Gaming in the Classroom
I was given the opportunity this week to create my own lesson plan involving gaming after learning more about the benefits of implementing gaming in the classroom. I found this really interesting game called "Atlantis Remixed: Doctor's Cure" that teaches students about developing an argument, gathering evidence, and creating a persuasive essay. The game puts students in a position where they have to develop a persuasive essay in order to get a doctor to come help the town cure the plague. It gives students an opportunity to see how the core content of writing a persuasive essay could serve a purpose in the world. They get to be problem-solvers and "save the day" all while learning valuable concepts for an English/Language Arts classroom. This virtual world experience is not one I could give my students without this game, however, there are some constraints given the fact that not all students have access to a computer. Here is the link to the game: http://atlantisremixed.org/doctors-cure/ and a link to a video demo: https://vimeo.com/43498849.
Game Pitch
This week, my group and I created an educational game. We took the game fishbowl which is like charades in a way and adapted it to become a classroom game used for teaching vocabulary terms. Our example included weather vocabulary from a second grade science class, however, the terms can be adapted to fit any other grade and content area. Here are some images below displaying the rules and cards of the game.