By: Khrista Cendana
There is a new app that is trending right now and it is called: Pokémon Go. Since the popular game has been released worldwide on mobile devices since two weeks ago, many people has downloaded it from their app store on their phones. Some people are even using it for education to teach their students. Is that a shock to you? It was to me until I saw some research about it online and here are the interesting facts that I found.
Pros on the popular game app:
- Making friends – using a lure module at a PokeStop is a good thing because it is where people will be gathering there to be able to catch Pokémon and to get items that they need.
- Players of all ages.
- No Pokémon are harmed.
- Students will be writing stories about Pokémon – rather if it’s based off the anime or the popular game app.
- Teachers could tell their students to keep a log where they go, what they see, and what they are learning: historic places and point of interest.
- Socialization
- How to use Augmented Reality – For example: your phone will vibrate if a Pokémon is nearby. So you have to look at the Pokémon Go app (it has to be on and not off), touch the Pokémon that’s on the screen and the Pokémon should pop up in front of you. However, if you look behind the phone, there’s no Pokémon! But if you look at your phone, there’s a Pokémon! It is possible that Pokémon is on a car dashboard or even on your food!
Cons on the popular game app
- Finding a dead body – There’s been three reports on the daily news about people finding a dead body. Some people argues that it’s a good thing that players are helping the police, some argue that it’s unsafe for the players.
- People are getting robbed – There was a report on the news that a person was walking at night to find Pokémon, and he/she was robbed because her phone was out.
- Trespassing – A recent news report a few days ago showed that a man and a woman had climbed over the fence of a closed zoo to catch Pokémon.
- Stabbing – There was a 21-years-old man walking in the park at night to catch Pokémon. He was walking along when another man approached him. When he 21-years-old had asked if he was playing Pokémon Go, the suspect stabbed him and fled. Luckily the 21-years-old is still alive and playing Pokémon Go.
You can find all of the cons reports online if you search on google. There’s possibly more news on each of the category above on the cons.
Here are some other ways that teachers could teach their students:
- Mapping – The mapping of the game uses the GPS locator. Anyone that’s playing the game will be able to know what street they are on.
- PokeStops – The PokeStops is like a historic place. Once someone goes to the PokeStops to get items, he/she could read a little about the place history.
- Diversity – Certain Pokemon belongs to an element. Like: water belongs to water, grass is into grass….
Pokemon Go is a fun way to interact with people and showing off you’re Pokemon collection. Pretty soon, the Pokemon Go app would have trading inserted like the video games. There is a lot of people concerning about players playing Pokemon Go. Parents have to see the upsides and downside of the app, the Pokemon franchise has been around for twenty years now. Talk to your kids if they’re younger than eighteen, tell them what to do and not to do. The app could educate your children. If you’re still concerned, why not try bonding with them and play the game also? Pokemon is a fun thing for both the parent and kids!
List of websites used: http://www.tcea.org/blog/Pokemon-go/ and https://authenticbackwardspedagogy.wordpress.com/2016/07/09/using-pokemon-go-to-teach-geography/.