Hi,
I caught only a couple of the recent Pokemon posts (the conservative and
liberal critiques). As mother of two Pokemon hobbyist sons (ages 10 and 8),
I just wanted to interject that while the liberal critique definitely rings
with my natural inclinations, the educational researcher in me has found the
Pokemon culture to comprise a very interesting, highly motivating set of
child tools and practices.
I would expect Mike to be interested in Pokemon because it definitely seems
like a "leading activity" to me. After spending several weeks last spring
at the dinner table watching my boys talk rapid-fire in a foreign language,
I finally broke down and played a few Pokemon card games with them. There's
a lot more to this game than consumerism. From a Piagetian perspective, the
Pokemon culture exploits the early elementary child's fascination with
understanding categories and taxonomies. From a Vygotskian perspective, the
card game provides a leading activity for engaging in strategic planning and
mathematical operations.
Ever since I played the game last summer, I decided that Pokemon, fad or
not, was cleverly conceived not just from a marketing perspective, but from
a child development perspective too.
Louise
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