eBooks Could Spur Kids' Interest in Reading

Innovative educators who want to incorporate eBooks into their instruction when they are teaching the literary classics have a number of free online resources at their disposal. A few websites specialize in providing free downloads of eBooks, and classic literature is particularly prevalent because the copyright on such books has long ago expired. Students can be given the option of reading the books at home online, and forgetful students will never again have the excuse that they forgot their book in their lockers. Numerous classic titles are available online and students have access to them wherever they have an Internet connection, even on handheld devices and e-readers like the Nook and Kindle.

One site dedicated to providing free eBooks is Planet eBook, which provides numerous titles in classic literature online as free downloads. Titles include many that are commonly taught in the classroom and assigned as reading outside the classroom, such as A Tale of Two Cities, Gulliver's Travels, Les Miserables, and The Great Gatsby. The site allows you to sign up for a newsletter that lets you know when new titles are available. If anything else, you can use the site as a creative way of coming up with extra credit assignments for students.

Another great site is Project Gutenberg, which has more than 33,000 free eBooks available to teachers or anyone else for that matter. The site allows teachers to search by title or author. Among the most popular titles are: The Picture of Dorian Gray, Paradise Lost and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Project Gutenberg allows users to download in six different formats, such as HTML, Kindle or plain text. A limited number of audio books are also available through this site.

Finally, another site you can use to look for eBooks not only in classic literature, but also in a number of other topics is E-Books Directory. If you look under the children's category, you will see numerous titles available for free download, including Uncle Tom's Cabin, The Call of the Wild and Jungle Book. Under literature & fiction category are more titles for older readers, such as War and Peace and Anna Karenina. There are also descriptions of each book posted under each title listed on this site.

This guest post is contributed by Angelita Williams, who writes on the topics of online courses. She welcomes your comments at her email Id: angelita.williams7 @gmail.com.

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Mangahigh: A New Way to Study Math

Math is arguably one of the most essential subjects to study in school. Unfortunately, it's also the subject that tends to cause the most anxiety for students. After recognizing this problem, a group of mathematicians and game designers created Mangahigh.

Mangahigh, one of the world's first games-based learning sites, provides casual games that make learning math fun and easy. The games are curriculum-compliant and adapted to the individual student so that they are challenging but not overwhelming.

While playing games, students are introduced to mathematical concepts in a logical order based on their age and skill level. Mangahigh provides individualized lesson sets and to-do lists to keep each user on track. Students also have the option of adjusting their own syllabus to get extra practice with problem areas.

The safety factor is another nice feature of the site. Mangahigh does not have advertising of any kind. They also avoid chat, messaging, and user-generated content so that there is no chance of a third party contacting a Mangahigh user.

The site is designed for kids between the ages of 10 and 16, but would undoubtedly benefit both younger and older children. Students and parents can try the site by registering for a free user account. This account offers access to a limited number of games and learning activities as well as the ability to save status, points, scores, levels, and achievements.

Users who would like full access to the site must pay a membership fee. This fee can vary depending on subscription length and the number of students who will be using Mangahigh. With the site's current special launch discount, fees average somewhere around $15 per student. Memberships are designed primarily for schools. However, a one-student or family subscription can be purchased if you contact the site directly.

Guest post from education writer Karen Schweitzer. Karen is the About.com Guide to Business School. She also writes about online college classes for OnlineClasses.org.

Technorati Tags: video games | learning | math

Guest Post: 15 Free Math Resources for Students and Teachers

Learning math can be a struggle, but there are lots of online resources that can help. The web is full of tools, games, and websites that can be used to practice math problems. Here is a list of 15 math resources for students and teachers.

Illuminations - Illuminations is a free website from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. The site offers more than 100 interactive math activities for kids, 500+ lesson plans for teachers, and web links to other online math resources.

NumberNut - NumberNut is a fun math site for people of all ages. It works like an interactive math textbook: it teaches a concept and then provides two activities to reinforce learning. NumberNut includes learning resources for basic math and advanced math.

