Week 8 Stead, Erica Lee. este8865uni@gmail.

com SID: 200162815

Shaffer's epistemic games would seem to be an excellent tool for developing innovative
lifelong learners.
I found his metaphor of islands of expertise expecially pertinant to my own examination
of community within this course. The community a child is surrounded by as they acquire
language and the experiences and resources available during this time would seem to
heavily influence that person's chances of successfully navigating complex pathways of
meaning, and thus develop the attributes required for innovative thought.
Neuroscience continues to debate the significance and impact of the immense amounts
of cognitive activity during this phase upon later levels of ability.
The epistemic frame would seem to give learners a very similar model of engagement
to the one they are innately employing as they discern meaning from sounds, gestures,
words and images.
As we begin to converse with the child who has just learned to speak we are inviting
them into what is essentially a 'professional practicum' (Schon, 1983, in Shaffer, 2007
p76). The community celebrates their success in engaging one set of cognitive processes,
and this positive, emotional memory can only help the transference of this engagement
to an epistemic frame, thus creating a schema of domian general knowledge as part of
the child's 'hardware'.
By introducing innovative practices at a stage when much of the learner's day may still
contain play there exists a more natural motivation to try new things, test solutions,
discover new ideas and generally 'create, apply and share knowledge' (Shaffer, 2007 p
77).
If learning feels natural, there is a greater possibilities for mastery, as the
fundemental 'grammar' has already been learned, and thus subsequent practice
will show benefits at a faster rate, rewarding the learner more often, making them
confident enough to seek the next challenge, or in game parlance; 'level'.
Shaffer's games require time, which standardised curriculums lack. Whilst i agree
that the innovation he envisages may be difficult to achieve in small blocks of time
disperesed across year groups, and subjects, i do see opportunities within libraries, both
at school, and in the community to offer some epistemic play. Could simple terminals
be embedded into cafetaria tables?
The games can still contain 'rigourous professional practices of innovation' (Shaffer,
2004), but the sequencing may need adaptation; the game could also potentially last
the entire semester, year, or even lifetime. i see the value of a contiuum of practice
as especially important where other elements of the learning environment may be
Week 8 Stead, Erica Lee. este8865uni@gmail.com SID: 200162815

sparodic, badly maintained, or incomplete.

The business leaders who are fluent in the 'languages' Shaffer identifies as fundamental
for the future (Shaffer, 2007 p73) provide a starting point of an expert community of
potential mentors. Mentor in the progressive sense may signify financial sponsor, but this
may be simply one more way of innovating the education paradigm.

References
Shaffer, D. W., & Gee, J. P. (Eds.). (2007). Epistemic Games as education for innovation.
Leicester: British Journal of Educational Psychology.