Week 3

Making Games

Today we're making games. The game is produced using a design breif format with three main components (see design brief layout here):

Investigate and design

Produce

Analyse and Evaluate

The design brief should be used as a draft with the intention to eventually produce a good copy. This site gives a bit of a more detailed description of the elements of a design brief: http://web.bsu.edu/teched2/components_of_a_design_brief.htm.

Greg highlighted the importance of rough drafts and final copies to be hung up around the classroom. I agree, it's so important for children to get into the habit of finishing work. I noticed a tendency for kids to shove unfinished work into their tubs never to be seen again and most probably wiped from their memory bank.


The problem we solved today: To make a frog that jumps. Tasks like this one encourage higher order thinking skills.

The resources: Cardboard, paper frog, sticky tape, scissors and an elastic band.

Where to start. I found my design worked well without needing to use all the resources, but Greg's breif said that we had to use all the materials provided so I had to find a way to incorporate the elastic band.

See my design here:










I like that this task encourages students to evaluate and analyse the reasons why or why not their frog jumped and how the materials provided contributed to the success. It allows for extension activities like levers and pullies for older children. Students who finish early could also investigate how different materials, or how altering the materials change the results. For instance, a bigger sheet of cardboard, thinner paper etc. The task also encourages language like elasticity and energy allowing children to further their thinking.

I just wanted to make a note for myself here - I loved Greg's idea of varying the way you give students a brief - verbally or in an envelope to evoke a bit of excitement!

Now we're making quizzes! I'm so impressed with Quia. I'll definitely be using this program in my classroom next year - so valuable for both teachers and students. I'd love to get them involved in making the games themselves.

A few people in our class took my test and scored 6/6! Mmmm...maybe I need to make my questions a bit harder!!! Like Greg said, it's so important not to underestimate children's prior knowledge and to talk down to them. See my Around the World quiz here:

http://www.quia.com/quiz/2513860.html?AP_rand=442240258

Now, check out the scrambled words game I made: (I love this!) I like that you can be rewarded in stars and money - a great way to incorporate a bit of maths into the quiz.

http://www.quia.com/jw/387045.html

And my hangman game:

http://www.quia.com/hm/668188.html

This week in our lecture we discussed the importance of cyber safety. While I can see all the benefits of all the ICT materials we have discussed in our tutorials and lectures, I am in some respects slightly reluctant to allow students too much freedom on the internet in classrooms. In my previous school on placement, a student was researching 'phases of the moon' and although on a restricted access filter system in the school, stumbled across images of a 'different kind of moon!' Unfortunately the parents in this situation were less than impressed and felt their child had suffered significantly from the experience. While you would hope that the parents would be more understanding in this situation, as a teacher how can you possibly control this situation occuring without completely banning internet access? Perhaps schools need to send home an authorisation notice for parents to sign and allow students to use the Internet in classrooms with a disclosure on the bottom?

I do believe that in this day and age it is imperative that schools conduct cyber responsibility lessons with students before any Internet use. Websites like www.cybersmart.gov.au are brilliant tools to facilitate this. It is important for students to use ICT ethically and to be aware of the ethical issues that ICT can present. Their ethical understandings and values should be developed from early childhood onwards, so that they can learn to use ICT responsibly and be aware of potential dangers and issues that can arise in the modern world.

Students and parents alike should learn about the role of ICT in society and its impact on themselves and others. They need to learn to use safe practices to protect people and information and develop strategies for handling unwanted communication.

On my practicum, I found it astonishing how many of the older staff didn't know about facebook or twitter. In this day and age it is imperative that parents, teachers and students are aware of all the social networking sites available and how they can be used ineffectively and effectively to faciliate classroom learning. The cybersmart website offers these PD's (Professional Development) to schools. There is also a PD for pre-service teachers. This may be worth looking into Greg.
http://www.cybersmart.gov.au/en/Schools/Book%20teacher%20professional%20development.aspx