Arcademic Skill Builders - Arcademic Skill Builders are entertaining educational games that can be played online. Game options include addition and subtraction games, multiplication and division games, and fraction and ratio games.

Math Playground - This website was created specifically for elementary and middle school students who need help with math. The site offers fun games, math videos, and logic problems.

Tutpup - On the Tutpup site, students can compete in educational math games with other students all over the world. Competitors race against the clock to solve math and algebra problems.

Math Arcade - Funbrain's Math Arcade provides access to 25 free math games that can be played online. Returning users can enter a password to try to beat their own high score.

Lure of the Labyrinth - For kids who like to game, Lure of the Labyrinth is the ultimate way to learn math. This online game guides players on a mythological quest to retrieve a beloved and lost pet.

Mathway - At first glance, Mathway looks like it is just a math problem solver, but it so much more. Mathway shows you how a problem can be solved so that you understand how the answer was calculated.

Multimedia Math Glossary - Harcourt's Multimedia Math Glossary is a fantastic resource for teachers and students who want to see visual definitions to math terms. Simply select your grade at the top of the page and browse through the list of terms to find what you need.

Ambleweb Addition Machine - The Ambleweb Addition Machine provides excellent practice for students who are learning addition. Students can choose their skill level, answer the question that pops up, and check their answer to see if it is right. The machine tracks scores so that students can compete with themselves or each other.

ClassBrain - ClassBrain provides a wide range of math games for students of all ages. All of the games are interactive and many can be used with a projector or interactive white board so the whole class can participate at once.

Teacher Led - Teacher Led offers a large collection of interactive white board resources and games for math teachers.

Crickweb - Although this website was created for UK students, it does provide a number of interactive math games that would be useful to any student. All of the games were designed for use with an interactive whiteboard and include fun activities that will reinforce learning in the classroom.

Math TV - Middle school students who are having difficulty solving complicated math problems will love Math TV's helpful videos. Math TV works especially well with projectors and interactive whiteboards.

iknowthat.com - This website offers a wonderful collection of math tools for teachers and students. The site hosts an arithmetic workshop, math stories, math videos, games, and other resources--most of which can be used with an interactive white board so that the whole class can participate at once.

Guest post from Karen Schweitzer, the About.com Guide to Business School. Karen also writes about online college courses for OnlineColleges.org.

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Epistemic Games Movie

Summer reading is in full swing. I've just started How Computer Games Help Children Learn by David Williamson Shaffer. As with all the books I read, I also read the accompanying blog. A couple weeks ago they posted a video about epistemic games. I thought I'd publish it here.

Venture Africa: Take 2

Video games--do they have a place in the classroom? This is the second year I have experimented with a game called Venture Africa in an effort to answer this question. And for the second year in a row, I would have to say that the answer is decidedly YES.

The life science standards for the state of Ohio consist almost entirely of ecology concepts--energy transfer in food webs, photosynthesis, how animals adapt to and change their environments, etc. Venture Africa, part of the Wildlife Tycoon series, acts as the perfect platform for teaching these concepts. The game requires players to create a balanced ecosystem on the African savanna. Depending on the level, they could be responsible for creating and sustaining up to 12 animals (that, by the way, multiply and consume all of the resources if players are not careful)!

Upon finishing play yesterday, I have tried two different approaches to teaching with the game:

• Last year I used the game to actually teach some of the concepts; in other words, by trying to balance predator, prey, & producers, students learned about how organisms have certain needs that must be met if they are to survive. If they are not met, then the ecosystem falls out of balance.
  
• This year I changed things a bit. Instead of using the game to teach the concepts, I simply let the kids play the game--I have to admit, mostly to engage them--and used the setting, the savanna, to teach the concepts. I related everything to the savanna: we made food webs with the organisms found there; we discussed how organisms have adapted to the climate; I even related subjects like carrying capacity to the game.
  

