Are Games for the Classroom?

There’s no question about it, kids today are into digital games. You have the Xbox, Wii, and Playstation 3. In mobile gaming there’s the PSP, Gameboy, iPod, and DS. Online there are many strategy games available. Also online are virtual reality games such as Runescape, Active Worlds, Club Penguin, Whyville, Piratesonline, and more. In the virtual reality games kids interact with others from around the world on a daily basis. If you think this is for a few, check out the numbers. At any time of the day there are 150,000-200,000 on Runescape. In Whyville, a virtual world for the tweens, similar numbers and higher exist. With this much popularity, how can we as educators tap into it?

Let’s remind ourselves that the expectations of the 21st century call for skills such as collaboration and problem solving. Isn’t that what they are doing on these virtual reality games?

Now how about just plain old every day gaming. Do the Xboxes and Gameboys hold the kids attention. They sure do, as we all know by watching them. Again, how can we tap into this?

Our own personal experience teaches us that when our interest level goes up, so does our learning curve and retention of what we learned. Last school year, I began to look for online games that students could use to practice different skills. What I found was overwhelming. There are far more educational games online that are free then there used to be. Because there were so many, it was easier to go shopping. Choose what skill you want them to practice or learn and then go looking for a game that meets that skill. I was no longer overwhelmed. Next, make sure you play the game to see if it meets your expectations. Another idea would be to have a group of students try it and give you feedback. Students would much rather play these games than do a worksheet. I know this because they’ve told me so.

Has this been successful? Let me ask you this? How many times have you had a student ask you for another worksheet because it was so much fun? I have students go to the computer on their own to play these games. I’ve had several parents tell me that their kids come home and go online to my website to play these games. I didn’t even assign them, what have I done! What’s happened is I hit upon their interest level. Today, students would much rather do anything on the computer than with pencil and paper. That even includes taking a test, but we’ll talk about that another time.

So how do you get started? First, you need a website. It can be as simple as a site made by iWeb (a Mac application). There are many simple web applications out there. See your school IT person to help you. Have it set up on your school website so student’s can find it easily. This is where you are going to setup your links to your games. It’s much easier for students to click on a link, than to type in a web address. Make sure to keep it organized. Divide it up by subject such as Language Arts, Math, Social Studies, or Science. Then, within those sections divide it into smaller categories like for math: multiplication, geometry, or measurement. The reason for the organization is that as you get into games you will find that your links will multiply and become very confusing. It’s much easier to start organized than to go back and reorganize.

You may ask, where do I find these games? Google in advanced search the words: free educational games. Other good places to go are www.gamequarium.com>, or http://jc-schools.net/tutorials/interactive.htm>. From there you will find many more sites.
In math there are two great interactive sites where students can challenge each other and they are located at: www.enlvm.usu.edu/ma/nav/index.jsp> or www.illuminations.nctm.org/Activities.aspx>.

Now you are ready to begin. To integrate this into your classroom you need to decide the frequency of use. To begin, you need to introduce all the students to the game or games you want them to practice skills on. Don’t leave it wide open for them at the beginning. So schedule a time in the lab, or if you have 1 to 1 or 2 to 1 use the computers in your room. Walk around and see how they are doing, just like you would do if they had worksheets. The difference will be the excitement. Remember, this is about student centered learning which is 21st century teaching.

I know that if you take the time to do this you will find it very rewarding and once again, your students will thank you.