I teach 5th and 6th grade STEM in the lovely Pacific Northwest in a small, rural town called Chimacum. My goal is to help students discover that all learning is life-long and that 21st century tools can be used for work as well as fun.
Jul 09
After planning possible 6th grade activities, I put them into the 3D GameLab (3DGL) interface ready for kids to Beta test in the fall. So far I have 73 quests in several different chains with room for some student choice. The benefit of having no grades is that kids can really pick and choose what …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2013/07/09/8th-grade-year-plan/
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2013/07/08/machinima/
Jul 08
I have experienced video game addiction. When I first played World of Warcraft (WoW) I was addicted. I was addicted to leveling up and to gaining the next best skill, attribute or ability. With other games if there cheats I would use them. I had to level up, get to the top level and win. …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2013/07/08/game-addiction/
Jul 07
Not sure, jury’s still out on that one for me. In my brief, 22 year career, I’ve tried incentives such as grades, stickers, beans in a jar, lotto tickets, class money, awards all the way to abolishing all of those, even the grades. The change to no rewards and punishments worked, but not as well …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2013/07/07/badges-do-we-need-them/
Jul 07
In both my reading of ROLE Reversal and learning how to use the 3D GameLab interface to gamify my classes the concept of student autonomy and choice is very important to create a student-centered experience. Kids need multiple pathways for learning and for demonstrating their learning. That needs to be balanced by the need for …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2013/07/07/whole-class-vs-individual-vs-small-group/
Jul 06
The idea of badges and achievements in gaming is a problem for teachers who have abolished extrinsic motivators in their classrooms. In 3DGL there is a Badges section, an Achievements section and an Awards section. I’m really conflicted by the awards section because it’s more like rewards than badges and achievements in my eyes. I …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2013/07/06/rewards-and-gaming/
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2013/07/06/elements-that-make-games-motivating/
Jul 05
Make my lessons attractive? I guess that’s something we as teachers are trying, or should be trying, to do for our students. If anything I’ve learned that not all kids are intrinsically motivated to learn the Science I’m teaching. Or they don’t like school and have been trained to become passive in school. Either way, …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2013/07/05/make-lessons-attractive/
Jul 03
I’ve been planning for the fall already and I’ve been using a spreadsheet from 3DGL to help organize the activities into quests with XP and achievements. Now I need to get those “quests” into the 3DGL interface for students to start playing (learning)! It’s really helpful to “see” the whole year at a glance. I’ve …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2013/07/03/my-6th-grade-plan-3dgamelab/
Jul 03
With regards to the 8 characteristics of Game-Based Learning (GBL) [CORRECTION: this should be Quest-Based Learning (QBL) as GBL is something different entirely] mentioned in 3DGL: Choice (Autonomy) Failure Progress Bars Multiple long & short aims Reward ALL successful efforts (XP points) Prompt, meaningful feedback Elements of uncertainty/awards Socialization schools need to embrace these, probably …
Permanent link to this article: https://educatoral.com/wordpress/2013/07/03/characteristics-of-gbl/
I'm a Curipod Ambassador! :)
I've presented at NCCE
2016, 2017, 2019, 2022,
2023 and 2024!
I presented at WSTA 2015!
