serious games for learning

Citizen Science is a great game to send kids home with after a science lesson on lakes and being environmentally conscious.  It would be most effective with older children in an environmental science class who are ESL students.  I have personally played it about 4 times and found great information from it. Objectives of this game can be learning how to choose appropriate topics to make good arguments as you have to be able to convince people not to do things or to do things by using information you have been collecting through out the experience.  Its also a good way to get kids to learn vocabulary.  A great way to assess this would be to have kids write down any words they come across that they do not understand and find a definition for it that way they are learning on their own and you can see that they are playing the game as well as giving them guidance when they need it by seeing what they are bringing in to class the following day.

Their are other games to promote learning on the site games for change that can help students learn on their own to reenforce knowledge learned in class.  These games incloude games on poverty, the environment, and economics, to name a few and can be classified by age groups to see what is most appropriate for your class.

the Rewards of Gaming

These days games play a huge role in the lives of our children whether we like it or not.  Although the kids pictured above are not my own, Ive seen images like this in my household as my husband finds a new game for my daughter to play with him and my son (6 months old) sits in his chair with his own controller watching intently.  I had been against this vary situation for a while and had finally given in to the inevitable and began to actually watch my daughter and my husband interact over a good game with Dora the Explorer and what I realized was eye opening.  Not only was it engaging for my daughter but she was actually learning something from it; counting, word and letter recognition, reading comprehension, and following directions (to name a few).  In the end I learned that education can come from anywhere, even games and TV (with STRICT limitations) as actually interaction with a parent or a teacher is still a main form of education.

For a class assignment I had to think of a rational for using games for learning and it wasn't that hard to think of why its a good reason as I have a living example in my household.  I think that games can help language learning, especially for ESL students because it helps to match pictures with words for word recognition and it helps engage learning in a fun and entertaining way with both challenge and reward.  And that's only one of many benefits of using games. As I mentioned above there are several educational purposes for games that promote language learning.

After reading 10 Gaming Genres to Adapt in Class I had looked for a fun and engaging point and click game to play to see how you could use one in a classroom.  I found the game Heart of Tota and the walkthrough, the instructions, for it.  After playing the game about 10 times (I'm not addicted I swear!) I figured that although I am not sure if it has education purpose AT ALL it still has the potential to teach children something.  For example if you let the children play the game with the walkthrough (because its almost impossible to get through without it) then they have to read the instructions in order to get to the certain areas and collect and open the appropriate items so they are using reading comprehension and they need to be able to follow directions which both have an implication in language learning.

As a teacher in this situation I would simply be there to help the children when needed, but other then that I think the challenge of such a game is what makes it engaging and fun and if you take that away from them then it is unnecessary to  to use games for learning.  I believe the best way to use these games for ESL students would be in group setting so they can work through the directions and comprehension together then not only are they reading and thinking but they are actually communicating and using oral language to learn. With any kind of education you want to make sure that the children are actually learning something and the best way to do that in these situations, with reading comprehension and following directions, would be to simply assess how and if they had completed the task by looking through the walkthroughs of them.

Not only can games play a role in education but they can play a role in almost anything now.  from points and rewards points to using it for news, all of this can be read about in the article entitled gamification.  Gamification is simply defined as applying game design thinking in non-game situations to make them more fun and engaging.  So although it is my main focus to think about what will help make education and learning more fun and engaging I feel its worth it to mention that with the technology we have now we can create anything to be fun and engaging especially with the new form of gamification.  And as surprised as I am, I have to say that there are rewards of gaming.
 

learning through tweets

I'm sure every one has heard about twitter, how can you not, there's always some stars tweet all over the news lately.  What I never considered was that there was another side to tweeting..a more educational side.  I know I shouldn't be surprised, learning can come from anywhere these days, and I have to admit its actually a great idea!  Not only can your students connect with you through a tweet they can also connect to the school, their parents, and most importantly....THE WORLD.  I've always heard the saying "The world is your oyster" and I know its supposed to me the world is yours to explore and with twitter that exploration gets a whole lot better!

Once I thought about using twitter in the classroom, or for my own personal use to connect with other educators and talk about important topics I looked at two great sites that helped me jump start some ideas.

   
The first site was The Teachers Guide to the use of Twitter in the Classroom.  This site was a great way for me to understand how to use twitter in a K-8 classroom.  It also gave some great examples of teachers that are tweeting in their classroom, and of course given the information I had to look and see for myself.  Specifically, I looked at MDEkinderkids twitter account and found a great resource for tweeting in the kindergarten classroom (not to mention a great blog from the class as well).  After looking at her classes tweets and the article on twitter in the class I have decided that I will be using twitter in my classroom for several reasons:

• To keep parents informed in the classroom, not only is it a great way to keep parents involved and active in their childrens learning it also gives a great reassurance for parents to know that their children are not only learning but having fun.
• To connect with other classrooms around the world, it would be a great way to get information about different cultures and could be a great learning experience.
• To teach writing skills, this is a great way to get kids to write.  Having them write out a tweet before it is posted is a good way to to teach grammar skills needed throughout an education.
• To teach communication skills, since twitter only allows a certain number of characters children have to be learn how to get a point across in an interesting and appropriate way. 

