Posts on “ GameUP ”

On Saturday March 23rd, BrainPOP and Learning Games Network hosted a select group of educators for a one day professional development workshop designed to make game based learning a reality in the classroom. From game play to game design, we explored the various ways games can help engage students to build crucial academic and 21st century skills. The day began with an inspirational keynote from designer Nick Fortugno, CCO of Playmatics and creator of Ayiti, the Cost of Life,  a game featured on GameUp. Nick inspired us to think beyond games as assessment tools, and consider the fundamental characteristics of engagement, risk taking, exploration and curiosity that emerge when we play a great game.  Next we explored all of the free games that tie into curriculum offered on GameUp. Teachers were thrilled to discover the breadth of games and appreciated the teacher support and CCSS alignment.  We collectively played an exemplary online math game, Lure of the Labyrinth: Employee Lounge, by Thinkport and partners, and discussed our observations. Through taking risks and building conceptual understanding of algebra through playing the game, we acknowledged many of the takeaway points from the keynote.               In the afternoon… Read the Rest»

Beyond Angry Birds STEM Games with Research-based Evidence of Student Learning Wednesday, March 27 at 4pm ET REGISTER HERE for the webinar. Your trouble finding games that engage your students while they actually learn something, especially in STEM subjects, illustrates the disconnect between the “education” part and the “games” part of educational games. “Can we combine what we know about instructional design with what we know about game design to build games that are both really fun and demonstrably educational?” is the question being asked at Carnegie Mellon University. Join Amos Glenn and edWeb.net on March 27 to hear how the University’s experts in innovative educational technologies and its outstanding game designers are collaborating to answer that question. Amos will not only introduce you to free games you can use today in your classroom, but he also will share objective, scientific data that illustrates how these games produce measurable learning while still being fun to play-vital information for any educators bringing games into their classrooms.  Join Amos on March 27 to discover STEM games for your classroom. Attendees will also be invited to participate in CMU research at the end of the webinar *Please note that this webinar is not hosted by… Read the Rest»

Our K-3 resource has been named the winner of a 2013 ON for Learning Award from Common Sense Media! The ON for Learning Awards celebrate the best digital media products for kids. BrainPOP Jr. is one of just 50 apps, web sites, and games to be honored this year. Common Sense Media is dedicated to providing families with reliable information about media and technology; some of you may recognize the organization as one of our GameUp partners. Their ON for Learning Award winners are chosen based on the results of an intensive evaluation framework. Read what they had to say about BrainPOP Jr. We’re thrilled about this honor! Feel free to spread the good news by test driving our newly minted SHARE button, which you’ll see at the bottom of this post,      

BrainPOP is thrilled to introduce a new category of free English Language Arts (ELA) games! When you visit the main GameUp page, you’ll now see an “English Games” button which takes you to our growing collection of online games that target a wide range of literacy skills. We’re also excited to announce the addition of Classroom, Inc.’s The Sports Network 2 (TSN-2) to our English GameUp offerings. The result of a 2011 Next Generation Learning Challenges (NGLC), TSN-2 can easily be adapted for use with students in grades 5-9, but is designed to assess students’ proficiency in key grade 8 Common Core State Standards in Reading Informational Text. We love the way TSN-2 uses challenging tasks within a virtual workplace to address each of its target standards multiple times. Last spring, Classroom, Inc. piloted TSN-2 in eight schools in NYC and Chicago. Analysis of student data gathered through Classroom Inc’s Teacher Dashboard showed strong correlations between students’ scores on the TSN-2 embedded assessments and MAP reading scores—compelling evidence that TSN-2 is a valid predictor of student performance on standardized grade level reading tests. Pilot teachers were enthusiastic about how TSN-2 provides effective CCSS practice and assessment, and students were eager… Read the Rest»

Wednesday, March 13th at 3:30 PM ET- Get Your Game On: BrainPOP & National STEM Video Game Challenge  You’ve heard about the tremendous potential games have for learning and engagement, but how do you bring them into your own classroom? This webinar, featuring our friends at the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop, highlights different ways to implement game-based learning. You’ll also get the details on the National STEM Video Game Challenge: work with your students as they design their own games and strengthen their STEM skills.