So the game served a couple purposes this year. First, it simulated an actual biome. My kids cannot actually visit the savanna and see the animals interact. However, the game put them right in the middle of it. They can see what the landscape looks like and, as David William Shaffer points out, like any good video game its value is in:

"...letting children live in worlds that they are curious about, or afraid of, or want desperately to be able to try out. As Vygotsky explains, all games are “the realization in play form of tendencies that cannot be immediately gratified.” In playing games, children are doing explicitly, openly, and socially what as adults they will do tacitly, privately, and personally. They are running simulations of worlds they want to learn about in order to understand the rules, roles, and consequences of those worlds. They are learning to think by examining alternatives in play, and from those experiences they are learning what it might mean to be… real and imagined characters in the world."

Second, and I said this earlier, the game engaged them like nothing else could have. Because they were interested in the game and challenged by it, my students found the concepts more interesting, particularly since I made sure that I continuously related them to the game.

Learning through video games is something that my students will hopefully have the chance to do for years to come. In fact, I'm looking for more ideas for games. Any ideas?


Technorati Tags: education | video games | Wildlife Tycoon

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Webkinz: Web 2.0 for younger kids

So a student of mine told me about this website called Webkinz today. This site allows kids to bring a stuffed animal toy to life by creating a simulated home for it online. It also allows them to connect with their friends through chat rooms.

The site is evidently pretty popular with my fifth graders as the girl who told me about it was able to name a few other students who were using it. When I asked her why she liked it, she stated that she like getting money to build things for her pet.

This is pretty timely as right now I'm wrapped up in using a simulation video game as a teaching approach. My students have been glued to their computers for the last week playing Venture Africa. To me, the popularity of the Webkinz site and my students' level of engagement with Venture Africa reinforce the necessity of using these technologies--games and social software (my students communicated with each other through my classroom blog)--in the classroom.

It's very important that we begin to leave behind the tired teaching approaches that still dominate our classrooms. Our kids are bored and unmotivated by them. Bring in the right video game though and engagement soars.


Technorati Tags: education | web2.0 | Webkinz

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eSchool News: Gaming advances as a learning tool

In the midst of my experiment with game-based learning, eSchool News has come out with an article about the benefits of gaming in the classroom. The article discusses the use of games designed "...solely for self-indulgent, time-consuming entertainment at home" instead of games designed for education. It is these types of games that can make school more engaging for today's digital natives.

Speaking of today's digital natives...

My classroom of digital natives has been playing Wildlife Tycoon, a game like the ones described above, for three days now and I can't imagine a better way of teaching them about ecosystems. Like the students in the article, my students have said that the game has made class more interesting. Many have described it as addicting. They continue to talk about it between classes. And...THEY CONTINUE TO LEARN. Check out these comments:

Flamingos can live in flocks up to 20. They need water,and space with elaphants or babboons.
Zebras can live in heards up to 12. They need water and shrubs or grasses.
Lions can live in prides up to four. They need water and zebras or hares.
Hares can live in very big groups. They need grasses, no water, and lots of space because they breed quickly.
Elephants can live in groups up to 5. They need trees, shrubs, grasses, and water.
Jewels are essential because you get food and water from them so jewels are needed for everything to live.

By the way, two of the learning targets my students are supposed to be learning from this are:

• Summarize that organisms can only survive in ecosystems in which their needs can be met. (food, water, shelter, air, carrying capacity, waste disposal)

• Support how an organism’s patterns of behavior are related to the nature of that organism’s ecosystem, including the kinds and numbers of other organisms present, the availability of food and resources, and the changing physical characteristics of the ecosystem.

Think they're learning these?



Technorati Tags: education | video games | Wildlife Tycoon

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The Dream is Alive...It's Alive!

Imagine walking into a classroom and seeing groups of students gathered around computers--one student in the middle, hands on the keyboard, the others, their eyes fixated on the screen, pointing and barking directions to the student who currently sits as the controller of what goes on on the screen. They're all incredibly engaged, and it's almost as though the group of bystanders is watching the student on the computer play a video game, and with best intentions, they cannot help but to instruct him on the proper steps he needs to take to be successful in the game. This is exactly what is taking place. Yesterday my classroom became ground zero for a different kind of teaching & learning (at least for me)--game-based learning.

