Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Journal #9 - Gaming

I chose gaming as the technology that I wanted to explore within the classroom. As a teacher we are always looking for something new and innovate to keep our students engaged in the classroom and to keep education fun and interesting. With so much stimulus in the world, gaming is probably the one thing that kids relate to the most. I mean who doesn't like games whether your 2 or 60?
Gaming is often linked to video games or PC related games, but it can also refer to board games. The discussion thread I read talked about implementing gaming into the classroom as being an effective teaching tool to meet standards as well as hold students interests. Many educators around the world have encountered using gaming as an effective teaching tool and many have even provided a number of websites that can help. I have listed a few below.
It appears that using gaming to help teach standards can go extremely well or blow up in your face as one teacher put it. But the key to incorporate gaming into your curriculum is in the planning. You need to play the game yourself, first and foremost to determine its appropriateness. Second, plan you learning objectives, what do you want to get out of the game or how do you know it was effective. Lastly, be positive about its use, not every student will want to participate make sure to explain the significance and importance of doing the activity. I think gaming can be a useful tool with the classroom if utilized properly.

www.gamesinlearning.com
www.shambles.net
www.gameslearningsociety.org
www.yoyogames.com - Checkout Game Maker

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Dana's choice of technology was really interesting to me. I had not thought of gaming as something to use in the classroom, but can now see that it would be an interesting alternative to traditional methods of teaching, say, math. It could also possibly teach kids social skills if used in the right light (interaction with eachother). Great idea, Dana!

Jacki and Dave said...

I agree that gaming can be used as a learning tool in the classroom. It does make the learning process a little more interesting. Like you said, it is important to take in consideration the goal you want to achieve with that game. Like any other lesson plans, there always needs to be an objective.

Kira said...

I really liked the idea of gaming as a teaching tool for the classroom. Lesson plans can be so cut & dry, but this one sounds really fun. I could see myself creating a game board, simlilar to LIFE, and use that with one of the storylines of a Dickens book in my Lit classes. The students would be quizzed or have discussions as they moved characters around a digital game board. I could create questions at various points in the storyline game board.

Michelle said...

I like the idea of gaming in a classroom setting - I know that games would appeal to children when traditional methods might not. This would definitely be an area where collaboration with other educators would be beneficial; knowing the shortcomings of a game before using it would definitely increase the probability of success.

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