Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
controversial topics such as death penalty and current hate crimes reported in
the news. During the experience at the hospital, cases raised awareness and dis-
cussion about particular situations regarding individual treatments and served
patients as a way to voice their opinions and engage in informal interactions
with doctors. For example, a seventeen-year-old boy left the following case in
The Temple of Feeling Better:
“I believe that my time on dialysis is too long.
Maybe you can pull some string and get it cut back. Thank you. Please reply in
caza's room. Leave a message on the bulletin board”
.Asaresult,thepatienten-
gaged in a long on-line conversation with one of the doctors participating in
the study.
During both pilot studies, kids engaged in five types of processes that sup-
ported learning about identity and values: creation, introspection, communi-
cation, participation, and perspective taking.
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Creation:
Kids designed personal homes and temples, virtual autotopogra-
phies in which collections of symbolically meaningful objects and char-
acters are displayed. The creation of these spaces supported the develop-
ment of new insights about identity and values. Kids also created a partic-
ipatory micro-community, a safe space where powerful conversations and
self-government took place.
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Introspection
: Throughout the experience with Zora, kids engaged in
thinking about what types of places, objects, characters and stories best
represent themselves as individuals and as a community. In this sense,
Zora served one of the functions that has been attributed to the idea of
the Sabbath: a time for reflection and self-examination (Heschel 1951).
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Communication:
In Zora communication is both synchronous (learners
converse with each other through their avatars in real-time) and asyn-
chronous (learners post messages, read and write stories stored in their
artifacts and engage in conversations with already programmed objects.)
By communicating with each other kids not only expressed their sense of
self and values, but also learned how to exchange opinions and debate.
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Participation:
A sense of self doesn't develop in a vacuum but in con-
stant interaction with others in a community. Zora engaged kids in self-
organization and decision-making by supporting the creation of a partici-
patory micro-community. Values became not only matters of narrative and
introspection but also matters of behavior and taking action.
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Perspective-taking:
Seeing the world as others do, understanding their mo-
tivations and actions, is a fundamental mechanism for exploring issues of
identity and values. In Zora this type of experience was facilitated by kids