Heading to the SXSWEduConference and Festival, March 4-7 in Austin? Be sure to check out Got Game? Learning Through Play. Seriously. Taking place on Monday, March 4 at 3:00 PM, it features our very own Arturo Guajardo,Texas District Relations Manager, as well as some of our amazing GameUp partners. Arturo, with Jennifer Groff (Learning Games Network), Dan White (Filament Games), and Michael Angst (E-Line Media), will explore the role of learning games, barriers to their implementation, and related research. Plus, you’ll have the chance to to play games alongside the panelists. Don’t miss this session bringing together the perspectives of true game development and education experts. We’re thrilled that many of our GameUp partners are set to participate in other SXSW sessions as well. Among those you might want to add to your schedule are Educating the Create and Share Generation; Mind the Gap: Games, Impact, Potential, Reality; LRMI: A Peek Under the Hood of Personalized Learning; and How to Play: Models for Game-Based Learning. You’re guaranteed to leave SXSWEdu feeling inspired! Keep up with the action on Twitter with #SXSWEdu and @brainpop.

You might remember Todd LaVogue from his guest blog post back in September. He continues to do incredible projects with his students and was able to organize and complete a field trip for 38 students to the 2013 Presidential Inauguration through 10 months of fund raising and planning.  BrainPOP was there to help him along the way, so check out his reflection of his presidential planning below! While the election and government related BrainPOP movies laid the groundwork, the biggest BrainPOP contributor to student learning was the GameUp section. Three games – Win the White House, Budget Hero and Executive Command proved to be addictive for the students, who quickly learned it is not a simple or easy job to be President of the United States. In Win the White House, students learned about the strategy involved with a campaign. The game reinforced higher-order thinking skills needed to successfully run a presidential campaign. “Politics seem complicated,” said seventh grader Eugena Butler. “Win the White House game made it easier for me to understand a campaign. Obama and Romney had to work real hard to get enough votes.” Budget Hero and Executive Command allowed the students to make future-altering decisions as… Read the Rest»

Guest Blogger Andrew K. Miller (@betamiller on Twitter) is on the National Faculty for the Buck Institute for Education, an organization specializing in 21st century project-based learning, as well as for ASCD, providing expertise in a variety of professional development needs. He is also a regular blogger for Edutopia. In this guest blog post, Andrew distills the game evaluation process into 3 key points. BrainPOP uses these and other evaulation points when determining games to present on GameUp. I love using games in the classroom, and I love supporting teachers in their implementation. As I continue this work, both in terms of advocacy and implementation, there remains a critical question that will either support games for learning, or undermine it. Is it a good game? I constantly watch the twittersphere and get emails from colleagues, game companies, and the like about “games.” Whether it’s “20 Games to Support ELL Students,” or “The 5 New Best Games for the iPad,” it can be daunting to even know where to start using games in the classroom. I’ve got news for you. What people claim to be games, may in fact not be games at all. Or, even worse, they may bad games!… Read the Rest»

On February 13th, BrainPOP was thrilled to host student leaders from Global Kids and Mouse Squad for a “serious game jam” at BrainPOP Headquarters.  During the 2 hour event, student leaders from Global Kids led a “grow a game” activity that encouraging their peers to consider the role of values in the games they know and love.  Next, in small groups, students playtested and manipulated “Buckets” a new categorization and relationship assessment game that we’re developing here at BrainPOP. The student input was phenomenal, they provided all sorts of creative ideas for how to change the mechanics, data and interface to make the game more fun, effective and useful for the classroom. At BrainPOP we host events like this for a number of reasons.  First of all it’s wonderful to provide opportunity for students to learn about the process of game design from professionals in the field.  Second it’s great for our designers at BrianPOP to get authentic feedback and suggestions directly from the most important members of our audience: students! You can’t build a successful game without concrete feedback from your audience.   Finally, it’s through events like this that connect students, teachers, parents, and professionals with shared interests… Read the Rest»

Register for the next edWeb Game-Based Learning webinar entitled, ”WoW in School: Video Games as Arenas for Quest-Based Learning“ on  Tues, Feb 19 at 5pm (EST).  Are you trying to close the rift between traditional classroom practice and the hyper “click, tap and swipe” learning innate in your students? Even once we grasp the inherent value in these tools, it can be difficult to find connections to the curriculum, classroom management advice, and examples of what the learning looks like. Join edWeb.net on February 19th when Laurence Cocco interviews Peggy Sheehy about using WoW in School as an arena for quest-based learning. Peggy will tell us about her journey with Lucas Gillispie of Pender County Schools hosting a hybrid, collaborative literacy program using World of Warcraft to engage youth in learning. After one year as an after-school program, their WoW in School project was refined, aligned to national core standards for English language arts (ELA), and introduced into the regular academic day. We’ll hear the steps taken to bring massively multiplayer online games into the classroom and how the “hidden curriculum” in games has provided opportunities for students to master real world skills that often elude traditional leaning environments. Peggy and Laurence also will provide practical ideas for leveraging the unique properties of video games for your teaching… Read the Rest»