Gaming in Education Research/Information

Chris and I have a presentation coming up to some of our fellow teachers who are interested in using the Wii in the classroom. So, besides just playing with the console, we wanted to provide some research to back up the use of the Wii in the classroom. We don't just use it as a reward or even as something fun to do before the kids go home on Friday afternoon (although we do sometimes play on Friday afternoon and the students do have fun)! There is a lot of research (including our research on this blog) that shows the benefits of using the console in the classroom.
While this isn't an exhaustive list, and they are not all specifically about the Wii console, it should give anybody interested plenty of ammunition to bring to their principals when asking if they can bring a "game" into their classroom! And, if you want to leave a comment telling us how that conversation went, please feel free! Good Luck!

Software and Information Industry Association has info on Best Practices for using games and simulations in the classroom: http://www.siia.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=207:games&catid=159:education-articles&Itemid=190

Value of Games in Education: a Case Study: http://www.ictineducation.org/home-page/2010/1/21/the-value-of-games-in-education-a-case-study.html

Games in Education: http://www.ictineducation.org/home-page/2010/10/20/games-in-education.html

Education and Simulation/Computers and Gaming: http://seayj.people.cofc.edu/cb/simgames.html?referrer=webcluster&

Drill Down: Gaming in Education: http://thejournal.com/articles/2011/01/11/drill-down-gaming-in-education.aspx

Wii Standards at the Primary Level: http://primarypete.net/wii-foundation-objectives

Gaming and Education: http://blogs.cisco.com/virtualworlds/gaming_and_education/

Learning by Playing: Video Games in Education: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/19/magazine/19video-t.html

Are Video Games Educational?: http://www.education.com/magazine/article/Video_Games_Educational/

Video Games in Education: http://socialstudiescentral.com/?q=content/video-games-education

Wii in School for You and Mii: http://www.examiner.com/education-news-in-national/wii-school-for-you-and-mii

Government Backs Wii in Schools: http://www.mcvuk.com/news/29447/Government-backs-Wii-in-schools

Why Wii in a School Library?: http://ashworth.wordpress.com/2008/07/31/why-wii-in-a-school-library/


Big Brain Academy: http://mimanifesto.wordpress.com/2009/03/14/big-brain-academy-cathkin-learning-community/

Wii in the Classroom: http://www.teachhub.com/news/article/cat/14/item/607

Wii Debuts in D.C. Schools: http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/news/031209_wii_in_dc_school

Wii Love Learning: http://www.edutopia.org/ikid-wii-gaming-technology-classroom

Educational Wii Games for 2010: http://www.squidoo.com/Educational-Wii-Games

50 Ways to Use the Wii in your Library: http://oedb.org/library/features/50-ways-to-use-wii-in-library

What are the Benefits of Gaming in Elementary Education: http://www.ehow.com/about_5048410_benefits-games-elementary-learning.html

The Many Benefits of Video Games: http://www.sandradodd.com/videogames/

Report Touts Educational Benefits of Computer Games: http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2009/06/23/04games.02.html

Edte.ch Blog: http://edte.ch/blog/category/wii/

Arcademic Skill Builders Site with games that use the Wii controllers: http://www.arcademicskillbuilders.com/wii/

Amazing Race Game

The newest game we have utilized with the middle school students is the Amazing Race game for the Wii. The students really enjoyed this game and I was impressed with the amount of critical thinking skills needed to play and the increase in cooperative skills the students showed as the game progressed. Listed below are benefits I found inherit in the game (I am sure there are more, these are the ones that popped out at me the first time through) and a step by step guide to play in a classroom setting. This game seemed to be able to use competition in a positive way to encourage students to excel and work together to the team's best advantage.

Benefits

a.. Great for cooperative learning/ skills

b.. Students learned quickly to work together in order to improve their scores/time/performance

c.. Worked on student oral communication with peers

d.. Students thought rapid fire challenges were exciting

e.. Challenges encouraged students to use critical thinking/ higher order thinking skills

f.. Some challenges were physical in nature and allowed students the ability to utilize kinesthetic skills

g.. Possible geography/research extension activity in reference to destinations in the game

h.. This is a very quick moving game which allows it to maintain student attention throughout game play

Game Play

1.. You can choose two ways to play: individual players against each other or teams of two working together against computer or other teams

2.. You can also choose how many legs of the race you want to play, the more legs the longer the game play.

