The Biased Trail?

Along with many other people around my age, I grew up with the Oregon Trail and unfortunately, for this reason, I read this article holding on to my biases. For this reason, I do not feel compelled to talk about the direct quotes that are written in the article. Instead, I will focus my attention on the concepts. Although I agree and disagree with different things in the article, I must say, I adamantly believe that teachers should use technology in the classroom, but they should be picky about it, and technology definitely should not replace instruction. Teachers shouldn’t just pick up anything and assume it would be great for their students. Like the article says, teachers should be critical of the biases that may be presented. I mean, a CD ROM can not replace a teacher. When I was in elementary school, the students were only allowed to play on the computers if we had free time because we finished a task early. Even then, we didn’t have the Oregon Trail in my classroom, but rather I played it at home. But I think that CD ROM’s can be great in the classroom as long as they are well chosen and appropriately used. Teachers should be aware of the messages that their games might send and be critical of that. Although I think this article went pretty far, I think the underlying concepts are great for all teachers to have a look at.