We have been learning about different kinds of vehicles. We can use a morphing program to show changes through history. The first bikes were called a Penny Farthing.
Monday, 10 September 2007
Kids and Computer Gaming - Pt 2
Kids And Computer Gaming Pt2
Last week’s newsletter was about the place of gaming software as a way of engaging children in learning, using software called MissionMaker. There is another trial going on in the senior school using different software which has a few similar features but is quite different in most respects. Using a collaborative approach between three local schools the Virtual Worlds software is being used to build an interactive environment with virtual schools where students can meet and discuss their learning and display work they have done. Like Second Life, they start with a blank bit of virtual ground where they then design and build their virtual school. They place objects into this environment that are interactive. For instance there may be a room based around a particular theme. In the room is a TV monitor. When you click on it the TV plays a movie the children have made that may introduce the people who made the room, or some movie, quiz or slideshow presenting information created by the students, related to the room’s theme.
While there will only be a small group of 3 or 4 senior children participating in creating and editing the world, once it is finished it can be opened up for others to visit and participate in. So it will be interesting to see what they come up with.
A further genre of games are those that are purely for entertainment. In practice, it is often quite hard to define a game as non-educational or educational. Rather, games can be on a continuum between those purely for entertainment and those where learning is an integral part of the game. Sometimes a game can be both—where once it has been mastered it loses it educational value. Maths Rescue and Word Rescue where you have to move around collecting words and numbers in the right order to get a key to progress to the next level are two games on our school network which I would put in this category. For a 5 year old there is a high potential for learning. However, for our class, while some children revisit the game, there is low potential for any learning in that they already can read the words and recognize numbers to 10. Other problem solving games, such as calculating distance and angles for an archer to shoot a target, are trickier to make decisions on. While there may appear to be some value, does it justify a child playing it at Maths time if their group is on the computers? Is there a difference if the target is a bulls eye or a little stick figure on the other side of a battlefield? What about if instead of arrows the characters are using guns, grenades and other weaponry such as in the Worms game.
www.games4win.com/games/worms
Here, sometimes, the decision to allow games to be played can become a values issue rather than an educational one. So the whole issue isn’t as black and white as it might at first appear.
Limiting games to only ones we already know can also be problematic. A couple of excellent free educational games I can now use or ones my grandson found on the internet and has shown me, commenting “Granddad, you might want to use these at school.”
I would be interested in hearing your views on what is “educational software” and how you decide what you will let your children play. You can do this here on our Rm 4 blog.
Rm4waikanae.blogspot.com
Have a great week,
Peter
Last week’s newsletter was about the place of gaming software as a way of engaging children in learning, using software called MissionMaker. There is another trial going on in the senior school using different software which has a few similar features but is quite different in most respects. Using a collaborative approach between three local schools the Virtual Worlds software is being used to build an interactive environment with virtual schools where students can meet and discuss their learning and display work they have done. Like Second Life, they start with a blank bit of virtual ground where they then design and build their virtual school. They place objects into this environment that are interactive. For instance there may be a room based around a particular theme. In the room is a TV monitor. When you click on it the TV plays a movie the children have made that may introduce the people who made the room, or some movie, quiz or slideshow presenting information created by the students, related to the room’s theme.
While there will only be a small group of 3 or 4 senior children participating in creating and editing the world, once it is finished it can be opened up for others to visit and participate in. So it will be interesting to see what they come up with.
A further genre of games are those that are purely for entertainment. In practice, it is often quite hard to define a game as non-educational or educational. Rather, games can be on a continuum between those purely for entertainment and those where learning is an integral part of the game. Sometimes a game can be both—where once it has been mastered it loses it educational value. Maths Rescue and Word Rescue where you have to move around collecting words and numbers in the right order to get a key to progress to the next level are two games on our school network which I would put in this category. For a 5 year old there is a high potential for learning. However, for our class, while some children revisit the game, there is low potential for any learning in that they already can read the words and recognize numbers to 10. Other problem solving games, such as calculating distance and angles for an archer to shoot a target, are trickier to make decisions on. While there may appear to be some value, does it justify a child playing it at Maths time if their group is on the computers? Is there a difference if the target is a bulls eye or a little stick figure on the other side of a battlefield? What about if instead of arrows the characters are using guns, grenades and other weaponry such as in the Worms game.
www.games4win.com/games/worms
Here, sometimes, the decision to allow games to be played can become a values issue rather than an educational one. So the whole issue isn’t as black and white as it might at first appear.
Limiting games to only ones we already know can also be problematic. A couple of excellent free educational games I can now use or ones my grandson found on the internet and has shown me, commenting “Granddad, you might want to use these at school.”
I would be interested in hearing your views on what is “educational software” and how you decide what you will let your children play. You can do this here on our Rm 4 blog.
Rm4waikanae.blogspot.com
Have a great week,
Peter
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