Finland ← Storyline Scotland Our Farm A Storyline Topic in a primary school in Pargas, Finland Ann-Catherine Henriksson The curriculum in year five in the primary school in Finland tells us to teach about how our food is produced and about the plants and the animals that provides us with food. Although we live in a small town many of the ... Staffansby Primary School, Helsinki, Finland In 2009 the staff of Staffansby Primary School came on a study tour to Scotland. Chydenius University, Kokkola, Finland 33 Teachers from the Kokkola area of Finland attended this two day course on Storyline which was organised by Anette Dahlvik, Director of Inservice at the University. Article in Finnish Journal Ann-Maj Björkell-Holm, who works for the Inservice department of the Åbo Akademi in Vasa, Finland, has written an article about the creative activities involved in working with a Storyline topic. Creative Dialogues – second language teaching Storyline Study by Finnish Researcher New Book from Finland (in Swedish) Svenska med sting.
The Power of Play The pendulum swings back and forth in education. Waiting at one end of the arc is a myopic focus on academics and accountability, often in the form of high-stakes testing. Fueled by a fear of “falling behind,” learning environments that encourage exploration and experimentation are pushed aside in favor of early academics, more homework, and correct answers on bubble sheets. In the US, we are currently awakening from such a pendulum swing to the realization that all work and no play is more than just developmentally inappropriate; it is counterproductive to the kind of academic excellence that is rooted in deep understanding, creativity, and the ability to think critically. What do we mean when we speak of play? • it is self-chosen and self-directed • means are more important than ends • it has structures or rules, but these may be self-defined • it is imaginative, non-literal, and removed from “real” life • it involves an active, alert, non-stressed frame of mind. Educator Dr. Resources
Crowdfunding real-life, citywide choose-your-own-adventure stories Sean Williams sez, "Best-sellers and award-winners Isobelle Carmody, Robert Shearman, Marianne De Pierres, Kim Wilkins, Mark Leslie, Mindy Klasky, Tansy Rayner Roberts, and many, many others, including me, have signed up to write choose-your-own-adventure stories that will play out in real life, in real cities via smartphones and QR codes. Rewards include guided tours, printed versions, tuckerizations, author-led adventures in their cities, and even the chance to have a CYOA written in a town of your choice, in person." They're trying to raise AUD26,000. At AUD10, you get a pair of the adventures as PDFs. Rather than reading the CYOA in printed book form, imagining every detail, we will be creating maps so you can read your story in the location the adventure is happening. Choose Your Adventure!
Storyline Scotland - News page Storyline Event - Glasgow, Scotland Thursday 3rd May 2012 New Danish Storyline Website Niels-Peter Jacobsen is a Lutheran Pastor in Denmark, who has created a website to show how he is using Storyline for teaching children in preparation for their confirmation. News from Finn Mosegaard Lem, Denmark, 28th March 2012 As most of us know, Finn is a prolific Storyline designer with many books to his name but over the last five months he has been working on a very special project which he explains here – Jens Væver was born in 1822. He and his family were mainly fishermen but from time to time he was also a cattle drover taking animals from Spøttrup Borg to Germany for the big cattle market south of the border. In 1825 the Limfjord was opened to the North Sea by a winter storm and the salt water flowed into it destroying the normal freshwater fish and plants. After 5-10 years the fauna adapted and new fish began to thrive especially bottom feeders like plaice.
24-year long game of tag: Friends who flew across the world to avoid being 'it' By David Mccormack and James Gordon Published: 17:34 GMT, 27 October 2013 | Updated: 18:39 GMT, 26 November 2013 A group of 40-something men have spent much of the past 30 years engaged in one of the longest running and most elaborate games of tag ever. The idea of a bunch of grown men traveling the country attempting to tag each other may sound strange, but it has helped to foster an enduring friendship between the ten buddies. They call themselves, The Tag Brothers. The high jinks started back in high school when as teenagers they would entertain themselves by playing the schoolyard game during breaks at Gonzaga Preparatory School in Spokane, Washington. The tag brothers: A high school game of tag is continuing more than twenty years later between a group of friends who fly across the world and dress up in disguise to avoid being 'it' Who's it? The perfect bromance: The friendship between the ten men has endured since they were at school in the 1990s Game on! Reunions were rare, and missed.
The Power (and Peril) of Praising Your Kids New York University professor of psychiatry Judith Brook explains that the issue for parents is one of credibility. “Praise is important, but not vacuous praise,” she says. “It has to be based on a real thing—some skill or talent they have.” Once children hear praise they interpret as meritless, they discount not just the insincere praise, but sincere praise as well. Scholars from Reed College and Stanford reviewed over 150 praise studies. Dweck’s research on overpraised kids strongly suggests that image maintenance becomes their primary concern—they are more competitive and more interested in tearing others down. In one, students are given two puzzle tests. In another, students get a do-it-yourself report card and are told these forms will be mailed to students at another school—they’ll never meet these students and don’t know their names. Students turn to cheating because they haven’t developed a strategy for handling failure. My son, Luke, is in kindergarten.
