The Idea of Perpetual Motion of “Perpetual Motion” as a
Learning Tool
Perpetual
Motion is a game from schooltimegames.com, which is an online educational game
website that provides comprehensive lessons in the four core subjects of math,
science, social studies, and language arts. It is designed mainly to attract
the secondary level students; however, there are some games on the site fit for
the primary grade levels as well. In order to prepare for the presentation
aspect of this assignment, evaluating the game using a rubric was probably the
hardest part. We had to be sure that the game met the best possible scores for
all the different contents of the rubric, such as learner content, visual
organization, navigation, critical thinking, etc. Creating the rubric was not
at all a difficult task in that, we did not “reinvent the wheel.” We recycled
an excellent rubric that we found on (insert site).
As a
secondary education teacher, technology is extremely important for the students
because it is “the age” they live in. It also assists them with the
“ever-changing” world of technology and the nuance of technological facets of
education. According to the online website Technology and Educational Reform,
created by the U.S. Department of Education, “The most common--and in fact, nearly
universal--teacher-reported effect on students was an increase in motivation.
Teachers and students are sometimes surprised at the level of technology-based
accomplishment displayed by students who have shown much less initiative or
facility with more conventional academic tasks” (Educational Reform).
I agree that with a game-based enhance culture
with probably every household on Guam and the Untied States possessing game
consoles and computers, the integration of technology in the classroom is not
that far fetched. With online and digital gaming, according to Erik Klopfer,
and the entire authors of “The Education Arcade,” “Digital games, whether
computer-, game console-, or handheld-based, are characterized by rules, goals &
objectives, outcomes & feedback, conflict/
competition/challenge/opposition, interaction, and representation of story
(Prenksy, 2001) or more simply, “Purposeful, goal-oriented, rule-based activity
that the players perceive as fun” (Klopfer, 2008). They are distinguished by
two key elements: (1) an interactive virtual playing environment, and (2) the
struggle of the player against some kind of opposition” (Klopfer, 4).
I think that in general, technology is crucial
in this every changing society, especially in the developing parts of the
world; if technology can be implemented then it should be taken advantage of.
I believe
that the game of perpetual motion is all encompassing of many things academic.
I could probably use this game as a fun and academic way to teach world
geography. Since the object of the game is to complete the map, and the map is
blank, at the same time they complete the game, I can ask them to label the
map.
According to NET’s standards I feel that the following was
achieved post-online educational game project: use technology to support
learner-centered strategies that address the diverse needs of students. I was
unaware at just the value of online educational gaming until this project was
completed. We evaluated our projects based on the game we chose. Each group
displayed the diversity of learning and the diverse needs of students by
attempting to evaluate their technological game with rubric that would suffice
for the viability of the game.
References:
Singh, Ram & Barbara Means. (n.d.).
Effects of Technology on Classrooms and Students. In Technology
and Education Reform. Retreived
October 04, 2011, from http://www2.ed.gov/pubs/EdReformStudies/EdTech/effectsstudents.html
Klopfer, Eric, et.al.
2009. Digital Gaming. In The
Instructional Power of Digital Games, Social Networking, Simulation, and How
Teachers Can Leverage Them.
Retrieved October 4, 2011, from http://education.mit.edu/papers/GamesSimsSocNets_EdArcade.pdf
