Title: Smarty Pants (Electronic Arts, 2007) Wii –
This is a great game for the entire family. This game’s subheading is “Trivia
Fun for Everyone” and it has over 20,000 age appropriate questions in 8
different categories. The categories
include, art, fashion, science, books, games, sports, entertainment, and places
& people. The game tailors questions
to each player’s age, which allows entire families to play at the same time. The
game also remembers all of the questions you are asked, as well as the one’s
you get correct, and adjusts the difficulty level as you go to keep it fresh
and challenging. There are 3 different
modes of play to choose from. Family Mode – for players of all ages. Each player
is given a set of age appropriate questions to answer within a given time
limit. Other players can slow down the
clock by shaking, dancing, and waving their arms. Friends Mode is the competitive mode and is
for players that are closer in age. The
game begins by each player taking turns to spin a wheel to determine what
category the questions will be from in each round. Everyone then buzzes in to try and answer the
questions. Solo Mode is designed for a single player, but is still geared
toward the player’s age. The goal is to answer as many questions as possible in
a set amount of time.
Title: uDraw Studio (Published by THQ &
developed by Pipeworks Software, 2010) Wii – This is an art game for the
Wii that was bundled with the uDraw game tablet. It lets players create their own masterpieces
and save them to the Gallery or share them by saving them on a SD card. There
are two different modes of play on uDraw Studio. The first is the Paint Mode,
where players can choose their own canvas and medium (pen, pencil, paint, etc.)
to create original paintings or drawings.
There are hundreds of colors to choose from and you can also choose
sizes. In addition, players can choose
stamps to enhance their creations. Some
examples of stamps are shapes, food, animals, and people. There are also special effects you can add to
make your painting even more special like black and white, flipping, negative,
neon, etc. In the Coloring Mode –
players can choose from several genres to generate a premade picture to color
in using the same tools used in the Painting Mode. Colored pictures can also be saved in the
gallery or on an SD card for easy sharing.
I am a reading teacher by nature, and when I discovered the
next few games I was so excited. I have
already ordered these books for my library and I am looking forward to adding
the technology to go along with them in the very near future.
Spirit Animals,
Infinity Ring, & 39 Clues (Scholastic.com, 2011-2014) These games are
multiplatform, time travel, action adventure book series that tie in with games
that can be accessed online at Scholastic.com website or by using the mobile
app.
These book/game series combine
fantastic storytelling by New York Times bestselling authors and links the
books with online game play. Each new
book in the series unlocks new and advanced game playing options on the totally
immersive online game site. Players can
create their own avatars, customize their own heroes, choose their own Spirit
Animals and go on quests that are connected to the books they are reading. These games will work with any web browser
and are free to play. Players will have
to sign up for an account, but any form of the book will work to enter the
game. A player can purchase the books in
several stores, online or they can check one out at the local library. The FAQ’s explain how to digitize any form of
the print books in order to play the games.
I love
these games and books because they tie the gaming component to actual reading
and literature. This is a great way to
entice reluctant readers to pick up a book. AWESOME!!!!
Lego Fusion (Lego
Brand, 2014) – Mobile App for iOS, Android tablets, and Smartphones
This is
another great product from Lego that ties real world learning and creativity
with a video game component. There are
currently three different Lego Fusion kits to choose from (Town Master, Battle
Towers, and Resort Designer) that can be purchased at Toys R Us for $34.99. Each kit contains 200+ Lego pieces to build a
real life creation, 1 mini figure, a Fusion Plate, a storage box to keep the
Lego pieces in, and a FREE app download.
Once you have built your Lego creation you use the Fusion Plate to “scan”
your masterpiece into the app, similar to taking a photo. There you can watch your design come to life
in its own virtual world. Again, I love
that children can create a real life object and see it come to life on the
computer. This is another one I’d love
to see in my library.
I would love to see the Infinity Ring, 39 Clues, Spirit
Animals and Lego Fusion games as part of the “Makerspace” in my middle school
media center. My goal for the media
center is to obtain a couple of desktop computers and a few IPads that students
can use while they are in the Media Center to play these games. I would display the books in the same area to
promote each series.
Research Project: Video
Games & the Future of Learning. http://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/publications/connect-information-technology/2012/04/30/video-games-and-the-future-of-learning.html.
Written by: Jan L. Plass, with Melissa Biles, Jonathan Frye,
and Tsu-Ting Huang, New York University – Games 4 Learning Institute.
Students at the Games 4 Learning Institute at New York
University are conducting research to determine the positive impact that video
games have on learning outcomes. It was
noted in the article that “Video games have become an integral part of the
everyday lives of millions of young people and they are becoming recognized for
their potential to support learning.” Therefore several Universities have
joined together along with support from Microsoft Research to form the Games 4
Learning Institute where studies are done on games for learning, they develop
design patterns, build game prototypes, and test them in a variety of
educational settings. Several reasons for the research taking place at the
institute were mentioned. Including that
games provide a highly contextualized problem-solving space, they support
highly engaging, individualized instruction, they bridge in-school and
out-of-school learning, they have an emotional impact on the players which
means they are more likely to remember what they learning. Games also create a
community of practice and allow for embedded assessments. According to this
article, games are the way of the future for learning. The opportunities for
increased motivation, individual practice and collaboration among players to
solve complex problems make them the perfect vehicle for instruction, especially
with young people. Games also provide
for continuous assessments that are fun and engaging, and they are a perfect
way to tailor the learning goals to an individual’s needs.
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