Create interactive flash tools Q. Who are you anyway? A. Classtools.net is the work of Russel Tarr, Head of History at the International School of Toulouse, France and author of the established website www.activehistory.co.uk. Q. Are these resources free of charge? A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. Generally speaking, only if you create a link to the resource from your own website / wiki / blog etc. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Gamifying Education: Do We Know How to Gamify the Classroom? Gamification in many parts of education is a sham. Listening to the researchers and experts in this area has convinced me of that. If you’re interested in making your classroom more intriguing and powerful, read on. Who Is Shaping The Gamifying Education Conversation? In this week’s conversation with Australian Gamer and researcher Lauren Ferro we all went on a bit of a rant about the ridiculous state of badges in education.Teacher Alice Keeler uses games all the time (and doesn’t give grades).Sixth grade teacher Michael Matera reinvented his whole sixth grade classroom as a Games Based classroom and shares how he did it.A Higher Ed Panel had a powerful conversation for why we need games in highered. All of these are YouTube videos that have been recorded over the past week and a half as part of the Open Online Community (called an OOC) focusing on games in education. I have 3 take aways from the learning so far: #1: The Way We’re Doing Many Badges In Education Is A Joke
MindShift's Guide to Game-Based Learning MindShift Guide to Digital Games and Learning How can games unlock a rich world of learning? This is the big question at the heart of the growing games and learning movement that’s gaining momentum in education. The MindShift Guide to Digital Games and Learning [PDF] explains key ideas in game-based learning, pedagogy, implementation, and assessment. This guide makes sense of the available research and provides suggestions for practical use. The MindShift Guide to Digital Games and Learning started as a series of blog posts written by Jordan Shapiro with support from the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop and the Games and Learning Publishing Council. Here's a preview of the table of contents: Introduction: Getting in the Game (Page 4) An overview of games in the classroom from Katie Salen Tekinbaş, executive director of the Institute of Play. What the Research Says About Gaming and Screen Time (Page 6) Much of the research around digital games and screen time is evolving.
Video Games in the Brain: Study Shows How Gaming Impacts Brain Function to Inspire Healthy Behavior “Identifying a direct connection between the stimulation of neural circuits and game play is a key step in unlocking the potential for game-based tools to inspire positive behavior and improve health,” said Brian Knutson, Ph.D., Stanford University. Redwood City, CA (PRWEB) March 19, 2012 In news that could shift how game developers and healthcare professionals harness the power of videogames to do good, HopeLab and Stanford University researchers today announced new data showing that Re-Mission™, a video game about killing cancer in the body, strongly activates brain circuits involved in positive motivation (1). This reward-related activation is associated with a shift in attitudes and emotions that has helped boost players’ adherence to prescribed chemotherapy and antibiotic treatments in a previous study (2). A growing body of data shows that digital games can positively alter players’ attitudes and behavior. Sponsored by the nonprofit organization HopeLab and conducted by Steven W.
Games in Education: Teacher Takeaways This August I attended the Games in Education Symposium, a free, two-day event held in upstate New York. Co-presented by 1st Playable Productions, it focused on practical implementations of game-based learning for K-12 teaching. Much of what I learned there has made its way into my lesson planning for this current school year. Game design professor and Multiplayer Classroom author Lee Sheldon gave the first day's keynote address. He spoke about what teachers should look for in learning games. To a teacher, the marketplace can be bewildering. Paul Darvasi gave the second day's keynote about alternate reality games (ARGs). Students as Designers There were several workshops about teaching game design. I learned more about the basics of paper prototyping, the paper-and-pencil testing of game mechanics prior to being digitally rendered. Have a low barrier to adoption (no technology needed!) Scott Nicholson, a professor from Syracuse University, presented the Tabletop Game Jam.
Crossword Puzzle Maker You must have an OLD browser. The old crossword maker doesn't allow all of the new features like cool fonts, adding images, shadows, special colors, and much more coming in the furture like saving, and being playable online. You can upgrade your browser to IE 9+ or better yet, get the Google Chrome browser and enjoy all of those great features. Not convinced? You can go to the old version by clicking choosing it below. 2 reasons crosswords will not generate: 1. 1. Take the following example word list: "home, cat, dog". A slightly different impossible list: "home", "dog", "lizard" - all 3 have letters that they share! When you add a bunch of words, the chance for it being an impossible can increase (depending on many factors). 2.
How Teachers Can Motivate Students of Any Age | MindShift Barry Schwartz laughs as he describes the little girl next door who suddenly dove into reading after a substitute teacher took over her elementary school classroom. For every book they read, recalls the Swarthmore College psychology professor, students received a point, which they later cashed in for prizes. The girl then started to read a book an hour. The only catch was that she picked her books based on the number of pages and type size, and “she couldn’t tell you anything about any of them,” he says. Schwartz shared this story about the binge-reading neighbor during a conference call with Yale University associate professor Amy Wrzesniewski explaining their research on motivation. They assumed that some combination of internal and external motives would lead to the most success, as measured by the officers’ willingness to stay beyond the five-year commitment to the Army and to graduate and become commissioned officers. In Elementary School In Middle School and Beyond Linda Flanagan
The MindShift Guide to Digital Games and Learning MindShift Guide to Digital Games and Learning How can games unlock a rich world of learning? This is the big question at the heart of the growing games and learning movement that’s gaining momentum in education. The MindShift Guide to Digital Games and Learning started as a series of blog posts written by Jordan Shapiro with support from the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop and the Games and Learning Publishing Council. Here's a preview of the table of contents: Introduction: Getting in the Game (Page 4) An overview of games in the classroom from Katie Salen Tekinbaş, executive director of the Institute of Play. What the Research Says About Gaming and Screen Time (Page 6) Much of the research around digital games and screen time is evolving. How to Start Using Digital Games for Learning (Page 14) Since each learning environment is unique, here are some steps to assessing your resources before committing to a particular game or platform.
Free Game Assets Understanding the Pareto Principle (The 80/20 Rule) Originally, the Pareto Principle referred to the observation that 80% of Italy’s wealth belonged to only 20% of the population. More generally, the Pareto Principle is the observation (not law) that most things in life are not distributed evenly. It can mean all of the following things: 20% of the input creates 80% of the result20% of the workers produce 80% of the result20% of the customers create 80% of the revenue20% of the bugs cause 80% of the crashes20% of the features cause 80% of the usageAnd on and on… But be careful when using this idea! 20% of the workers could create 10% of the result. Also recognize that the numbers don’t have to be “20%” and “80%” exactly. Life Isn’t Fair What does it mean when we say “things aren’t distributed evenly”? In a perfect world, every employee would contribute the same amount, every bug would be equally important, every feature would be equally loved by users. But that isn’t always the case: Of course, this ratio can change. So Why Is This Useful?
Generalization & Game-Based Learning: What Parents & Educators Need to Know - LearningWorks for Kids One of the most common themes I hear about in my clinical practice is inconsistent learning. “Jacob knew all of his spelling words when we studied them at home last night, but received a 60 on his spelling test’” or “Emma knows where every American Girl doll is in her room, but can’t find her homework in her backpack.” While some of the inconsistencies we see in children can be attributed to motivation and memory, much of it is directly related to difficulties with generalization. Psychologists define generalization as the transfer of an action learned in one setting to a different setting, so that individuals are fully able to utilize the skills they have learned in one environment in various settings, with other people, and with different materials. Parents use the concept of generalization on a daily basis to help their kids learn skills across various settings. Help your children to identify the thinking skills they use in their video-game and digital-media use.