The 23 Best Game-Based Education Resources for 2014 Edudemic has covered game-based learning and gamification in the classroom on numerous occasions in the past. When learning becomes a game, it’s an enjoyable, effective experience for students and teachers alike. We’ve curated 23 of the best game-based education resources for 2014. Understanding Game-Based Education Image via Flickr The concept of game-based education is one that’s easily dismissed as being frivolous or time-wasting. The Institute of Play explains how games nurture the higher-order thinking skills kids will need in their futures, including the ability to analyze and solve problems using media resources. Resources for Getting Started Even if you’re sold on the idea of game-based learning, you might be at a loss on where to begin. According to Smart Data Collective’s October 2014 post, Press Start to Learn: How Gamification is Changing Education, gamification instills a sense of investment and collaboration in students, which in turn improves both behavior and learning.
Game-Based Learning Units for the Everyday Teacher Game-based learning (GBL) is getting a lot press. It is an innovative practice that is working to engage kids in learning important 21st century skills and content. Dr. Judy Willis in a previous post wrote about the neurological benefits and rationale around using games for learning. She also gives tips about using the game model in the classroom. James Paul Gee has long been a champion for game-based learning in speeches, blogs, and books. Myths About Game-Based Learning First, let's clarify a couple things. Gee refers to teachers as "learning designers," and I couldn't agree more. Inspired by the work I've seen, here is an overview of components and structure for the everyday teacher to implement game-based learning Overall Structure: Individual Quests and Boss Levels A game-based learning unit should consist of both smaller quests and more robust boss levels. Boss levels are more rigorous missions that require students to synthesize the content and skills learned in the quests. Avatar
Project-Based Learning Workshop Activities Now that you've established the basics of PBL, you're ready for part two. On this page, you will find a wide range of activities that will get workshop participants thinking and talking about PBL. 1. Before watching a set of videos that demonstrate PBL at work, ask participants, "What questions do you have about good PBL projects that might be answered by looking carefully at a video of students working on a project?" Suggest that participants view the videos shown with particular questions in mind. 2. Choose a video from the following list to share with class participants, based on their grade level interest. After a brief small-group discussion and reflection, engage the larger group of participants in conversation about what they saw. "What steps did the students take to work on their project?"" Ask participants, "What do the experts have to say about the effectiveness of PBL activities?" 4. Ask participants, "What makes a project a good one?" In the What Is PBL About? 7.
Reflection in the Learning Process, Not As An Add On Is it personality? Are some people born with it? Can it be learned? I am talking about REFLECTION. At the beginning of the week, I had the opportunity to be part of a workshop during our pre-service ( we just returned from our summer break here in the Southern Hemisphere) with our ES Principal, MS Principal and HS Assistant Principal. The following ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS emerged out of the planning for this workshop How does student reflection impact student learning? Reflection is a meaning making process that moves a learner from one experience into the next with deeper understanding of its relationships with and its connections to other experiences and ideas.Reflection is a systematic, rigorous way of thinking, with its roots in scientific inquiry.Reflection needs to happen in community, in interaction with othersReflection requires attitudes that value the personal and intellectual growth of oneself and others. I know that most teachers acknowledge the role of reflection in learning. 26.
77 Educational Games and Game Builders I'm often asked if I know of any games for subject "x," "y," or "z" for a particular grade level or age group. My answer is usually yes, but I need to search my archives. Therefore, I've gone through my archives and dug up many of games that I've mentioned over the last four years that are still active online. Consider this my humongous list of educational games. 1. Kids Spell provides eight free games that help students learn to spell more than 6,000 words. 2.Spin and Spell has been featured on a number of blogs over the last year. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. the World Food Programme's website offers students a large selection of educational online games and activities. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56.
LANTERNFISH: ESL Games and Game Boards The ESL game boards found on this page are in the form of Microsoft Word documents. It may take a few second to open. Just click, print, and photocopy. Word Skills: Review synonyms, antonyms, beginning sounds, ending sounds, middle sounds, and rhymes. Guess What: Practise the word skill of saying what things are using relative clauses such as a person who, a place where, a time when, and a thing that. Super Quiz Games: Jeaopardy-style quiz games that teachers can customize with a click! Elementary School Science: Comprehension and vocabulary questions for grade 2-4 elementary school science. What Do You Want to Do: Teach concepts vocabulary about things that kids typically want like to do such as playing a game or doing a puzzle. Content Questions: Kids answer content questions like What do seeds need to grow? Opposites: A great vocabulary review for about 60 common opposite pairs. Categories Intermediate: Students name 3 examples of a category. Phonics Board Games: Say and Spell It
Free Online Course Materials | Courses OER Commons Khan Academy Free Game Assets 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. We can do better. 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 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. Continue Reading Continue Reading
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? 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.