playforce.org - Playforce: Learning from the games we play
Mahjong Chem -- Free Game to Practice Chemistry Knowledge!
Also available for your iPhone/iPad/iPod here or Android device here. Brought to you by the Chemistry Department at Stetson University. The entire content of this web site is copyrighted by Stetson University under the copyright laws of the United States (Title 17, U.S. Code).
System Dynamics | Insight Maker
Insight Maker supports System Dynamics modeling: a powerful method for exploring systems on an aggregate level. By "aggregate", it is meant that System Dynamics models look at collections of objects, not the objects themselves. For instance, if you created a model of a water leakage from a bucket, a System Dynamics model would concern itself with the quantity of water as a whole, not with individual droplets or even molecules. Similarly, if you were modeling a population of rabbits, the System Dynamics model would look at the population as a whole, not at the individual rabbits. System Dynamics models are constructed from a set basic building blocks also known as "primitives". From these basic primitives, and the others supported by Insight Maker, you can build both simple and complex models in a straightforward manner.
Edheads - Activate Your Mind!
Digital Games Transforming K-12 Assessment and Learning
Many teachers are searching for new ways to engage their digital-native students. They are looking for, write researchers at Florida State, “alternative ways of teaching – ways that increase student engagement and yield a rich, authentic picture of the learner(s).” These researchers say more educators should take a look at the latest in digital games. Games that are designed not only to teach, but to help educators assess learning as it’s happening. GlassLab, a new nonprofit educational game design initiative, has just released its first game— SimCityEdu—based on the popular Simcity brand and called SimCityEDU: Pollution Challenge! The Games, Learning, and Assessment Lab, or GlassLab is a unique partnership between the nonprofit Institute of Play (known for their Quest to Learn schools), the game-design firm Electronic Arts, and others. “One of the things that we all get frustrated with is that kids get assessed in the spring and they get that data and feedback back in the fall.
SimCityEDU Games
With the suite of SimCityEDU games developed by GlassLab, educators have versions of SimCity created specifically for the classroom, with all of the tools and content they need to making learning come alive for students. Designed in partnership with learning and assessment experts from ETS and Pearson, SimCityEDU Games will engage students in a personalized learning experience, and improve the process of teaching and learning by providing formative assessment information about students’ ability to problem-solve, explain the relationships in complex systems, and read informational texts and diagrams. Lesson plans and teacher and student dashboards complete the SimCityEDU experience. Built with today’s classrooms in mind, the games support implementation in a wide range of learning contexts, from middle school classrooms to after-school and summer learning programs, and are aligned to Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards, as well as twenty-first century skills.
Lesson on Calculating the Post-Mortem Interval | MSI Forensics
Courtesy of Patti Bertino’s email post. The postmortem interval (PMI), also known as a time since death estimate, aids forensic scientists in death investigations. This lesson will introduce your students to the processes of decay and decomposition, forensic pathology, and forensic entomology. The lesson includes several video lectures, animations, and worksheet exercises with practical applications to explain the concept of PMI and accumulated degree hours (ADH). Intended Grade level11-12; content is intended for mature audiences Before you begin …Before starting, students should have a basic working knowledge of forensic science, death investigations, and Algebra. Class time requiredTwo 90-minute class periods Materials and Technology NeededComputer with Internet access and YouTube access enabled, basic calculator Link to website lesson:
