"Most people would agree that a good game could help students
learn. But what, exactly, makes a game good?
With their vast popularity and singular ability to engage young
people, digital games have been hailed as a new paradigm for
education in the 21st century. But researchers know surprisingly
little about how successful games work. What are the key
design elements that make certain games compelling, playable,
and fun? How do game genres differ in their educational
effectiveness for specific topics and for specific learners? How
do kids learn when they play games? Does the setting (classroom
vs. casual) matter? How can games be used to prepare
future learning, introduce new material, or strengthen and
expand existing knowledge? How are games designed to best
facilitate the transfer of learning to the realities of students'
everyday lives? And how can we use all of this knowledge to
guide future game design?"
VocabularySpellingCity is a fun way to learn spelling and vocabulary words by playing engaging learning games using any word list. The most popular activities are Spelling TestMe, HangMouse, and our vocabulary games, available to Premium Members. The most popular word lists are Sound Alikes, Compound Words, Hunger Games and SAT Words. This is a free app!
Today's online games based on maps are not only fun but they are very cool educational tools. Kids of today have it so much better with all the edutainment stuff they can call up with a mouse click. Help your kids learn more about the world with these ten online geography games. You too can jump in.
"One gamer told an opponent he presumed to be Jewish that he wished Hitler had succeeded in his mission. Many exchanges involve talk of rape or exult over the atomic bombing of Japan. There are frequent slurs on homosexuals, Asians, Hispanics and women.\n\nSuch comments can be heard on all online video gaming systems, including PlayStation Network, Blizzard Entertainment (World of Warcraft) and others." (para. 3-4).
"Footsteps2Brilliance, Inc.™'s Academic
Language Program for Students (ALPS)
delivers a robust library of stimulating
ebooks and educational games to
parents, children and teachers
anywhere/anytime through innovative
mobile gaming technology.
Developed by educational experts
usingthe latest research on cognitive
development, ALPS provides young
learners with 1,000 essential vocabulary
words through interactive eBooks that
are sure to engage today's digital
students whether at school or home."
Enter your list of words, and try several activities to learn their spelling. Teachers can save their lists. Includes automatic reading aloud and use in context. Cool!!!! Learned about it at David Kapuler's blog "Thoughts of a Cyberhero".
Today’s students represent the first generation to grow up with this new technology.
While educators may see students every day, they do not necessarily understand their students’ habits, expectations, or learning preferences–this has resulted in a technology cultural divide.
Students are very comfortable with technology and generally become frustrated when policy, rules, and restrictions prevent them from using technology.
Educators must relinquish the idea of being all-knowing and replace that concept with an attitude of being a facilitator, knowing that the world of information is just a “click” away.
Traditional schools, generally staffed primarily with Digital Immigrants, often provide very little technology interaction compared to the digital world in which students are actually living. Digital Natives can pay attention in class, but they choose not to pay attention, because in reality, they are bored with instructional methods that Digital Immigrants use.
Today’s Digital Native students have developed new attitudes and aptitudes as a result of their technology environment. Although these characteristics provide great advantages in areas such as the students’ abilities to use information technology and to work collaboratively, they have created an imbalance between students’ learning environment expectations and Digital Immigrants’ teaching strategies and policies, which students find in schools today.
Teacher training programs in the area of technology will be paramount in the success of the Digital Native.
Twenty-first century educators must begin to answer these questions: Do the educational resources provided fit the needs and preferences of today’s learners? Will linear content give way to simulations, games, and collaboration? Do students’ desires for group learning and activities imply rethinking the configuration and use of space in classrooms and libraries? What is the material basis of digital literacy? What is different in a digital age? What are kids doing already and what could they be doing better, and more responsibly, if we learned how to teach them differently?
Addressing these questions will contribute toward bridging the gap of the technology cultural divide and result in schools where all students have greater potential to achieve academically.
You may have tried some of the ways, but with many methods or tools it still remains difficult to accomplish this task. That's why I want to show you this amazing solution. Flash Game Downloader allows you to easily download and play unlimited free flash games from all over the web.
Website has 3 sections:
Math Playground - an action-packed site for elementary and middle school students. Practice your math skills, play a logic game and have some fun!
Math TV Problem Solving Videos - Each math problems comes with step by step video solution, follow up problems, an online calculator, and sketch pad.
Thinking Blocks - interactive math tool developed by classroom teachers to help students learn how to solve multistep word problems.