But the new wave of innovation takes popular videogames and transforms them into learning tools, often creating lessons around the Common Core math and language-arts academic standards adopted by 45 states and the District of Columbia. Some companies are even experimenting with building assessments directly into video games. Shari Hiltbrand, a year-old middle-school physics teacher at the private Kinkaid School in Houston, began using "Angry Birds" in her classroom two years ago.
For the uninitiated, the game, a product of Finland's Rovio Entertainment Ltd. To knock out the pigs—and move to the next level—players must get the birds' trajectories just right. Hiltbrand, an avid "Angry Birds" player, researched the physics behind the game and spent a few months creating a lesson plan.
Today, her students spend a week playing the game and writing blog posts about the birds' arc through the air, their descent and collision in terms of Newton's law of motion, force, mass, speed and velocity.
In past years, Ms. Hiltbrand, a year teaching veteran, had students learn these topics by crashing balls into each other on the floor or timing cars as they passed markers.
But in the "Angry Birds" lesson, students are far more enthused and write blogs with "such amazing clarity and precision, I see a deeper understanding of physics," she says.
Lauren Rubenstein, 15, says she had trouble understanding the difference between potential and kinetic energy—until the "Angry Birds" lesson. No one can say exactly how many teachers are using games in classrooms, but to give some idea, hundreds like Ms.
Hiltbrand are discussing ideas in weekly webinars and Twitter chats and are posting videogame-related lesson plans on such sites as Educade. His dream was to get the whole classroom involved at once, but he ran into technical and practical limitations. He also invited friends to similar game sessions. When smartphones appeared on the scene, Wang and his group already had clearly developed game ideas and were ready and able to adapt them to the new technology. Teachers can use Kahoot!
For example, they can easily create a quiz with questions from their lesson. At the same time, the quiz becomes a competition among the students, with the results displayed instantly on the screen.
Many students find it a fun way to learn, and it motivates them to keep up. Students can also evaluate the quiz with a grade and possible recommendation, giving the teacher a heads up when something should be done a little differently.
Discussions and surveys are other ways to use the program. Foto: Kai T. At last check Kahoot! Pupils do not have to give personal information to log in. Skilled people are carrying on Kahoot! All forms of assistance were allowed. Using mobile phones, participants solved clues that led them from one task to the next.
This was combined with GPS data and QR-code scans, which confirmed that the participants, or at least their cell phones, had reached a specified location and were ready for the next task.
This was a sort of parody on traditional role-playing games, where swords and armor were replaced with Bic pens and all-weather jackets, and where participants could fight each other if they were in the same place.
Both games worked. But so far neither of them has become a hit. A third game took place in the biggest cinema in Trondheim, where dozens of people could play simultaneously on the big screen. There are definitely possibilities here, but Kahoot! One of the keys to success is to give teachers a platform that can work in several ways. The platform must be a starting point for multiple games that can be easily customized as required.
Aside from their quiz aspect, games might include word definitions, mathematical expressions, or terms sorted by importance, for example. The product also has to be inexpensive. A platform like this can be used for mathematics, language and science. But in developing countries, hygiene, nutrition and personal finance are areas that would be even more useful. Many developing countries already have a very high density of mobile phones, as well as smartphones.
Then, open the online lesson by asking students what they would rather do. Would You Rather gives students an opportunity to divulge more about themselves, and liven up discussions. Here is a list of this or that questions for inspiration. And here are more icebreaker questions for students.
The premise of this activity is that a natural disaster strands eight people representing each intelligence on a desert island. Teachers love Desert Island Intelligence because it adapts well virtually, and serves as a fun conversation starter. Here are more problem solving games to try. Rube Goldbergs are intricate machines that people program to complete a simple task. Rube Goldberg Off is a challenging online classroom game for science classes that asks students to compete to design the most inventive machine.
Teachers can set the parameters of the activity by instructing students to create machines to complete a certain task. Building the machine is an example of a hybrid activity. According to the University of Texas , utilitarianism is a philosophical concept that values the choice that brings the greatest amount of good to the group. Utilitarian Test is an online classroom activity, where students discuss the ethical nuances of famous utilitarian questions, such as the trolley problem , fat man, transplant surgeon, and Heinz dilemma.
Teachers can use Utilitarian Test to get students to reveal the logic behind their decisions, and see if students truly understand the concepts. Online instruction is a completely new experience than in-person lessons.
A great way to have fun with an online classroom is to get out of the classroom. Some locations of live facilitated options, while others are fully digital. Either way, virtual field trips provide an excellent and engaging learning opportunity for students.