Another helpful site was called How does #Edchat connect educators which helped me realize that not only can you use twitter for the classroom (and to catch up on what all the stars are doing) its also a great way to connect with other educators and ask questions and have discussions.  By putting #Edchat in the search you can connect with other teachers every Tuesday ( now called Teacher Tuesdays) at noon and 2 and discuss whatever topic was polled as the most important of the week.  I think that this is not only a great way to connect with other teachers through out the world it is a great way to learn something new from it.  I will definitely be watch for this chat on Tuesday to see what will be discussed and how it can help better my own education.  If anyone is interested in what these topics can include just check out the polls and explore the endless opportunities twitter has to offer.

All in all, whether its to create an account for your classroom or to learn something yourself twitter is definitely the way to go.  Its simple and short and there's always something new when your learning through tweets.

Social Networking

Social networking is proving to be a key in staying up to date with anything these days.  And Ning is a great networking site for teachers to communicate with other teachers or even for teachers to use in their classrooms to engage their students and keep them connected throughout the school year or throughout their lifetime.  With this networking site there's no need for you to have any kind of technical skills to create a place of your own where people can connect over common ideas and goals.

I have actually found a specific network called The Educator's PLN for personal learning for educators.  This site has everything an educator would need to help them be a good teacher by keeping them up to date with any new information that comes up or by learning from other peoples experiences of what worked well for them and what didn't.  With this site you can go to a forum, look at blogs or podcasts, and watch tutorials of learning tools.  There are even groups to join specifically for science or math teachers, or simply for new teachers that need support from other new teachers to learn how to build their framework and make an impact on their students.  All of these things combine to make a site that can keep educators educated through connecting with others and learning endless amounts of knowledge because thats what good educators do right?

Connecting to learn and learning to connect

When I was asked to make an analogy for what a learner is like I starred at this statement for days trying to figure out what a learner is like, "The learners of today are like....."  And honestly, I have yet to come up with a good answer.  Ive heard learners compared to many things but I cant say that any analogy is good enough for the amount of knowledge a learner can obtain in a lifetime.  Now that learners are able to connect with others through social interactions or simply "google it" the amount of learning that can be done is exponential.  The era of simply sitting at a desk and learning all you can from a teacher or from your parents is now outdated and we are entering the era of endless knowledge.  "What we know today is not as important as our ability to stay current....if we are not continuously learning we are becoming obsolete in our particular field."(George Simmons in his YouTube video The Network is the Learning).   With this endless stream of knowledge it is with networking that people are able to learn continuously throughout their lifetime.  As you make connections with others that are interested in the same fields as you you can learn from each others experiences or from research done by others that can in turn create new knowledge for you.  "Learning and knowledge rests in diversity of opinions" (George Simmons in his article A Learning Theory for the Digital Age).  And with the, basically, combined knowledge through networking it is through peoples opinions, research (from books, journals, websites), and personal experiences that we as individuals can stay current with not only interests in or country or small communities but we can essentially communicate and connect with people from all over the world. 

I, being a mother, have made a connection through networking on a site with mothers in the Buffalo, NY area.  With these connections I have been able to stay up to date on all topics pertaining to child rearing that includes anything from new developmental research to good tips on how to get toddlers to potty train to the best pediatric doctors in the area.  So in essence with these connections I have made I am actually able to learn a huge amount of knowledge and stay current without having to sit in a seminar or read a large amount of books that would probably take me a lifetime to get through.  I simply have to create a topic in a forum and ask a question and sit back and wait for the information to come to me through my connections with others.

With this all being said I think its fair to assume that an analogy for a learner is almost impossible to apply because there is nothing in nature neither an object or a living thing that is able to change and adapt to the amount of knowledge that is being created every day.  Not even a learner can learn everything there is to know in this day and age, there is simply to much knowledge being created.  I guess if I had to create an analogy though it would be that of a spider weaving its web, each silk strand standing for a new connection the human mind (spider) has made to a new form of education.

did I pass the test!?!?

A blog post I read earlier this week sparked a conversation between my husband and I about our childrens futures in the school systems.  The author, Joe Bower, wrote a post about communicating with his daughters Kindergarten teacher about opting out of grading and instead giving more feedback.  I instantly loved this idea and his letter to the teacher as I am one of those "crazy" parents that believes in attachment parenting and babywearing so obviously I would connect with the idea of promoting my childs learning without reducing their knowledge to a letter or number.  My husband, on the other hand, thought the whole idea was completely ridiculous and was just another way for parents to be controlling.  Obviously we had drastically different opinions on this topic, which we usually do, and he is still not sold on the whole idea even after an hour long conversation and research on the subject but I still like it and would consider it when my children reach that age.

