Games and learning

Hello!

Another ICT workshop, so of course another blog entry. This week....games!

Most technology these days have apps or opportunities for learning and education. For example, the Nintendo DS is brilliant for games such as brain training, and activities to keep you thinking. It is a way to engage children in their learning through a platform that appeals to them. Most children these days have access to an Ipad, laptop or phone which can be used for all kinds of games - some of which can be really beneficial upon learning.

In the session we looked at a particular game that could be an educational tool which was.....THE DANCE MAT! Yes, a dance mat can actually promote learning across all subject areas (not just PE!) and here's how....

Dance to Advance

This is a special piece of software which is used alongside a dance mat. Sadly this can be a bit pricey and for the mat and the software I think it costs roughly £150, which must be taken into considerations as not all schools will be able to afford it.

The software works by assigning something to each location on the dance mat and then creating a prompt which will come down on the screen and then you must choose the correct answer through making the right movement on the mat. For example here is the one I made during the workshop. I decided to do capital cities. So to do this I inputted various different countries to drop down into the middle, and around the edges were all the possible capital cities. I made sure each country was correctly combined with the right capital city. And so here France is in the middle, and so pupils must look for the right capital city (Paris) which is at the top right hand corner. Once they press this with their feet on the dance mat they will get a point. It is possible to do this activitiy with virtually any topic - maths, literacy, history or even general knowledge! As well as supporting all these subject areas it is also obviously beneficial in PE and develops skills such as co-ordination and spacial awareness when thinking about positioning and movement on the mat.  It is brilliant as it appeals to all learners - visual, auditory and kinesthetic (RM Education). I would definitely love to have this in the classroom!

As well as having fun on dance mats we also looked at other online games to support learning. I looked at a specific one where you build your own roller coaster. On first sight the games may appear to be unrelated to learning but through playing with it I found that playing it involved a number of skills. Skills such as problem solving, logical thinking, and planning were all apparent within this simple idea of building a roller coaster.

"The strategies for successful game playing are increasingly complex, sophisticated, challenging and cerebral. This edges games towards the very heart of where learning is headed" (Heppell, 2006).


This quote sums up how good games can be for learning! And of course children love them.

Another two things to note which are great learning tools:

1. Wordle
2. Voki

Wordle is basically a way of mind mapping online through inputting various ideas and words and it generates it into a big mind map in which you can change the layout, font and size. I'd recommend it for good literacy links and vocabulary.

Voki is an online avatar that children can create for themselves which also helps protect children on the internet but is also really enjoyable for them.

Overall this session has taught me about the power of gaming. Before the workshop I never would have contemplated something like a dance mat supporting learning, but I have been proved wrong! I am going to try my best to use lots of the technology I have learnt about over the past few weeks in my classroom.

References