Monthly Archives: July 2012

Kids learn game design in summer school

Video link – Washoe Students Learn Video Game Design.
Sixteen Washoe County students are spending this week learning not just how to play vide games, but how to design them. It is part of the district’s Community Education program, and for once, the students have no complaints about summer school… On Thursday the class hosted guest lecturer Ryan Cullins from local design company 3G Studios. He said if the kids like the taste of game design that they’re getting in this class, then they could really have a future in the industry.”

– Arianna bennett (KTVN News)
http://www.ktvn.com/story/19015224/gaming-for-education

I wish summer school was like this when I was in school.  Better still, it would be great if they had classes like this during the school year!

New online math game – Wowzers!

Research
“A company that creates educational virtual worlds has introduced a new online product designed to help third through fifth graders get better at math. Wowzers comes from Brain Hurricane, a company that develops academic material for K-8 students in reading and math. The new release, which combines adaptive math instruction with game-based collaboration, was shown during the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) conference, which took place in San Diego last week…The Web-based service recently won the CODiE award for the best classroom management system and K-12 solution from the trade group Software & Information Industry Association, which runs an annual education-focused award program.”

Dian Schaffhause
http://thejournal.com/articles/2012/07/02/wowzers-tackles-elementary-math-with-online-games.aspx

The game costs $25 per student or $7000 per school.

Links:

Homepage

http://www.brainhurricane.com/

Boy learns to speak using Proloquo2Go on the Ipad

“Through a routine of games and exercises that incorporate physical and speech therapy techniques, Hunter is learning to pronounce individual words and to put them together to make sentences.”- Amy Jones

http://uknow.uky.edu/content/uk-ipad-help-5-year-old-find-his-voice

Letter School helps learners write – and sells 100,000 copies on Ipad

gameplay1

“The educational game LetterSchool reached a milestone this week: just a few months after its release, more than 100,000 copies of the app have been sold. That’s a striking result for an app that teaches something generations of children have wrestled with: how to write letters and numbers. LetterSchool’s greatest achievement is that it creates a very stimulating learning environment, offering kids a truly compelling gaming experience. Boreaal Publishers believes the app is an important part of the solution for better handwriting education.” http://www.sfgate.com/business/prweb/article/Interest-in-Learning-to-Write-Surges-Thanks-to-3672937.php

I wonder how well this game helps children to use a stylus.  Then again, I wonder how important using a stylus will be in 10 years.  Besides signing our names, how often do most adults use handwriting? While designing the Ipad, Steve Jobs said,
“So let’s not use a stylus. We’re going to use the best pointing device in the world. We’re going to use a pointing device that we’re all born with – born with ten of them. We’re going to use our fingers. We’re going to touch this with our fingers. And we have invented a new technology called multi-touch, which is phenomenal. It works like magic.