The Manitoba First Nation School System encourages teachers to tap into students’ love of video games and educate them about traditional teachings through esports clubs and classes.
Over the past decade, a growing number of school leaders, both within and beyond the reserve, have started using online applications such as Minecraft. By forcing e-learning into the mainstream, COVID-19 has made unconventional learning tools even more popular.
Not only are video games an engaging way to teach collaboration and digital literacy, Karl Hildebrandt said, but the education technology facilitator at MFNSS said they fit in well with Anishinaabe’s fundamental principles of how you behave toward others.
“Kids are video games and they need some kind of morals or standards to follow,” Hildebrandt said as he prepared to give a presentation on Thursday titled The Seven Teachings in the Digital Age.
Courage, honesty, wisdom, humility, love, respect and truth can easily be woven into lessons, giving students a framework to learn skills critical to their success in the online and offline worlds, he said.
Using humility as an example, Hildebrandt mentioned the importance of discussing “ragelessness” and emotional regulation, being a supportive teammate when a peer is having an off-game, and general sportsmanship with students.
The theme of this year’s Circle of Knowledge conference, hosted by the Manitoba First Nations Education Resource Center (which oversees MFNSS), focuses on reviving Indigenous heritage with 21st century learning strategies.
More than 600 attendees, many of them from rural and remote communities, gathered in Winnipeg on Thursday and Friday to network and listen to professional development sessions.
“We have not taught our children the old way because of the residential school experiences and the loss of the language. We have started going back to many of our teachings, teachings on the land, and our general teachings,” said Charles Cochrane, executive director of the information center that hosts the annual event.
Cochrane said there is room for traditional and contemporary teaching methods so that First Nations graduates understand where they come from and how to succeed in post-secondary education and the workforce.
Pandemic disruptions have led educators to adopt new technologies to deliver cultural, linguistic and academic classes, he noted. “It’s a new era in the way education is done,” Cochrane said. “And it’s exciting.”
It was about five years ago when Vanessa Zastre said that her students’ constant chatter about video games and her son’s love for them prompted her to lead Minecraft Education at Chief Charles Audy Memorial School.
“Everything you do on the computer, they’re more engaged,” she said, adding the virtual program, which moderates educators, has been a success in Wuskwi Sipihk First Nation, near Birch River.
Zastre recently completed a master’s thesis on teaching basic coding skills to children aged four and older at the University of Manitoba. Now she is director of education in her community and promotes the benefits of esports education to all her colleagues.
Wuskwi Sipihk classrooms have access to online platforms via fiber optic internet. Internet access is still spotty in many communities, but the spread of Starlink allows more students to participate in school gaming.
Hildebrandt teams up with Fox Lake School to explore esports now that Fox Lake Cree Nation is connected to SpaceX’s new broadband network.
The MFNSS facilitator is eager to promote the opportunities available through the Manitoba School Esports Association because video games appeal to so many learners, especially those not involved in traditional sports.
Eighty-nine percent of Canadians between the ages of six and 17 play video games, according to a 2020 survey commissioned by the Entertainment Software Association of Canada.
While acknowledging that the stigma surrounding gaming is distracting and harmful because of excessive screen time, Hildebrandt said educators are in a unique position to use their role to teach boundaries, time limits and a balanced lifestyle.
Among the programs that local teachers use are: Rocket League, Pokemon Unite and Minecraft Education, including Manito Ahbee Aki, an indigenous world based on Manitoba prior to European contact.
maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca
Twitter: @macintoshmaggie
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