Best Learning Game 2012

Best Learning Game 2012

Posted by Unknown

Blood Typing Game
Nobel has a prize for best educational game each year. Last years was a game about blood typing.

Here is the description of the missions in the game.

Hi and welcome to the emergency department at this hospital! 

Your challenge is to save three patients who have been in a car accident and need blood transfusions. It is your job to blood type each patient and give them the correct blood. Try to avoid making mistakes or the patient's condition will deteriorate! If you make no mistakes you will get all five out of five blood drops in the end.

First you select a parent
Then you look at the contents of their blood and give them the transfusion that reflects this.
You have to select all of the bloods that the patients body can accept so they don't die

This game is pretty hard to start but it gets significantly easier and it would definitely have helped me a lot when we were working on blood types in Biology. This game is really educational and visually pleasing. If I was a biology teacher I would show it to my students.

Educational ipad Games Part: 2

Educational ipad Games Part: 2

Posted by Unknown

Here is the second "interview" with my sister about educational ipad games. This part is on Sparklefish.

The Effectiveness of Games and Play on a Developing Child's Brain

The Effectiveness of Games and Play on a Developing Child's Brain

Posted by Unknown

More details on this subject can be researched here.

The interesting effect of games on a child brain differs from when violent games are played to when nonviolent games are played. Violent games often stimulate the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, which often assists in planning and control. The more used to violence the player is, the less this part of the brain is stimulated. This, however, does not always desensitize the player to actual violence, and is not a leading cause in developing serial killers. Whether or not games help develop the player's brain or not is still up to debate.

Interview with a student.

Interview with a student.

Posted by Unknown

Teaching games from the perspective of a student. I wanted to see what kind of games students like the best so today I am going to ask my little sister some questions about learning and games. If this works well I think it would be good to ask more students of different backgrounds and ages.

Amelia: age nine third grade.

V- Do you play a lot of games at school?

A- Yeah

V- What kind of games do you play most often?

A- Uh, puzzles and connect four.

V- Do you play a lot of games that teach you things?

A- We play games like fast math and type to learn at the beginning of the day.

V- Do you like these kinds of games?

A- Sort of, there not the best but they’re good.

V- Do you play any games as a class?

A- Not really

V- Does your teacher try to make learning fun?

A- Yes

V-How does she do that?

A- For example when we were doing math we were doing a rays and we did them with candy, and um we also were doing a sentence game and when we got all around the game board we got to eat candy.

V- So you do play games...would you like school more and learn better if you played more educational games?

A- Yes

V- What kind of games would you like to play?

A- Smart board games!

V- Ok thanks, anything else you would like to say?

A- *Shakes tiger stuffed animal head* no

Educational Video Games for the iPad

Educational Video Games for the iPad

Posted by Unknown

          As technology develops, so do the uses that go along with it. This technology was integrated into educational systems to enhance learning. Now, many students are receiving iPads for educational use. However, one does not necessarily need the iPad to be distributed at school to use it for educational purposes. Many apps and games have been released for the iPad, and many of these are education-based.

          One type of education-based game is direct. This is the kind of game that teaches english, math, science, or some other topic through a straightforward, graphic lesson. I saw my 6-year-old cousin playing some of these on her iPad. It was basically just a group of interactive activities that taught various science subjects such as the water cycle, float v. sink, and plants. However, I don't feel she was actually learning anything since she just memorized how to get through all the activities without even listening to the directions. And she thought it was boring because of this. I would recommend having an adult play with the child, so that the kid might actually learn something. There is a large number of games of this sort to download, and are especially helpful for young kids.

          The other type of education-based game is a lot more popular with a larger audience. These would be puzzle games such as Unblock Me, Flow, and Four Pics One Word. They help improve critical thinking skills while still providing a challenging form of entertainment. However, because they do not teach a specific topic and are thus viewed as entertainment-only, these games are not as suitable to integrate into education systems as the first type.

          Many iPad games (or apps) are a good supplement to school education. Others may also improve a person's puzzle-solving skills. Also, they are not a hindrance to society in any way. This makes video games a great platform for learning.