Planning Instruction using the Video Game Model

Here is a great article that I just found via Twitter. The article was originally published in Edutopia back at the end of May and was written by a woman named Dr. Judy Willis. While it isn't about video games per-say, it does talk about planning instruction in the same fashion as a video game (something all of the students have at least some level of experience at). "The computer game model correlates to using achievable, incremental, challenge, with goal-progress recognition." I agree with Dr. Willis that this manner of instruction could certainly bring about an individualized attack to each child's school work. Check out the article and please post a response or a comment!

Video Games Power Up Learning

"Videogames are emerging as a new gold standard of learning because they effectively integrate many vital learning principles into their design."
This is a sentence that comes from Tina Barseghian in an KQED.org article she wrote titled "Five Reasons Why Video Games Power Up Learning". You can read the whole article, and the five reasons, by clicking here.
I hope that all of the popular gaming companies get forwarded this article and will improve their R & D in the area of educational games!

Wii - Day 5

This week Chris and I continued to work off of last week's negative number work with the Wii. On Friday we worked with another game called 30 Great Games Outdoor Fun for the Wii. And yes, while the reviews are not that favorable it did have some redeeming qualities for the classroom. The benchmark we were covering this week was MA.5.A.2.3 - Describe real-world situations using positive and negative integers. The game that we used was called Internal Clock 2. Basically, each person gets a time that they have to count up to. The clock begins counting but after about 5 seconds it goes off and you have to continue to count in your head. When you think you are at the time you push the button. The person closest to the time wins that round. The time is presented in decimal format as seconds, with both tenths and hundredths of seconds. Maybe not the most exciting game around, but the students did like to be able to be faster than the others (and we actually had one student who hit the time dead on). What we did was have them subtract their time from the requested time. The students that hit the button quicker than the requested time were in the NEGATIVE because they were slower than the timer - they still had the amount of time left to get to the correct time. The ones that were over the requested time had to subtract their number from the requested time and they were in the POSITIVE because they were longer than the requested time - they held on too long. For example, during the first round, the student all have to hit the button at 11 seconds. The results were:

• 10.90
• 12.45
• 11.73
• 11.18

With those numbers, the answer were:

• -.10
• 1.45
• .73
• .18

In the next round the times are different for each person and in the later rounds the time will change during the actual count up so the students have to pay attention. Also, you can distract the other contestants during the game by waving your controller which causes your person to jump up and down and/or say something. The screen also moves around to other views so you have to make sure you are counting while you are looking at the other things.

Just a couple of pointers:

1. We created the character the day before we played in the room - this game doesn't use the Mii's so they have to be created and named ahead of time. There are only limited options for looks. Also, there is one girl who could be considered a little inappropriately dressed (has a low cut shirt on).
2. We found that the students sitting watching the others actually playing started trying to distract the players by yelling out numbers (while the players were trying to count to their number) so we had to nip that in the bud quickly.
3. We asked the students for other real world situations where negative numbers could be a factor and we got money issues and (with some help from another adult also in the room) sea level.
   

Wii - Day 4

Today our lesson on the Wii was on negative numbers. The specific standard that we were targeting was MA.5.A.2.4 - Compare and order integers, including integers shown on a number line. Chris and I gave a pre-test to the 5th grade students before-hand because it is a concept that they don't have any experience in. The test was simply to put a set of numbers in order from highest to lowest. We had a total of 4 students who were able to get the sequences correct (on a side note, we used Google Forms to create the test). From there, we did an introduction of negative numbers and how they run away from the zero point on a number line. How, even though the number is bigger, it is actually smaller in value. To emphasis this point, we used the Wii game Brain Age - more specifically the game Balloon Burst. The point of the game is to burst the balloons by clicking on them with the controller. You want to click on the balloons in order from smallest to biggest. If you choose the hardest level, the numbers will come in both positive and negative forms. As you can see from the picture, the balloons are all different sizes and colors and they even will move around (rotate) on the screen. We gave each student a chance to come around and pop the balloons in order from lowest to highest. While the student was popping at the board, the students at their seats were all writing the numbers down and putting them in order as well. Chris and I went around the room to check their seat work and make sure that they were working on the math. Everything went well.
Later that day we gave the students the same test as a post-test. We went from 4 students get them correct to all students passing and 18 of them that receiving a perfect score. Very exciting results. The other thing that is nice about the lesson is that this concept is not one that we normally get to in the classroom setting (due to other Math issues that we are working on). So, in one class period we were able to not spend a lot of time but cover a topic that doesn't normally get covered in our 5th grade class, all thanks to the Wii!

Using the Wii in education Day 1

I am working with the 5th grade teacher in my school to begin a new project. We are going to begin using the Nintendo Wii as a way to help with our test scores. While there are lots of learning potentials, and we will use the console with different games and for different purposes, our first focus is on Math. We have been following a teacher named Tom Barrett who has been using the Wii in his classroom for a while now with success. So, we brought in a console from home and followed Tom's lead using Wii Golf for subtraction practice. We were met with interested students and engaged learners who practiced their three digit subtraction for 45 minutes! We have decided to try and build on this interest and begin some kind of research study using the Wii.

The program has officially begun today in that we purchased equipment. More specifically, the 5th grade teacher had a birthday and she got the Wii along with controllers, wheels, batteries, games, and necessary equipment to use the console in the classroom. I have already hooked up the machine in the classroom and we are going to begin the background research necessary and keep a running journal of what we do and when we do it. So, hence our title - Day 1 with the Wii.

Picture link

The Death of Education but the Dawn of Learning

While I was looking around this evening I came across this video at Youtube:


It is a little over 5 minutes long and has several important people talking about where education needs to go. Here are the highlights for me:
Students are going to need to be/do:

• artistic
• synthesis data
• understand context
• work in teams
• multidisciplinary
• multilingual
• multicultural

The new student is not going to be concerned with memorization, but is going to need to be able to:

• find info
• validate info
• synthesis info
• leverage info
• communicate info
• collaborate with info
• and problem solve!

It is the "Death of Education, but the Dawn of Learning" what a great line!

Highly effective 21st century teachers

So I was just sent a link to an article titled "Eight habits of highly effective 21st century teachers" (here is the link). It is an article that in 8 short steps does a great job of encompassing what a teacher in the 21st century needs to be. A visionary, a role model, a leader, and a follower, amongst other things. We need to adapt, collaborate, take risks, and communicate with parents, students, and each other. It really is a lot to ask - thank goodness we get paid so well for it! :-)
My question is, it is too much to ask? Can 1 person be all these things?
One last thing, as I was looking at the comments that had been posted, one of them said that the teacher was going to print out the article and put it in the front of their grade book! My first thought was, "How 20th century"!