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While Jason Siko was teaching biology and chemistry to
high school students in Clarkston, Michigan, between
1998 and 2012, he gained valuable insight into what
students expected from their teachers and education,
how they learned best, and what they found interesting
or not. He found they liked new challenges and engaging
in learning in ways that were relevant to their lives
and experiences.
Now, Siko is an assistant professor in Grand Valley’s
College of Education teaching undergraduate and
graduate courses in K–12 educational technology. Since
2007, he has received his master’s degree in futures studies
from the University of Houston, completed an internship
at the Institute of Alternative Futures, a leading futures
consulting firm in the Beltway, and earned his Ph.D. in
instructional technology at Wayne State University. He
also has an M.Ed. in science education. Not surprisingly,
his current research regarding the use of gaming as an
instructional tool links back to what he learned from and
about his high school students.
“Constructionist philosophy believes that learning
occurs through building an authentic artifact; thus, it is
through the construction of the game rather than playing
the game where learning occurs,” he said. Because most
students lack complex computer programming skills,
Siko uses PowerPoint as a game design tool. He notes that
while PowerPoint is not programming language or design
software, it is available in most every school and “the
action button is the highest level of technology”
that students need to understand.
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While a class on gaming may be the hook that catches
students’ interest, the payoff is in the learning. “Instead
of playing games for fun,” Siko said, “they’re designing
games to learn.” He expects to test the game design
protocol to confirm whether or not it leads to improved
student performance. “I plan to continue to research
and refine the best practices for applying constructionist
techniques for training and education.”
Siko also is doing research involving online learning at
the K–12 level. While previous projects involved student
perceptions on online learning and teacher training for
online learning, his new research examines blended
science courses at the K–12 level. He plans to continue
to pilot hybrid courses where the course content will
be mostly delivered online, while labs and discussions
will occur in a face-to-face setting. “I want to learn how
students will handle the blended format,” he said.
Sharing his research, or as Siko said, “providing
information that helps teachers sort through the garbage
and noise,” is another challenge. “Part of the process as
a researcher is asking ‘How do I get it out in practitioner
journals?’” He has found that publishing in open access
journals has allowed him to get information to the
end users, teachers, quickly and efficiently. “The time
lag is pretty bad right now,” he said of the challenges
of publishing in traditional journals. “The time from
collecting data to publishing is three years, which is
forever when it comes to technology. I want to provide
that info in as many different avenues as possible.”
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