center . (2015). Economic Impacts of Dropouts. In Statistics.
Retrieved from http://www.dropoutprevention.org/statistics/quick-facts/economic-impactsdropouts

More tech stuff

Some of you are likely going to take the SAT sometime in the future. Start preparing by answering the Question of the Day on a regular basis. You can find the official SAT Question of the Day by going to sat.org/qotd, by following @SATQuestion on Twitter, or by downloading the free app for your iPhone or iPad. There are hints and explanations for each question and a tally of how many students answered correctly. 

Responsible digital citizenship is important when you are online - not only to keep you safe, but also to protect others' rights.
I searched the web for a great infographic of the dos and don'ts of how to conduct yourself online. The following, in my opinion, is a great example. The site is British, so you might be unfamiliar with some of the spelling, but the content is well worth reading! 
(The site gives permission to use the inforgraphic. Remember copyright laws!) Click here or on the picture to get to the website and the actual infographic.

Teen Tech Week March 8-14

In honor of Teen Tech Week, I’d like to share some free online tools with you that I find very useful. I made sure to only include websites that don’t require you to register and create a user name and password. I hate it when you have to do that! Who can keep track of all that info anyway?

So here is the first one. If you don’t have Photoshop or Paintshop, try Fotoflexer.

It is a great image editor that will let you do almost everything the commercial products will. You can even clone yourself by copying a “region” of a photo. There are various filters, fonts, stickers, layers, distortion effects, and collage options to choose from. You can also draw or doodle over your picture, or resize it. The editor is quite impressive. Try it out! If you need a little help getting started, there is a demo video.

Should you ever be in need of a background removal tool for a picture, I can recommend FreeBackGroundRemoval. I've tried a few other removal tools, but this one seems to work the best and results are instant, not by email.

Try an Hour of Code! Hour of Code is a global movement reaching tens of millions of students in 180+ countries in over 30 languages.
It is a one-hour introduction to computer science meant to demystify code and show that anybody can learn the basics. Check out the tutorials and learn about the basics of coding, JavaScript, phone apps, or games.

Most of you are probably familiar with Wordle, but do you know Tagxedo? Tagxedo creates word clouds in a variety of visually stunning shapes you can choose from. It is highly versatile as font, theme, color, orientation, shape, and frequency of individual words can be customized. Check out the examples I made through automatically importing text by simply entering the address of this blog. Of course, you don't have to use random text, but you can customize your words. 

 Stay tuned for more tech related stuff this week!
 

Streaming Videos

You know all about e-books and e-audiobooks, but did you know that the library offers streaming videos? Yes, you can now watch movies on your tablets and computers! Streaming means you don't have to wait to download the file, you are watching it in real time over the internet. 
Take advantage of this new service; it's free! No movies to return, no late fees!
You can currently choose from more than 1200 titles, and the list is growing.

Below I have put together step-by-step instructions on how to watch/borrow a streaming video from your library. It’s really quite simple. All you need is your library card number. Give it a try, and don't forget the popcorn!

Here is a link to the PDF file of the instructions. It is much easier to read and printable.

New Spring Programs

CD Scratch Art

Tuesday, March 31, 6-7:30pm

 

Upcycle and turn old CDs into pieces of art for your wall or as a candle plate. All materials are provided.

Zentangle Workshop
Wednesday, March 4, April 8, May 6
6-8pm

 

Learn the beginning steps and methods of Zentangle. It is an easy to learn and relaxing art form to create beautiful images from repetitive patterns. Tangle projects will include Zentangle greeting cards, mandalas, wall art, bookmarks, and decorative dishes. Come to one session or all three. Supplies included.

Comic Book Extravaganza

Tuesday, March 3, 6-8pm

 

 

Are you a fan of Batman or Scooby Doo? Join other comic book enthusiasts to read and discuss a comic you get to take home. Make 3D paper models of your favorite comic book characters and learn some new comic trivia. All materials are supplied.

Registration for all programs is required.

Call (302) 378-5588 or go to the reference desk at the Appoquinimink Library to sign up.

February is Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month

Did you know 1 in 3 young people

experience some form of abuse

in their dating relationships?

That's a rather shocking statistic! Since February is Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month, I thought I'd take the opportunity and make you aware of some important resources on the subject.

Learn the signs of dating abuse and how to get advice on healthy relationships here from Break the Cycle. 

Report abuse or get help at 

Love is Respect: 1 866 331 9474 

The National Domestic Violence Abuse Hotline:  1 800 799 SAFE (7233). 

I also put together a few YA book recommendations on abusive relationships - both physical and emotional - you might be interested in reading. 

But I Love Him by Amanda Grace

Dreamland by Sarah Dessen 

Rage: A Love Story by Julie Anne Peters

Breathing Underwater by Alex Flinn

Bitter End by Jennifer Brown

In Love And in Danger: A Teen's Guide to Breaking Free of Abusive Relationships by Barrie Levy