Top 10 Social & Mobile Educational Games That Make You Smarter
The Hague, The Netherlands (PRWEB) September 12, 2012 Gramble’s mission statement is ‘to make the world a better place through social gaming’, so it’s no surprise that Gramble has an interest in educational games. “Gaming can be productive, educational, and time well spent,” says Gramble CEO and co-founder Adam Palmer. “We all know students will spend many hours on their devices playing games anyway, so we are happy to offer some ideas for games that are not only fun but can also help make you a little smarter.” Here’s Gramble’s top-ten list of social and mobile games to learn from: 1- Apparatus (Engineering/Math/Problem Solving) Using the laws of mechanics, players build complex machines to perform simple tasks. 2- Words with Friends (English/Grammar/Spelling) Players take turns forming words horizontally or vertically on a Scrabble-like board trying to score as many points as possible for each word. 9- Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? About Gramble
Game-Based Learning to Teach and Assess 21st Century Skills
Game-Based Learning, and particularly serious games that teach content, are fast becoming utilized in the classroom. Frequent success stories are appearing, from Minecraft in the elementary classroom to games that teach civics. There is curriculum that pairs World of Warcraft with language arts standards, and many other variations where the gaming focus is on content. What about 21st-century skills? Yes, games can be used to teach and assess 21st-century skills! As the conversation in education reform moves forward, and educators are increasingly leveraging 21st-century skills, we need to consider how to couple games with reform. Collaboration MMOs are hugely popular. Communication All of the games above, which require collaboration, also require communication. Critical Thinking/Problem-Solving We must find time for students to play these games in and out of the class to teach content and 21st-century skills.
minecraftinschool [licensed for non-commercial use only] / FrontPage
This wiki is devoted to hosting ideas, lessons, implementation strategies and more related to using the game, Minecraft in a school setting Whether you use it in a computer/gaming club, as part of your regular curricular instruction, or even at home with your own children, Minecraft's simple yet scalable "sandbox" virtual environment can be an excellent tool for engaging student learning. The open-ended nature of the game lends it to application in a variety of subject areas. Game-based learning, virtual worlds, and simulations are emerging tools for reaching our learners. That's why this wiki was created. -Lucas Gillispie, Director of Academic and Digital Learning, Surry County Schools. Recent News (11/10/15) - Here's a Sustainable Community Project we're working on at Gentry Middle School. (6/1/15) -Alice Keeler (@alicekeeler) is awesome, but you knew that, right? (12/18/13) - Great tutorial video on how to level in mcMMO by Aidan. (12/8/13) - Lots to share! Inverted Restone
6 Ways Gamification Is Being Used Right Now
In an unplanned series of sorts, we’re showcasing a couple of posts about the 2013 NMC/EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative Horizon Report for Higher Education . We’ve already talked about the key trends in the report and some challenges we face in implementing education technology , so we’re ready to take a look at the six technologies highlighted in the report as being game-changers for education. We’ve already looked at MOOCs and tablet computing. Educational Games and gamification were identified as part of the ‘second horizon’, (or entering mainstream use in a two to three years). Gamification is not a new topic for us at Edudemic , though it is definitely a concept that only a small percentage of teachers out there are actually using. The Horizon Report showcases a number of different examples of institutions using tablets of all kinds to supplement learning in a variety of subjects. Global Social Problems Open Orchestra Queen’s University “Exergames” Social Media Innovation Quest
MinecraftEdu
Virtual World Links
This year there are a number of virtual world tours planned which require you to download and install software prior to embarking on your virtual adventure. This is a listing of the software that you will require if you want to participate in some of the tours. Second Life Obviously this is where the majority of the conference will be held. If you have never been in second life before it is recommended that you try it out for a day or two first just to get the hang of things. World of Warcraft You can get a free trail subscription to WOW. NIAUniverse Minecraft Minecraft is a game about placing blocks to build anything you can imagine. Club Penguin New World Grid Inworldz
Action video games boost reading skills
Related images(click to enlarge) <I>Current Biology</I>, Franceschini et al. Much to the chagrin of parents who think their kids should spend less time playing video games and more time studying, time spent playing action video games can actually make dyslexic children read better. In fact, 12 hours of video game play did more for reading skills than is normally achieved with a year of spontaneous reading development or demanding traditional reading treatments. The evidence, appearing in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on February 28, follows from earlier work by the same team linking dyslexia to early problems with visual attention rather than language skills. "Action video games enhance many aspects of visual attention, mainly improving the extraction of information from the environment," said Andrea Facoetti of the University of Padua and the Scientific Institute Medea of Bosisio Parini in Italy. And, guess what? Source: Cell Press
Interactive Fiction Game Design
// Crossposted on my blog with video at The Pew Research Center reports that approximately 97% of teens play video games in their free time. Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) subject-areas have used programming and game design to teach 21st Century skills, but what can an English class do to leverage the potential of game-based learning? Return to Zork I remember when my family brought home our first computer, a used Commodore 64. After analyzing several essays containing descriptive imagery and composing a short piece of writing about a favorite location in San Francisco, students honed their descriptive writing skills by creating text-based interactive fiction games using PlayFic.com and the Inform 7 programming language. Zork Quest Day 1 Interactive Fiction What is interactive fiction? Extension Play through a few games in the 2012 International Fiction competition and vote on them (you must register with the site to vote). Homework Day 2 Day 3
Sokikom Math Game: an MMO Education Through Social Interaction
Sokikom math game teaches through social interaction Educational games have come a long way since The Oregon Trail and Math Blaster. Sokikom is a MMO math game that aims to help teachers educate their students by using this interactive and math-based online world. After receiving a $2M startup grant funded by The Institute of Educational Sciences as well as former Intel Chairman and CEO Dr. Similar to many MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) that have many different worlds, regions, and countries, Sokikom has different math regions that each correlate to a different subject in math. The games are all progressively difficult and each math type begins with a fun tutorial to introduce students to the game. Educational games are nothing new; many people have learned math and language from retro games or further back. Parents can also benefit greatly from this. via TechCrunch Save $150 on your ticket by using code GBLOG14 at checkout!