3.. We played with teams of two working together against the computerized teams

4.. This method got more students involved at one time; however with the amount of people per team, it took some time for students to figure out the best system of working together.

5.. Teams choose female or male faces and then the type of team they want to be; for example, sporty, couch fans, military, gothic, etc. Students had a great time in this part of the game.

6.. Next there is an introduction to the game and some brief instructions.

7.. Teams are given an allowance of money for each leg of the race and then given four options of transportation. Students need to evaluate the best option based on time and money available. The objective of the game is to take the least amount of time to arrive at the chosen destination, so students need to decide which mode of transportation to take and how much money they are willing to spend on it.

8.. Once the mode of transportation is chosen, the teams watch as their virtual teams makes their way to the given destination and see in which order the teams arrived.

9.. There is a brief introduction to the place in which the teams have arrived (some places we have encountered so far: Rome, Rio, New Zealand), accompanied by images from the area.

10.. After each challenge of the game, the teams are listed in order by the amount of time they have taken up to that point. This order also lets the teams know how they are ranked in the game.

11.. There is a challenge, either physical or mental, at each destination. Students work together to accomplish the tasks in the least amount of time as possible. Some of the challenges involve both teams at the same time and some have the teams work individually.

12.. At the end of all the legs of the race, teams are put in their final order. The last team to arrive to the last destination is eliminated from the race.

So, what have we been doing?

So here it is, the new calendar year and I haven't written anything in over 3 months. What in the world have we been doing in the classroom? Have Chris and I just been overwhelmed with other things and haven't gotten back to the Wii? Did we had a breakdown and were not able to get the console working again? Are we just siting around eating bon-bons? Well, thankfully the answer on to all three questions is NO! While we haven't been able to get to the Wii as often as initially anticipated, we have been keeping up on a fairly regualar basis. Much of what we did with the console at the beginning of the school year took some time to complete (more on that in a minute). We are still actively using the system in the classroom and I will be updating with greater frequency as we prepare to share findings, tricks, and best practices with fellow colleagues. The first game we used this school year is called Big Brain Academy. Basically, you can test each student in 5 categories - identify, memorize, analyze, computer, and visualize. The game has a series of 3 different games for each of the categories. As you complete each task the computer keeps score of your speed and accuracy with your answers. At the end you are presented with your brain size. Your brain size is shown as an overall score - all the points from each test added up to give you an "overall grade". The other visual you get (which is the one that I personally like) is one of your strengths and weaknesses. You can easily see which of the 5 activities you identify with the best (for example, while the person in this picture has the highest score in the analyze category you can also see that he/she is about the same in the 4 other categories). This can be helpful in learning about your students strengths and weaknesses in your classroom. It is just another tool that teachers can use.

Some more information about the 3 games in each of the categories:

1. Identify: Which are there more of - you are given a dark picture and a flashlight and you have to quickly choose which animal there are more of on the screen (pictured). What is this - You have a picture of something which becomes apparent small boxes or bars at a time. The quicker you can recognize what it is the more points you get, and Wack a Mole - you are presented with certain images at the top of the screen. You have to hit the mole that is holding up the same shape as the design at the top while not hitting the moles that have incorrect shapes.

2. Memorize: Follow the birdie - you have birds in a cage which get covered up and moved around. You have to follow the birds as they move and then choose where they end up. (pictured) Which appeared - you are shown a picture with different people (sometimes multiple people) and different facial expressions. After a few seconds the picture disappears and you have to choose which person and face was shown. Reverse pattern - you are shown a pattern of letters or pictures and you must recreate the pattern, in reverse order. The sound effects make this one even more fun!

3. Analyze: make same pattern - . Choose 1 of 4 pictures - Block Pattern (pictured) - In this game you are given blocks in a shape which spin around at the top of the screen. You have to try and find its match from the 4 choices given (which are also spinning at different rates and directions).

