“Almost all creativity involves purposeful play.”
Abraham Maslow, American psychologist, 1908-1970
Welcome back to my blog!
Today we explored games-based learning in the primary classroom, considering developments in mobile technologies. we also looked at the implications these applications have on teaching and learning.
We found out that research suggests that UK learners are some of the unhappiest in Europe and perhaps the least engaged. There is an abundance of software and games that can encourage enthusiasm in the classroom and we looked at a few today.
Kodu
It all looked complicated at first, but once you get the hang of it, it really is a fantastic tool for learning. Kodu lets kids create games on the PC and XBox via a simple visual programming language. Kodu provides children with the opportunity to:
- Narrative creation and storytelling
- Be creative
- Encourage critical thinking, breaking a complex goal into manageable steps, and iterate on the design process
- Use logic and understand problem solving of programming
- Understand and use conditions and sequences, which teaches cause and effect
- Be co-operative
The video below is a tutorial of creating a game using Kodu - very useful!
Dance to Advance
We then moved onto explore Dance to Advance.Dance to Advance includes at least 2 dance mats and so features 1 or 2 players. Children can personalise their learning experience by selecting from a range of characters, music and background scenes. However, there are only 8 possible answers in each game so you have to be more creative with the prompts/questions as the repetition can be obvious! It is important to consider that despite how fun and aerobic the activities can be, the less extroverted and physically/visually able students in the class may have doubts about getting involved. It is an activity software that can be used across the curriculum. Using visual, kinaesthetic and auditory stimuli, it’s an ideal way to challenge and test pupils’ knowledge. The dance mat activities can be customised or alternatively, sample activities are also included. Any subject or topic can be covered, as each stimulus and answer can contain text, sound or a picture. There are also many samples online that can be downloaded.
Voki
This is a create your own avatar programme that can be used as an effective language tool. The characters are incredibly engaging and you can get more information here. Voki is ideal for learners looking to improve literacy skills. Students can research a topic or character that they intend to speak about using an avatar and then write a script based on this.
Wordle
Wordle is great for literacy! It is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. It can be used to find out what children have learnt at the end of the topic.
M - Learning
We then moved onto mobile learning or M-learning is essentially classroom or off-site teaching using handheld devices such a smart phones, MP3/4 players or tablet computers and the related learning ‘universe’ of apps that accompany these sorts of technology. There are some aspects to focus on when considering its overarching value:
We watched a video on how one school was using the ipod touch, to enhance and support pupils learning. It can be used in all subjects!
As a teacher, i will need to apply these game based learning ideas to a classroom context and plan a curriculum-based activity that will enable all to achieve, whether they are using games as a stimulus or creating their own games. I will also think about the age and ability. I will need to try to think of ways of scaffolding the game-making experience for example, by working with a limited selection, by solving a problem within a game, by continuing to develop a a pre-made game, by changing the characters, setting or theme, or by introducing one new aspect to the game such as enemies. I feel that the use of tools such as the examples above are a brilliant way to get the children involved in their education and they are all adaptable to suit the different needs of the class, and can be used for an array of subjects.
- It is important to bring new technology into the classroom.
- It is using more robust and light weight devices compared to books, PCs, etc.
- Mobile learning can be utilised as part of a learning approach which uses different types of activities (or a blended learning approach).
- Mobile learning supports the learning process rather than being integral to it.
- Mobile learning needs to be used appropriately, according to the groups of students involved.
- Mobile learning can be a useful add-on tool for students with special needs.
- Good IT support is needed, especially true if using ‘off-site’ e.g. on field trip.
We watched a video on how one school was using the ipod touch, to enhance and support pupils learning. It can be used in all subjects!
As a teacher, i will need to apply these game based learning ideas to a classroom context and plan a curriculum-based activity that will enable all to achieve, whether they are using games as a stimulus or creating their own games. I will also think about the age and ability. I will need to try to think of ways of scaffolding the game-making experience for example, by working with a limited selection, by solving a problem within a game, by continuing to develop a a pre-made game, by changing the characters, setting or theme, or by introducing one new aspect to the game such as enemies. I feel that the use of tools such as the examples above are a brilliant way to get the children involved in their education and they are all adaptable to suit the different needs of the class, and can be used for an array of subjects.
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