Larp DefinitionLARPING.ORG LARP is an acronym for Live Action Roleplay. Thus the act of going to LARP is LARPing or Live Action Roleplaying. We just like to call it larping. Many people ask “What is larping?” Larping defined: What is larping? Is this what larping is? What is LARPing? So, what is the insider’s definition of larping? Larping defined: Collaborative Larpers must collaborate to pull off large battles Collaboration is a working together to complete tasks that produce a desired result. Larping defined: Pretending Part of larping is pretending the world exists. Pretending is one of the most ubiquitous experiences of childhood. The media seems to be pretty consistent on this point: we do it to escape and to be immersed in an experience. Larping defined: Rules The rules of a larp make the game possible. What game doesn’t have rules? Rules are the invisible barriers of a larp. Rules in many games are often viewed in the negative. LARP Definition: Conclusion
Creating a Life-Size ‘The Game of LIFE’ for Teen Read Week In March 2013, School Library Journal reported on the creation of an Arkham Horror board game by La Vista Public Library’s Teen Advisory Board (TAB) as part of its 2012 Teen Read Week (TRW) celebration. The TAB’s leader, youth librarian and advisor Lindsey Tomsu, a 2013 Library Journal Mover & Shaker, recently got in touch with us and let us know that for Teen Read Week 2013, the group created a life-size version of The Game of LIFE. Can you tell us a little bit more about the game? Was it part of your TAB’s application to get the second YALSA/Dollar General Teen Read Week grant? Well, The Game of LIFE is the game everyone associates with the tiny cars you fill with little peg people! Why did we decide on The Game of LIFE for our 2013 Teen Read Week? Last summer, I reminded the teens about the TRW grant again and asked for ideas. What did your teens like best about the experience of creating their own game, and LIFE itself? We always enjoy the actual making of the game.
Learning through game-making–what the research says and doesn’t say When we talk about learning and games, we usually mean students playing games that someone else has made up. But the process of constructing a game has its own potential benefits. Game-making represents an active and creative, rather than more passive, approach to technology. It’s a core practice of constructionism, the learning theory championed at MIT’s Media Lab that focuses on learners building their own relationship to knowledge. The research on this new topic is thin so far. A student-designed game from the National Cheng Kung University study. Games are currently being investigated as a way to increase engagement, mastery of topics, and higher-order thinking skills. 1) Game-making and critical thinking, achievement and concentration. This study, just published, from the National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan included a total of 67 seventh-graders in an interdisciplinary class combining both science and computer science. The Making Games in Schools project: designing a game
What is Playground? | Playground Magazine Playground Magazine is a quarterly magazine for and about the New Wave in roleplaying, covering live-action and tabletop roleplaying around the world. Contact You can reach us via e-mail at these addresses: Editor-in-Chief – Kasper Friis Hansen: kasperfriishansen@gmail.com Art Director – Lars Andresen: larsa@benjamin.dk Anything else – Claus Raasted: info@rollespilsakademiet.dk Sponsors Like this: Like Loading...
TPiB: Hunger Games Monopolgy (from Kearsten) Do you have teens that are crazy for The Hunger Games and Monopoly? Why not put together this HG Monopoly game as a Teen program in a Box? This was a pretty easy program to plan, and although the prep is intensive (thank goodness for our teen volunteers), it is easy to package and send to our branches as a program in a box. We've included downloadable PDFs with all the images we used for our materials so you, too, can enjoy this fun interactive game! What you need: Game Board (20 posterboards halved, plus colored paper and place name print-outs) Inflatable DiceProperty Cards (printed on cardstock)Monopoly money (borrowed from another Monopoly game, or, if you print your own: 20 each of $500 and $100, 30 $50, 50 $20, and 40 each of $10, $5, and $1)32 houses, 12 hotels5 math challenge cards, 5 science challenge cards, 5 trivia challenge cards (cardstock)Gift bags with parachute images taped to them (these can be reused, as long as you have people to refill them inconspicuously. Enjoy!
What if Finland’s great teachers taught in U.S. schools? Finland’s education expert Pasi Sahlberg Finland’s Pasi Sahlberg is one of the world’s leading experts on school reform and the author of the best-selling “Finnish Lessons: What Can the World Learn About Educational Change in Finland?” In this piece he writes about whether the emphasis that American school reformers put on “teacher effectiveness” is really the best approach to improving student achievement. He is director general of Finland’s Centre for International Mobility and Cooperation and has served the Finnish government in various positions and worked for the World Bank in Washington D.C. He has also been an adviser for numerous governments internationally about education policies and reforms, and is an adjunct professor of education at the University of Helsinki and University of Oulu. He can be reached at pasi.sahlberg@cimo.fi. By Pasi Sahlberg In the United States, for example, there are more than 1,500 different teacher-preparation programs. For me the latter is right.
Edu-larp | Playground Magazine A key element in the Danish larp has scene been the association The Roleplaying Factory (Rollespilsfabrikken). Being one of the first organizers of easy access pay ´n play kids larps as well as creating games with higher standards and more adult themes, the Roleplaying factory still continues to play an important part in the thriving Danish larp community. The video gives you a guided tour inside The Roleplaying Factory located in Copenhagen with Nynne Søs Rasmussen. She explains both about the actual place and the different kinds of games that the Factory makes. Filmed during A Week in Denmark prior to the role-playing conference Knudepunkt 2011, Web: The Roleplaying Factory Music: Seeminglee – Yesteryear Motion (CC) Video report and article by Petter Karlsson At Grenselandet, the international short larp festival organized by Norwegian Fantasiforbundet and the Larp Factory in Oslo in November, the jury of the Larpwriter Challenge announced the winner of the competition: J.