Caine is a 9-year-old boy whose afterschool and weekend project turned into an international imagination movement. As the Caine’s Arcade (Links to an external site.) video explains, Caine built a gaming arcade almost entirely out of cardboard and opened it up for business in the storefront of his father’s auto parts store. This story provides an excellent example of how characteristics of Caine’s personal identity might affect how and what he learned from the specific experiences portrayed. The video story identifies the cultural values that nurtured Caine’s curiosity and inventiveness, and you can readily analyze the factors contributing to his “funds of knowledge” going into the project. After viewing Caine’s amazing story, reflect on the different skills he learned and applied as he completed his “project,” and consider how his personal identity shaped, and was shaped by, his amazing experiences. To help you better understand the underlying influences affecting Caine’s learning experiences, read Chapter 7 of your primary text.

This chapter presents information and examples associated with how social class can have an influence on student achievement and behavior in school. You also need to read the article by Moll, Amanti, Neff, and Gonzales (1992) regarding Funds of Knowledge about how family and cultural backgrounds impact students and their families.

Initial Post: View the Caine’s Arcade (Links to an external site.) video and construct an initial discussion post that addresses the following questions:

• What external factors influenced Caine’s ability to successfully create his arcade (e.g., what role did his father play in encouraging his project?)?
• What internal factors influenced Caine’s ability to successfully create his arcade? Consider his world view, values, and funds of knowledge as internal factors.
• How valuable do you think these skills are in the real world? How well do they align with one or more of the 21st-century skills identified on the Framework for 21st Century Learning (Links to an external site.) web page?

Guided Response: Respond to at least two of your classmates’ posts. In your responses, comment on any similarities or differences between your response and those of your peers. Though two replies is the basic expectation, for deeper engagement and learning, you are encouraged to provide responses to any comments or questions others have given to you. This will further the conversation and provide you with opportunities to demonstrate your content expertise, critical thinking, and real-world experiences with this topic.