As a parent and educator, I have witnessed and thus standing fully convinced how game-based learning makes learning so engaging it does not even seem like learning at all.
My son has learnt all his phonetic sounds, sight words and reading words by playing computer games like Sesame Street and PBS, to name a few. Enagagement was never an issue as he could sit on them for hours. Arithmetic skills like addition and identifying quantities were part of the game process and he simply picked them up as part of the playing process. The only downside is only that his hands which were used for the mouse and keyboard often now find it a chore to write. As an ironic twist, he actually prefers to type!
My son has learnt all his phonetic sounds, sight words and reading words by playing computer games like Sesame Street and PBS, to name a few. Enagagement was never an issue as he could sit on them for hours. Arithmetic skills like addition and identifying quantities were part of the game process and he simply picked them up as part of the playing process. The only downside is only that his hands which were used for the mouse and keyboard often now find it a chore to write. As an ironic twist, he actually prefers to type!
As an educator, I have used the learning federation objects in class and seen the transformation in the students' faces. I had no problem with classroom management and I had the total engagement of all the students. the visuals made it easy for me to illustrate my points and the instant responses kept the students interacting.
As a futures prespective, I would hope that learning managers embrace the flexibility of technology and use ICT on a everyday basis. This would remove the commonly percieved notion of the classroom being "boring, traditional, conformist" to one of "creativity, self-direction and socially collaborative.
Below is a list of game-based learning websites.
In a Science Unit I taught during my Prac, we used a learning object from the Learning Federation website titled "Where does tap water come from?
to illustrate the journey of water from its source to the tap. Studets fix a jigsaw that shows the passage of water that students do not normally get to see because they are in pipes or underground.
R11124- Water Quality and Use is a collection of 25 curriculum resources that has learning objects and images that demonstrate the importance of keeping waterways unpolluted.
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