Portal Emphasizes Critical Thinking, a Skill That is Ignored By Many School Systems

Surprisingly, critical thinking is a skill that often goes by the wayside in many school systems, leaving students to forge for themselves when other subjects call for this ability to be utilized. The reason for this oversight is often debated, with The Guardian claiming in a 2012 article that the reason stemmed from the fact that schools are businesses and Universities do not care about critical thinking.

Source: https://www.preining.info/blog/
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Oddly enough, while critical thinking is not part of many school curricula both in the United States and abroad, a certain video game is picking up the slack. Portal is a critically acclaimed first person puzzle solving game that was released by Valve in 2008. Along with proving to be incredibly popular even seven years after its initial release, Portal boasts an impressive ninety out of one hundred aggregate score on Metacritic, a widely trusted service that combines critic reviews from reliable, established sources to form a numerical score between zero and one hundred.

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While Portal has been widely recognized as a fantastic game, what is really intriguing about it is its ability to teach critical thinking skills to its players, especially those of a young age. The basic premise of Portal is to shoot "portals" into solid surfaces in order to move around, one blue and the other orange. For example, a player would shoot a blue "entry portal" into a wall and an orange "exit portal" into the ceiling. If the player were to direct their character to travel through the orange portal, they would fall through the blue portal in the ceiling. Using this strategy, players are expected to fire portals into different locations throughout a given map in order to move themselves as well as solid objects, like boxes, to complete tasks and complete stages of the game. It takes an incredible amount of concentration and critical thinking skills to complete even some of the easier stages, forcing players to exercise their critical thinking muscles in order to progress throughout the game.


While playing video games may seem pointless to many individuals, especially those among the older demographic, Portal proves that games can have substantial value in addition to providing entertainment. The complexity of the gameplay forces players to think outside of the box and accept that their desired solution may not be so black and white. In an environment where students are often taught that every answer to the questions that they are asked can be found by using a formula, it is refreshing to see a game that forces players to think critically to reach a viable solution.

Works Cited

Morse, B. (2012, September 12). Why critical thinking is overlooked by schools and shunned by
          students. The Guardian. Retrieved from: http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-                                     network/2012/sep/12/critical-thinking-overlooked-in-secondary-education

Naver Combines Social Networking With a Reliable Search Engine to Stay the Most Visited Website in South Korea

Since its launch in June, 1999, the web portal Naver has been on the rise in South Korea, bringing social networking together with a competent search engine and community services en route to becoming the most visited website in the country.

Naver Has Evolved Into a Social Networking Site

Though Naver originally operated primarily as a search engine, the web portal has grown into a reliable social networking site, most notably including blogs, cafes, messaging, and email services that encourage interaction between users. The growth of community spaces within the portal has become one of its primary selling points, as it allows its users to stay connected to one another while still permitting effective utilization the website's other functions.

Along with boasting an above-average search engine and several means of social networking, Naver has been able to remain relevant by offering a multitude of other commodities to users. This includes news, shopping, maps, and a tool bar, all of which can be accessed on the web portal itself, a setup that has proven to be very useful and popular among users, especially in South Korea. Having so many services in one, easy to use location has promoted dependence and trust in Naver, which has earned its reputation as a reliable, multi-faceted web portal.

Even though Naver has continued to add services for the benefit of its users, most of which being undeniably successful, its focus on social networking has allowed it to stand out from the pack. The portal promotes interaction among users through its blogging service, cafes, and community boards, allowing individuals to connect with others and share information.

Naver Leads the Pack in South Korea's Online Scene

Naver has never truly caught on outside of South Korea, seeing as over ninety percent of its users reside in the web portal's home country, but that has not stopped it from dominating the online landscape in its homeland. Ranked as the most visited website in South Korea, Naver leads internationally dominant social networking sites like Facebook, ranked sixth, and Twitter, ranked 25th, by a significant amount. The functionality of Naver's community-centered services is great enough to convince users to conduct much of their activity though it rather than others that are more well known elsewhere.

However, while Naver is certainly more popular, Facebook and Twitter are still desired in South Korea, as Naver does not offer the same functions as those two social networking sites do. The overall consensus at this point and time is that until South Korea's online leader expands even further into the social networking scene, foreign services like the aforementioned Facebook and Twitter will see high demand within the country.

Along with trumping other social networking websites, Naver has been able to prove its competence as a search engine, news source, and shopping center as well. Major corporations like Google, Amazon, Ebay, Wikipedia, and Yahoo all fall short of matching Naver in South Korea, proving that this web portal's multi-functionality is a positive, as the addition of new services had not led to a decrease in the overall quality of the website.

Daum and Google Provide Competition In South Korea

Though Naver, according to Alexa, is locked into the number one spot in terms of most visited websites in South Korea, it is does not exist without challengers. Daum, also based in South Korea, is the fourth ranked website and is incredibly similar of Naver in terms of functionality, providing email, messaging, blogs, and a search engine to all users. However, Naver, which was founded prior to Daum and has more of a foothold in the South Korean market has maintained its advantage by providing more options and pushing a more community-oriented feel.

While Daum is remains Naver's main South Korea-based rival, Google stands alone as the main competitor, with google.co.kr ranking number two and google.com ranking at number three in terms of the most visited websites in the country. Along with the impressive numbers, Google shares many of the same services and attributes as Naver and on top of that, is a more established and successful brand worldwide. Both of these web portals allow users a massive amount of search customization while also offering news, maps, shopping, email, and a widely-used blogging network.

The dethroning of Naver by Google may seem imminent, but the silver lining for the Korean corporation is that their agenda includes something that Google does not, that being a greater focus on a sense of community. While Google's search engine is built for personal use, Naver encourages the spreading and sharing of individual and researched knowledge through their many community spaces, allowing users to stay connected with one another. In short, the social networking aspect of Naver has a distinct advantage over their American-based competitors, especially among South Korean users.

Naver's International Presence

Naver may be a dominant force within South Korea, but it does not have the same influence worldwide. Sites like Google, ranked number one in the world as the most visited website according to Alexa, as well as Facebook, number two, and Twitter, number nine, that Naver, number 68, has a leg up on in South Korea have a stranglehold on the international market. As much as this Korean web portal may wish to grow in other markets, there are so many alternatives that already have stake
d their claim across the globe that immediate growth seems highly unlikely.

Despite this, Naver will surly maintain its dominant presence in South Korea while continuing its growth as a social media staple within its home country. This website has shown its ability to accommodate the needs of its users in the past, and their is not a shred of evidence that suggests that they will cease evolving in the future.

Turkey's 3-0 Victory Over the Netherlands Pushes the Struggling Dutch to the Brink of Euro 2016 Elimination

The news that the men's national soccer team representing the Netherlands is on the verge of bowing out of a major international competition is certainly something that I would share with my social net, the reason being that this is a major sports story and that is a subject that we discuss frequently. After watching the Dutch reach the World Cup Final in 2010 and the semifinals in 2014, it is difficult to comprehend how and why they have struggled so mightily in a relatively weak qualifying group.

First Post

This is my first post on this blog. I am excited to dive into this course, but am even more excited that Tom Brady's suspension was lifted.