4. Compute: Balloon Pop - (pictured) there are balloons on the page each with different numbers on them (including negative numbers). You must pop the balloons in order from lowest to highest. Basket Catching - Red and blue balls enter the screen and get caught in baskets. You have to tell which basket has more balls in it. Sum Up - This game you have 3 or 4 numbers and are given a total to reach. You must remove the numbers that aren't necessary to hit the results.

5. Visualize: picture match - You have two pictures on the screen, identical except that there are things missing on one of them. You have to put the missing information in the correct place to match the pictures. Some of the pictures may be mirror images or backwards for an extra twist. Which is different - You have one picture that is moving and you must match which of the other 3 match the original one. Train Exit - (pictured)You are looking at an overhead view of a train track which is missing links to get to the finish. You must put in the correct direction on the track so the train gets to the finish without crashing. The train will start to move after a few seconds to make sure that you move along.

Some other options to play include:
Mental Marathon-you can choose your category, activity and level and try to get as many correct answers in a row. You can have students compete against each other or have each one answer a different question and see how far they can go.
Brain Quiz-you get 12 games to play at different levels. You have no choices here on the games. There is a time limit and the goal is to get as many as you can correct. If you get one wrong you are done.
Mind Sprint-You race against your best time or against another student's best time. You can choose category difficulty and activities.

Now, having given all this information there are a few points to consider. You can only have 8 Miis on the game at any one time. Any more than that and you have to remove somebody - so there is no way you could do a whole class and keep track of them all. You would have to use something else to track your scores and grades and show some progress (an assignment making graphs using Excel would fit nicely here). Also, there are options to play as both a single player or as a group so you can group them up and play as one team. We actually split the class up and have some up front working on the Wii while others are doing other assignments. We have also found cheaper options that you can download from the Wii site (Brain Train) that are similar in scope (but not as complete in usage) but that will be a post for another day.

Wii update - New Year, New Games!

WordJong is a game that is a mix of Scrabble and Mahjong. I played the game with all the classes. In 7th grade we played four teams of three. There were 4 team captains in each group. The captains held the Wii-motes and worked the game board. The team members helped their captains find and create the words. We played in Party mode and the screen is divided into four quadrants. It was nice because the teams hand would only become solid in their quadrant so they always knew they were in the right space on the board. You can choose to play 8, 12, or 20 rounds in the Party mode (we chose 12 rounds).

Each team is given tiles that are stacked on each other. Each tile has a letter on it. So you can see some of the tiles but they are underneath other tiles so they can not be used yet. The object is to make the longest word possible with the tiles you have access to. Each time you remove a tile and use it to spell a word, additional tiles become available. You can also hold down the A button and shake the Wii-mote back and forth to receive additional tiles. However, when you do this you cover up some tiles that were on the board and accessible before the shake! Each round brings up the quadrants and tiles and each team tries to make their best word. Once one team completes a word (you set your word by hitting the B button on the Wii-mote) a timer appears in the middle of the screen and begins counting down from 45 seconds. Each of the remaining teams has this amount of time to make the best word they can. I like this element because it moves the game along and adds a little bit of tension to the game play. Players pull the tiles into spaces in order to spell their words. Once a tile is placed, you can remove it as long as the B button was not pushed. Once all teams have set their final words OR time runs out, you are taken to a screen which shows each team, the word they spelled, the points they were awarded for their word, and their current place (1st to 4th) in the competition. This also adds a little fuel to the fire as each round they get updates as to the current score. Each round is played the same way until the last round (12th for us) when a final winner is announced. There are special wild tiles or power-ups earned for various reasons (not sure what the reasoning behind when and why). These wild tiles are located under the team’s name in their quadrant. Some of them are really cool and the students love to use them and target teams or turn some tiles into ice tiles the other teams cannot use. Sometimes the wild tiles help their team and sometimes they hinder others.