The folks over at Pocketwatch Games have created the perfect ecosystem simulation, Wildlife Tycoon, and my students are eating it up. I started to get interested in this approach last spring, and my research led me to this game. After downloading the trial and playing just a few minutes, I knew it would be perfect for teaching my grade level life science concepts. But what I wasn't prepared for was how perfectly my students' behavior would represent what I had read about game-based learning in the classroom. Following is a little of what I have read and how my students' behavior supports it:


James Paul Gee and The Classroom of Popular Culture

Gee mentions several important concepts in his article that my students experienced in just their first day of playing the game. First is the principle of "performance before competence." That is, they learned the game while they played it. The game comes with no manual, and very basic directions are given at the beginning of the game, but my students are quickly figuring it out. Here's a comment from team wildeco at the Wildlife Tycoon blog at my website:

We figured out that flamingos die easily, and that hares don't need water to survive, but flamingos only need
water to live. This means that you have to put the hares by themselves. Our strategy is to first earn the crystals,
then second to achieve your goal. But make sure you don't run out of crystals or flowers, because it sometimes
can be hard to regain them.

And teamteam:

1. i have learned that it is hard to sustain and amount of animals because the predetors eat everything in sight, and that makes it hard to get jewels. you need to have little flowers that let you get food and animals.
2. our stratagy is to make seprate watering holes for sertain animals, so not many of them can be eaten.

Second is the cycle of "consolidation and challenge." The problems presented to my students at the early stage of the game were ones that required them to formulate hypotheses for solving later problems. The game begins with a prologue level that presents players with the basic challenges needed to keep the animals of the ecosystem alive and reach their goals; of course, as the players advance through the levels the goals become more difficult to achieve and they must rely on this consolidation to advance.

Video Games and the Future of Learning by David Williamson Shaffer, Kurt R. Squire, Richard Halverson, and James P. Gee

During the afternoon switch, a new group of students comes to me to learn science and social studies. On a typical day, my homeroom class files out and the others file in and quietly take their seats. Today was different though. As my class left, several students could be overheard talking strategy with the students from the other class.

The authors begin this article by arguing against the commonly held belief that video games are "mere entertainment." On the contrary, video games actually create virtual worlds for learning. These worlds bring players together, making the games a thoroughly social phenomenon. Because there is only one computer with the game for every four students in my class, two students must become "scribes/researchers" and log on to another computer to go to another site where there are hints and tips for playing the game. These students then relay any information back to the two players. Today I'm going to allow my students to start searching the Pocketwatch Games forum for more tips.

One thing that I haven't talked about yet is the content my students are learning without even realizing it. We start debriefing on that next week.


Technorati Tags: education | video games | Wildlife Tycoon | James Paul Gee


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More on Video Games and Internet Safety

"It is by opening doors, not closing them that we create new possibilities for our children and new futures for ourselves."

An appropriate conclusion for a well argued piece from Pete Reilly called The Facts About Online Abuse and Schools. "How justified are our fears?" Reilly asks about the intense fear that schools have of exposing students to online predators. Using statistics on child and sexual abuse, he leads readers to believe that the walls we are erecting in our schools, due to these fears, need to be broken down.


Microsoft Vista, Gaming, and Parental Controls


From the NYTimes comes an article about the new safety features Microsoft is adding to its new operating system. For the first time, parents have "...powerful, easy-to-use, practically unhackable tools to control and monitor just about everything their children do with the home computer, online and off."



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A Dream in the Works for My Digital Kids

Today I got some of the best news I've heard at school in years. After a couple weeks of mystery, I learned from my district tech guy that I will in fact be able to bring the game Wildlife Tycoon: Venture Africa to my classroom.

My students will be learning about ecosystems from a video game!

I plan to use this space to record the goals, reflections, assignments, lesson plans, links, photos, and much more as the project develops.