Here is a list of the best virtual field trip ideas , and one with virtual tours for kids. You could also participate in take your child to work day. When students and teachers are apart, it may be difficult to keep students on track. To help set the tone of your lesson, use entrance and exit cards at the beginning and end of class. The entrance cards prep students for your lesson, while exit cards check comprehension. An important virtual classroom idea is that learning is not restricted to the time when your students are online.
Students can collaborate synchronously, which is when they are all online at the same time, or asynchronously, which is when they are not necessarily online at the same time. When people are not in person and rely on video for connection, their attention span shortens. To prevent students from becoming disengaged in class, break up your lesson into manageable chunks.
As a teacher, try to avoid speaking to students for extended periods because your students will become disengaged. Instead, pepper in activities or challenges throughout your lesson to encourage participation. Teachers can use these questions to check comprehension among students, and see who is still actively listening to the lesson. For teachers, think, pair, share may already be a familiar concept since it is a learning strategy that is used in in-person classes.
Using think, pair, share in an online classroom maximizes participation and keeps students focused on the lesson. While drill-and-practice games can help students memorize simple facts and develop basic skills such as addition and subtraction, they are not effective for teaching complex content and higher level skills, such as scientific inquiry and problem solving. Teacher education and teacher professional development programs should integrate more activities that provide science teachers with opportunities to explore good games designed to help students develop scientific inquiry skills and 21 st -century skills e.
Most participants in this study indicated that they would like to try the games before adopting them. Interestingly, teachers wanted to try games themselves rather than observing other teachers use them. This finding is consistent with previous research Kebritchi, Participants who had used computer games in teaching had more positive attitudes toward the use of educational computer games in the classroom.
Specifically, they were more interested, more comfortable, and more confident about using educational computer games in the classroom. They also reported a significantly higher level of perceived benefits of educational computer games and showed more interest in receiving professional development support for the integration of games into teaching.
In contrast, teachers without prior experience were found to be more concerned about the use of games than those with prior experience. These findings indicate that lack of experience might be a major barrier to adoption and integration of educational computer games into the classroom.
School level middle vs. Interestingly, significant differences were found in perceptions and concerns between middle school teachers and high school teachers.
Regarding the use of educational computer games in the classroom, middle school teachers were more confident and reported a higher level of perceived benefits than did high school teachers. Furthermore, high school teachers reported more concerns than did middle school teachers. One possible explanation for the differences might be that middle school teachers have more flexibility over content and teaching methods than do high school teachers.
Proctor and Marks found that K-5 teachers perceived games as more useful for classroom instruction than Grades teachers. These findings indicate that teachers may have different perceptions, concerns, and support needs depending on which grade level they teach. The participants in this study who had prior experience had more positive attitudes toward the use of educational computer games in the science classroom. Science teacher education and professional development programs should provide future and current science teachers with opportunities to explore well-designed science games as well as effective game integration strategies.
More specifically, they should allow teachers to play games themselves by providing them with access to trial versions of a variety of well-designed games. The majority of the participants indicated that they would like to try games themselves rather than observing other teachers using them. Significant differences were found in perceptions and concerns between middle school and high school teachers.
The findings suggest that middle school and high school teachers may have very different concerns and support needs when integrating computer games in their classrooms. They were not familiar with immersive game-based learning environments. The results also revealed that participants were concerned about distraction problems. The participants felt that computer games could be distracting even though they are educational.
Game developers should keep in mind these features valued by teachers and their concerns in order to design educational computer games that can be used in schools. The significant differences found between middle and high school teachers in this study point to the need to understand why high school teachers have greater concerns and less confidence for using educational games than do middle school teachers.
Further research is needed to explore ways to help science teachers effectively integrate educational computer games in the classroom with a focus on standards alignment. Most participants who had used games in teaching reported using drill-and-practice games, Jeopardy-style games, or simulations. Finally, future research with teacher education programs and professional development programs should examine the value of providing experience with educational games as a way to prepare science teachers to use games for higher order thinking and problem solving.
An, Y. Games to promote inquiry learning. Spector Ed. Baek, Y. What hinders teachers in using computer and video games in the classroom? Exploring factors inhibiting the uptake of computer and video games. Becker, K. Digital game-based learning once removed: Teaching teachers. British Journal of Educational Technology, 38 3 , Bourgonjon, J. Acceptance of game-based learning by secondary school teachers. Can, G. Entertainment Software Association.
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