Overall, I think this game is great and it is easy to play with a large group of students at one time. The 7th graders played all together and I split the 6th and 8th graders into two sessions. Teams of 2 or 3 work best I found. This game held all students’ attention and moved quickly. I also found students working towards trying to put together longer more complicated words to increase their score (showing some learning!). I also think this game creates a nice competition for the group while also providing a bonding experience for teams. Plus, the music in the background is great and relaxing.

passwords, passwords, and more passwords

Well, the first thing I need to do is apologize to anybody who is still reading this blog. I know that it has been a long time since my last post! I have plenty of excuses, and 1 or 2 of them are pretty good (or at the very least honest) but I am just going to say that this is the first time I have had both the time and the idea at the same time so I could create a new post. I am going to make an effort to keep posting; with at least 1 new program a week in my future posts as well as some updates from past posts including new Wii posts coming soon! Welcome back!!
As we begin our 8th week of the school year, I am now just about ready for the school year to begin! As is the norm, it takes a few weeks to get everything up and running and working the way I want once all the students come back and start taxing all the equipment! We have several software packages which are causing some issues (not the least of which is the Ubuntu and NComputing combo - another upcoming post) but we are working through them as best we can. Special thanks goes out to all the teachers who are working hard to use the technology in their classrooms!




So as the students are using all of the different software packages in their classrooms or throughout the school, we are finding out that they are starting to rack up the passwords. They have passwords to log on to the computer, to log into their Google accounts, to use our Scholastic programs, to use our online Math program, our in house Math program, our Moodle program, the local newspaper site, as well as several other websites that require a generic login. I know that there are other passwords that I am forgetting as well. We try to make them the same (or at least similar) for easy remembering and some of our younger students write them down (I know that isn't secure but it has to be done). I also know that there are different programs which allow you to create 1 secure password and then put in all the others so the computer remembers them(Roboform is one that I am familiar with). They aren't supposed to share their passwords with anyone (I always tell them that if they have to share their passwords with someone, they can share it with their pet - as long as it isn't a talking bird or the Bush's Baked Beans dog) and they do a pretty good job of keeping them secret. But, it just is a lot of crazy words and phrases that they have to keep track of. It also means a lot of resetting on my part when they are forgotten!
Does anybody have a program or a process for keeping their students' passwords in order? I would love to hear any suggestions that work for others.

Another Open Source Program

While I have been continuing to work with Open Source software I found a program that might be helpful to some on small budgets (whether you are using Windows, Mac or Linux). If you are familiar with Microsoft Publisher then you know it to be a desktop publishing software package which allows you to create many different types of paper based layouts (brochures, flyers, signs, etc...). It is relatively easy to use (there is no Ribbon Bar to try and figure out where your buttons went!) and can create just about any type of layout you need (there are 28 different options to choose from in the opening menu alone). It is not part of the Office Suite, unless you get the professional grouping (which is very expensive). It is a niche program, Google doesn't have anything to compare it to; and, with the exception of Adobe's InDesign (even more expensive then Publisher) there aren't too many similar programs. If you are used to the program, you will miss Publisher when it is gone (or at least I know I certainly do).

Enter the Open Source option. There is a program called Scribus. It is a free download and available for Windows (2000/XP/Vista/Windows 7), Mac, and of course, Linux. It's layout is similar to Publisher and allows you to make publications easily. There aren't the pretty step-by-step wizards that you will find with Publisher but if you need a desktop publishing program (familiarity with Publisher will help but isn't essential), I think this one will fit the bill nicely. If you give it a shot or you know of another program that can accomplish the same thing, please leave me a comment and let me know!

Ubuntu snag

Hello! If you have been following this blog at all, you know that I am working on playing with Ubuntu in the classroom. I am using Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (the current version as of this post is 10.04) because it is the software that works with the NComputing boxes that allow virtualization. Well, as is usually the case, I have hit a snag that I can't get around right now. Like most people I have a Windows environment in my school with a server running Active Directory. All of the students log in to the server using their username and password and I control policy and so forth using Group Policy for each grade. Well, I am trying, unsuccessfully at this point, to integrate the AD with my Ubuntu box. I have read about Samba and I even found and downloaded the GUI (Graphical User Interface) program SADMS which automates much of the process (it edits the necessary files for you after you provide pertinent information). However, I keep getting an error message about changing the password on the server before I can get a Kerberos ticket. I can ping the AD server and I sync time servers so it isn't either one of those problems. I have changed password several times to no avail.
So, I am putting out a plea for help. If anybody has any leads or can direct me somewhere, I would be very appreciative.
I would also love to hear about any successful (or unsuccessful) OpenSource integrations into a classroom setting if someone would like to share!