Game-based learning

I really like the idea of the use of gaming as an educational tool. To me, it seems to enhance the learning experience for the students. I think that in order to get messages across to students effectively we, as teachers, must first understand what grabs their attention and makes them want to learn. As technology continues to grow bigger and better by the day, it seems silly not to think that our students would not be apart of this growth. With this said, we should embrace this idea and use it to the advantage of our students.
After experiencing some of these educational games first hand, I was amazed at the wide variety there is to choose from. Funbrain.com had fairly standard games, where for instance, mathematics and baseball were connected; the more problems the player got right the more RBI's for the batter. Gameaquarium has a similar format and forces on language arts and reading concepts. Darfar is Dying and Ayiti: The Cost of Life, on the other hand, were much more complex. Each dealt with a real life situation. Darfar is Dying allows the students to be put into the position of a Darfarian and experience life as those people are experiencing it. Ayiti:The Cost of Life allows the students to understands concepts of daily life management, budget, etc. Generally speaking, I was extremely impressed with all of the games I played. This is definitely something I would use to reinforce education concepts for my students.

The Fingertip Effects of Computer-based Assessment in Education

The article that I chose for this week was an article entitled "The Fingertip Effects of Computer-based Assessment in Education" by Hong Lin and Francis Dwyer. I really found this article very interesting. It made me think about the current trends of assessment in education both with using technology and without. The article based its discussion on an idea called fingertip effects. The first order fingertip effects addresses the question "What could you do that you could not before?" An example of how this is used in technology is the use of Microsoft Excel by teachers to calculate averages and report card grades. This technology does not promote higher-order thinking skills it merely makes the task of finding averages easier and more efficient for teachers. The authors argue that we should use technology assessment to achieve what is known as second order fingertip effects which address the question "What difference will a computer really make to a person's higher-order skills?" I was really surprised to read that there are many free Internet resources available to us as teachers that can help us achieve the answer to this question. Among these resources include tools such as a diagnoser that give students feedback as they work through assignments. Other technologies identify strengths and weaknesses in students work and make comments and suggestions for how to improve. It is my thought that many educators are unaware of how this effective use of technology could greatly impact the education of our students. Using technology in this manner takes learning to a whole new level. Here, students are learning to think beyond the realm of multiple choice assessment tests. They are learning how to create their own responses to questions and receive feedback of their work. They are able to present their work in portfolio format and receive feedback from numerous professionals around the world. I think more then anything, I was amazed at the technological opportunities that await us. Never before have educators had these wonderful tools to expose their students too. For that reason, it is so important that we take advantage of these tools in order to better the learning experience of us students.

Digital Images in the Mathematics Classroom

I thought this article gave a really interesting perspective into the use of digital camera with mathematics curriculum. I really enjoyed the sections where the author discussed the use of the camera to create digital word problems. I thought that question asked in Figure 4 was wonderful because the students could view the image, read the question, and then actually take the measurements in their own classroom to come up with the data for the problem. I think that it would be very interesting to take this concept on step further and have the students create moving video for "story problems" like the following:
A feather is dropped 6ft from the group. It falls at an average of 1 in per 15 seconds. How long will it take for the feather to reach the ground?
With this question, the students could set up this situation in their classroom. They would need a tape measure to measure 6ft and a feather. With the video camera feature on the digital camera rolling, the students could recreate this scenario. To calculate the answer to the problem, they could view the footage to get an understanding of what is happening. They could then compare their mathematical computation to the actual time it took the real feather to drop and see what the results have in common.