Published On: July 14th, 2016|

The Toronto Star – Catherine Little

“It has been eight years since Pokémon fever raged at my house so I was intrigued to hear about Pokémon Go, an augmented reality game based on the beloved characters from the 20-year-old franchise that you play on your smartphone using an app. In its simplest form the idea is to use your phone’s GPS to go to real places and “catch” virtual Pokémons. I have read a few articles describing the dangerous situations players have found themselves in and the financial windfall this is supposed to bring to Nintendo, but nothing about the potential learning opportunities it could bring. On Monday, I saw a segment of the CTV show, The Social in which the hosts despaired for the future of humanity because people were wasting their time trying to become Pokémon Masters. As a mom and a teacher, I can tell you if we could harness and utilize the power of Pokémon, we would be able to reach a lot of children we might characterize as reluctant learners.”(more)