Tuesday, May 5, 2009
On the road to cultural bias: A critique of The Oregon Trail CD-ROM
I read article about the game The Oregon Trail and The Oregon Trail II, interested to see what the author had to say about the subject. I remember playing these games as a child and enjoying them alot. I also remember my parent talking to me about how these games did not tell the whole story. During that same time, I was exposed to lots of information about Native Americans, both inside and outside of the classroom so I realized as I got older the ways in which the story of the Oregon Trail and the pioneers was mistold. Although I really enjoyed playing the game, much of the fun began to wear off as I realized how many lies it was helping to perpetuate. I began to see the danger of using it in the classroom setting with children, as it is essentially a candy-coated way to feed children a skewed and biased view of history. I liked how the author acknowledged that the creator's of the program included lots and lots of information, but information alone does not make the program credible or comprehensive. This is important to note because one of the program's main selling-points is its encyclopedia worthy volume of information. Additionally, I liked how the critique was very well-rounded and addressed all of the myriad of issues that the games raise.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I agree with you that the game did present some dangerous bias views of history. I think that it is essential as educators that we think critically about the information that we present students with and how it is used. We cannot simply assume just because a game says that it is educational and about the Oregon Trail that it is educationally useful yet alone valid. As educations we need to use caution. But I also think that it is useful to present students with multiple views of history and teach them to decipher the biases themselves. Bias is unfortunately around us and it is a good skill to allow students to find bias themselves and develop strong critical thinking and analysis skills.
ReplyDeleteMicah, you had many great points about this critique of the Oregon Trail game. It became so apparent to me how skewed this game really is, after reading the article. It is so important that we use these games to grow and learn from now, and make sure to extensively research these types of tools and materials for the use in our classrooms. We must be very conscenscious buyers- it is important to look for such biases in instructional material.
ReplyDeleteMicah, I completely enjoyed reading your reflection and you insight regarding you personal connection with Native Americans. I think that your perception on how the story really happened is probably very different from many of ours. I, unfortunatley, did not know many Native Americans in my youth. My interpretation of Native Americans came through Disney movies, the Oregon Trail, and by passing throguh the Tulalip Indian Reservation. Not that I am racist by any means, but I do feel like my upbringing did not allow me to fully underastand or appreciate the many aspects of the native American people. I was definitley surrounded by diversity in my school, but I missed out on the Native American componant. It is interesting to compare my own interpretation of different diverse cultures depending on my exposure to them. I feel like your reflection pointed out a good subject for me to contimplate.
ReplyDeleteMicah, I enjoyed your reflection. I agree that Bigelow did take a very well-rounded approach at speaking on the issues regarding The Oregon Trail game. I think that this is where teachers need to step in. It is our job to take a game like this and then fill in the gaps of missing information or have the students find the missing or inaccurate information. Let the game be a learning focal point to talk about actually happened in history. Well done Micah.
ReplyDelete