Bjorn and I decided to do our inquiry gaming in education, specifically, what role do video games play in the classroom? On a broader note we want to use these questions to help guide our inquiry: what is the relationship with your topic to teaching and learning? What are the pros and cons as well as risks? And what are some strategies, best practices and tips regarding your findings.
I first wanted to start by defining what a video game is. Oxford dictionary defines video games as: “a game in which you press buttons to control and move images on a screen”. This definition is too broad and encompasses so many genres of video games, I decided to narrow down my research and just focus on specifically educational video games that are designed for students to learn from.
I have been lucky enough to see that there’s a time and place for video games in the classroom from my own classroom experience volunteering every Wednesday for the current school year. In my grade ⅘ class students had a computer lab for an hour, this class had a specific teacher that had organized quite a few educational games that the students could play. I cannot remember what all of the games were called; however, I can remember the excitement and joy the games brought to the students. One of the games was Prodigy, a free, adaptive math game that integrates common-core math (grades 1-8) into a fantasy-style game that students love playing. And as a web-based game, Prodigy can be accessed at school and at home on virtually any device. In EDCI 300, I was lucky enough to play around and explore Prodigy and found that it brought me back to my pokemon days and could be an awesome way to engage students with math. In my kindergarten/grade 1 class, the students were able to use a classroom set of Ipads. The students were working on the sounds that letters make and loved playing Teach Your Monster to Read.
I thought it would be super useful to pick a couple of my favourite educational games that can help students with math, typing and learning how to read. For math I choose to look into Prodigy, for typing I choose to look into Dance Mat Typing and lastly, for learning how to read I choose Teach Your Monster to Read.
Prodigy: Is a free, adaptive math game that integrates common-core math (grades 1-8) into a fantasy-style game that students love playing. And as a web-based game, Prodigy can be accessed at school and at home on virtually any device.
https://www.prodigygame.com/main-en/
Game play:
Typing.com: Is a free multi-sources platform that offers a wide variety of different typing-specific games and activities that can be adapted for specific grade levels. It has an engaging curriculum where students learn valuable technology fundamentals – designed for students of every skill level. It also encompasses gamified learning that engages students with fun typing games, interactive lessons, and achievements. Lastly, it also educator friendly, it allows educators to make specific lessons on their own, thus, enhances studnets learning by creating your own lessons for cross-curricular reinforcement.
Teach Your Monster to Read: Teach Your Monster to Read is an early literacy game available as an app (iOS, Android, Kindle) and on the web. However, it is not a free game. Kids play as an alien monster whose spaceship crashes on a deserted island. Missions focus on learning letter and vowel sounds, featuring a series of mini-games spread out across several islands displayed on a colourful map that visually tracks kids’ progress. There’s a lot to do, from designing the monster’s appearance to conquering the mini-games to earning new rewards (such as underwear!) for the monster. The goal is to complete games to fix the monster’s spaceship and escape the islands. There are three games in the series: First Steps, Fun with Words, and Champion Reader. The games build on each other and provide a logical, fun way for kids to improve their skills. It’s free to play these games on the website, and users can also download a paid version of the same games on their mobile devices.
https://www.commonsense.org/education/app/teach-your-monster-to-read