Recently in 04. Games Category
darren will surely love this but he's not in these 2 days :|
Shared by Shuhua studying in HKU, this game adapted the concept of UNO, and replaced the numbers/symbols with Chinese characters instead. The game is streamed via an Electroserver. Try it today, and if you would like to develop your own web-based flash games, check out this Flashkit forum.
Klik and Play is an object oriented programming environment, free for use in school activities. Simple games can be easily created by absolute beginners. With more experience and by devoting some time to studying the manual, quite elaborate shoot-the-badguys or destroy-the-aliens type of games can be created. [extracted from Introduction@Klik & Play Home.
The developer's home page (Clickteam) goes here, and for comprehensive user guides, visit the Klik & Play Home.
Download your own copy and create some interactive games today :)
This Aug/Sep 05 issue of Innovate focuses on the role of video game technology in current and future educational settings. I'm sure Darren will find it useful. Blog it first ;-)
Articles within:
What Would a State of the Art Instructional Video Game Look Like?
by J. P. Gee
Epistemic Games by David Williamson Shaffer
What Can K-12 School Leaders Learn from Video Games and Gaming? by Richard Halverson
simSchool: The Game of Teaching by Melanie Zibit and David Gibson
Changing the Game: What Happens When Video Games Enter the Classroom? by Kurt Squire
Game-Informed Learning: Applying Computer Game Processes to Higher Education by Michael Begg, David Dewhurst, and Hamish Macleod
The Design of Advanced Learning Engines: An Interview with Clark Aldrich by Joel Foreman and Clark Aldrich
Places to Go: Apolyton by Stephen Downes
Free educational games are available from Sheppard Software.
Check out the Web games if do not want any download :)
The "FREE" policy can be found here.
[source: edugadget]
Found this list that is good for consideration when we are looking at (video) games for education:
The Pros:- highly motivating, it's fun (fun is very important - we don't underestimate it!)
- encourages risk taking and trial and error
- self-paced
- young-age friendly...young kids can begin to work with complex situations or ideas
- encourages analysis and looking for mistakes
- can incorporate or train different learning strategies- though at present visual-heavy (pictures, images, text)
- can hint without telling
- can be very patient
- solve by ideas, not strength or size (great for young gifted kids or 2E's)
- encourages perspective changing
- encourages some problem solving (though not as much as we'd like for K-12)
- allows incremental learning, close monitoring of improvement or training
- allows precisely targeted sensory / perceptual learning (auditory / visual processing)
The Cons:
- it's not real- may impact on how the information is generalized, taken seriously
- the process is immersive and usually fairly fast-paced (may not be as conducive to reflection compared to other learning formats such as reading)
- doesn't encourage as much critique about the information as maybe reading original documents, magazine, or book...after all, it's just a game
- game play doesn't directly examine reality
- players are directed to the programmer's teaching points or conclusions- whereas direct inspection of real experiments or phenomena may provide more individual learning points or conclusions.
- the games could be administered poorly...teacher leaves students to computer terminals, student doesn't learn anything, copies from neighbor, etc. (this can happen in labs too, of course)
- games are interactive, but not as interactive as conversation with a smart and perceptive teacher (remember the Turing test?)...some programs are completed by kids clicking a lot or cheating
- not hands-on learning (click or toggle rather than working with original materials)...miss making projects by hands, spatial learning and modeling
[source: Eide Neurolearning Blog]