Bowers post on this subject also caused quite the stir from other readers as well from people saying that he was being a controlling parent and undermining teachers to people (like me) who completely agree with his idea and have saved his letter draft for their own person use in their children's future.   I like to be as objective as I can on subject because I believe all people should be able to voice their opinions so I do understand where some people were coming from (although they could be a little ridiculous and harsh at times).  With that being said, I don't think that he had the intent of undermining teachers abilities to teach, considering he is a teacher himself.  I think that teachers are very effective at their jobs, if not then I would choose to homeschool, and often the teachers are just following rules from such laws as NCLB in which they have to assess all children equally.  I dont think he was trying to be a controlling parent either I know Im not, even though people think I am becuase of my views on parenting, I think that he just wants the best education for his daughter and he wants her to want to learn.

So, if you are a "crazy" parent like me or you just want to learn a little bit more on the subject to make your own decisions, Bower has made another post which is more of a compilation of previous posts that delve more into the subject and reasoning behind Opting out of Grading.  I highly recommend reading these to get a better idea but if you dont want to hunt through several posts here is my "short list" of his ideas:

• There is a big difference between learning something and then having a test and learning something because of a test which is what most students are doing these days with all the standardized tests they have to take. " There's a big difference between preparing kids for a life of tests and the tests of life. The former may have kids worried about failing their classes without realizing such a misguided distraction is a recipe for failing at life."
• A work or learning environment that is built on a foundation of smugness, fear and anger is destined for failure. And most of these emotions come from the student, teacher, and parent when it concerns grades.
   
• Grades are seen by students as a judgment or as Paul Dressel explains:
  

  A mark or grade is an inadequate report of an inaccurate judgement by a biased and variable judge of the extent to which a student has attained an indefinite amount of material.     

  
  There are of course many more points he addresses but I think these three make it clear enough, IN MY OPINION, as to why opting out of grading can actually help promote learning instead of hinder it and reduce it to a number.  We want our children to study for meaning and learn life lesson we dont want them going into school the day after a test which only one thing on their mind "did I pass the test!?!?" 

Blogging for the Future

"In any given day, 68% of children under two will use a screen media, for an average of just over two hours (2:05)"-Pay Attention.  As I was watching this video shocked at the statistics popping up on my screen I realized my two and a half year old daughter was not only playing a video on my nook(that she turned on and started herself), she was also flipping through pictures on my iPhone(that she again, started herself.)  If that's not an "ah ha" moment I'm not sure what is!  As if this video and the video A Vision of K-12 Students Today didn't make me realize enough that we need to incorporate technology into our classrooms to help promote learning then watching my tech savvy two year old certainly did. 
I know there are many arguments out there that state that children are too involved in the technological world today and sometimes they need to power down, and I have to agree having a child sit in front of the Television all day watching movies or playing video games with no educational content makes me want to throw any such device out the window.  And I know in my example above my daughter was watching a video and flipping aimlessly through the phone looking at pictures of herself or my husband making an innumerable amount of ridiculous faces and laughing at each other , neither one having anything to do with education, but they definitely have their benefits as well.  The nook for example, has a number of educational games ranging from matching skills (auditory reception skills) to basic skills in letters and numbers al of which have had a huge impact on my daughters learning capability, and the fact that she can turn on the games and play them by herself gives her a major confidence boost.  And although she is definitely one of those children who has a limited amount of time to watch the T.V. she can still learn from the time she has, just the other day she was counting backwards from ten at TWO YEARS OLD! I asked her if she had been practicing that with daddy and she said no..."okay so where did you learn that?" her response "Oh mommy Dora just taught me."  Yes that would be the Dora the Explorer, with the talking monkey whose parents let her walk aimlessly in the woods alone and talk to wild animals...yup thats who taught her how to count backwards.  If that doesn't show you that technology can be helpful in education that you probably shouldn't be an educator.
So if our children at the age of two can do all this stuff and teach our older generations how to use these devices (which my daughter has done with my mother on numerous occasions,) then why are teachers so against using some of this to benefit childrens educations?  Well most of the time the answer is because its scary!  How are we supposed to teach using technology that we haven't even heard of?  We barely had computers and cellphones when we were growing up and now were expected to teach using them?  Well to that I say...how did WE get through our schooling years...its not like we walked into school knowing everything..just because now were the teachers it doesn't mean that we are no longer able to ask for help.  And speaking of asking for help, what better way to teach our students respect, responsibility, and communication skills then asking them to help set up a class Wiki or class Blog.  Its not teaching them how to to solve for X when 5X+12Y=14X(I don't even think that's a real equation), but it is teaching them three very important techniques that you actually need to learn in REAL LIFE!
If this doesnt make you think maybe we should pull some technology into our classrooms then here are a few more statistics that have made me think:

• Children will have approximately 14 jobs before age 38, half of those jobs don't yet exist today.  So how does making a child write the same word ten times help them prepare?
• Students have learned to "play school" studying the right facts the night before a test to pass and thus become a successful student.  How does this help them in the work place?
• On average students in class only get to ask a question once every ten hours.  How do we expect them to learn when they're not even engaged in the classroom?

So next time your students are falling asleep in your class because they got bored watching your back as you write notes on the board and talk endlessly about something they don't care about.  Think about how you could use a blog or a wiki or anything that can engage your students and make them want to learn something.  Were teachers and its time to make learning fun again!