EDET 678 Emerging
Technologies
Week 8 Blog
Essential
question: What game have you seen that could help students learn, and how might
it be used?
While
watching videos of Fryer teaching students some basics in a Minecraft activity,
I noticed a handful of students asking questions that were perfect in
furthering their knowledge of playing the game (2015). The game was able to
provide authentic opportunities for students to take a design and improve upon
it with their own individual ideas. There are some basic (and probably
advanced) concepts of building in Minecraft such as hinges, lights, materials,
etc. Fortunately, Minecraft can prepare students in engineering concepts and
noticing when a piece of work can be improved or fixed. I can think of a few of
the Alaska’s Mathematics Standards that are covered by students playing
Minecraft especially when a project is already planned for the students. There
are a few mathematical practices that are covered in playing Minecraft such as
“make sense of problems and persevere in solving them”, “model with
mathematics”, “attend to precision”, and “look for and make use of structure.”
I began my
search for what games could be used in my math classroom other than Minecraft
and that is structured enough for my low level students to use. Prodigy is a
game that K-8 students can play to ultimately improve their math skills. The
game starts out with the student needing to go to some sort of school and on
the way the student needs to tame a “monster/pet”. Students begin playing a
game that is placed in another world in which students get lost because they
are engaged. This seems to be more of a gamified math content than just a game
that can be used in education. Teachers are able to view the work that students
have done and what concepts they have learned. Prodigy reminds me a game
similar to the older version of Pokémon and some arcade video games.
A positive
aspect of having games involved in the classroom is the engagement level of
students rise. Also games can connect students across the US or even the world
by students making forums if they have a question on how to do a specific part
of the game. Graham found in a study that “these networks contained, by virtue
of their members, a great deal of knowledge.” (2015) By having students network
with others, they are improving their communication and collaboration skills in
a world that needs people who can collaborate via technology and Internet.
Resources:
Fryer, Dr. W.
(2015). MinecraftEDU redstone engineering
challenge. Retrieved from http://stem.wesfryer.com/home/minecraft/redstone
Graham, L.
(2015). Simply engaging and utterly
consuming: #Givercraft 2014. Michigan Virtual Learning, Research Institute.
Retrieved from https://mvlri.org/blog/simply-engaging-and-utterly-consuming-givercraft-2014/
Prodigy Game.
Retrieved from https://www.prodigygame.com/
I am fascinated by the collaborative aspect, especially since it is across the nation and sometimes international as well. I never got into these types of games, but my brother plays some online games where he works with other people from across the country. It is interesting to hear him talk to them as they play the game.
ReplyDeleteCertainly feels like there are a lot of games out there that have pieces that would be great for education, and as you pointed out, definitely get the students' interest!
I'm glad you brought up the idea of collaboration with technology. Our students need to learn how to do this as they will be expected to as they grow into adults.
ReplyDeleteI will be looking into the game Prodigy for my elementary/middle school students.
Melinda
Some good ideas. How might you use this game in your class? What standards would be involved?
ReplyDelete