Posts on “ gaming ”

BrainPOP Educators is spreading the love and you can now find some of our quality lesson plans on the HP Teacher Experience Exchange.  Much like BrainPOP Educators, the Teacher Experience Exchange is a free online community for teachers where they can interact with fellow educators, create and share lesson plans, enroll in courses, and more.   This month, the Exchange is highlighting STEM education and we’re honored that they have identified BrainPOP as a valuable resource for supporting STEM-based games and learning. Visit the Exchange to read what they’re saying about the benefits of using BrainPOP’s GameUp games in the classroom.  We’ve selected several of our best game-based lesson plans to share with the HP community and we’d like to encourage you to head on over and see what we’ve included.  From Flower Power to Executive Command, you’ll find lessons featuring our GameUp games in many curriculum areas.  

We’re thrilled to release the newest addition to the series of video case studies put out with our partners at the Joan Ganz Cooney Center. In this video, Steve Isaacs, a Technology Instructor at William Annin Middle School in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, shares how he integrates video game design and development into his 7th grade curriculum.  Steve’s emphasis on the design process helps students develop essential 21st century skills, while sparking students’ interest and motivation through the use of a medium they are passionate about. Using game design programs such as Gamestar Mechanic and Gamemaker enable this teacher to embed essential programming skills into a unit of study that also has an authentic purpose — his students are creating games to enter in the 2012 National STEM Video Game Challenge! The winners of this exciting competition will be announced at The Atlantic’s Technologies and Education Forum on Tuesday, May 22, 2012.  You can read more about how Steve Isaacs prepared his students to enter their original video games in the National STEM Video Game Challenge here. We’re super-proud of this BrainPOP Educator! Read more about his work. Or, read the study itself, including a survey of more than 500 K-8 teachers who document their… Read the Rest»

We’ve made some interesting additions to our research page on BrainPOP Educators. BrainPOP teamed up with the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop to lead a research project, Teacher Attitudes about Digital Games in the Classroom. 500 teachers nationally were surveyed for the study. Over 60 percent of educators surveyed feel that games helped increase engagement with subject-area content among lower-performing students. 62 percent report that games make it easier for them to level lessons and effectively teach the range of learners in their classrooms. Get the facts and read the full results of the study. Want to learn more? We’ve posted some amazing interviews with the teachers involved in the case studies for this research project.  Hear them talk about their experiences with game based learning as they give you a firsthand look at their students’ engagement in the classroom.  You’ll leave feeling inspired and ready to try out gaming with your own students!

If you joined us for either of our recent Play Seriously: The MIT Education Arcade webinars, you already know a bit about The Labyrinth Challenge.  For those of you who may have missed the webinars or need a little refresher, we want to take a moment to share the details of this exciting opportunity. It’s a national math challenge for middle school students, centering on the educational game Lure of the Labyrinth. Teachers, coaches, and youth leaders, enroll teams of your students for free through June 15th.   You know that it’s not always easy to engage middle schoolers. But couching key lessons in game play is a great way to reach them: advancing from one level to another in “Lure of the Labyrinth” requires students to apply their understanding of various mathematical concepts. Plus, the game meets Common Core standards and allows teachers to assess student understanding through the game’s built-in assessment tools. With data and reports that are automatically generated through game play, teachers can document student progress and guide math instruction in the classroom.   Head on over to our very own GameUp for a sampling of some Lure of the Labyrinth puzzles.  Students and educators who… Read the Rest»

Thursday, April 19 4:00PM ET: edWeb.net Webinar: How To Use The Video Game Model To Build Curriculum Units Games are engaging our children both in and out of the classroom.  Components of gaming can be leveraged to increase student engagement and achievement through careful instructional design.  In edWeb.net’s next webinar, Andrew Miller, a game-based learning expert, will provide practical tools for utilizing gaming elements in the classroom to plan a curricular unit, from larger structures to individual lessons.  Webinar participants will hear from Andrew on the essential elements of gamification of the classroom, as well as the complexities of implementation.  He will also share example curriculum units and provide tips for effective planning. No need to pre-register!  Click to join the webinar at 4:00 PM ET on Thursday April, 19.

If you’ve heard about BrainPOP’s collection of free online games but haven’t had a chance to check it out, here’s an easy way to see what GameUp has to offer! In this screencast, we take you on a brief tour of GameUp, highlighting a fantastic iCivics game called Branches of Power. Watch as we show you how our games can be the perfect extension for BrainPOP movie topics so that students can explore the concepts they’ve learned in meaningful, real-world contexts: The Branches of Power game is part of a collection of free iCivics social studies games on GameUp: we also offer Law Craft, Argument Wars, Court Quest, Supreme Decision and Executive Command. You can also search GameUp by subject area and find social studies, math, science, and health games. Have you used GameUp in your classroom? Share your experiences in the comments!

Great news!  The National STEM Video Game Challenge has just announced that they are extending the contest’s deadline to March 23rd.  As part of the Digital Promise Initiative, the Challenge aims to increase interest in STEM learning among America’s schools.  If you have a case of “creators block,” be sure to head on over to  GameUp for some inspiration and examples of some excellent STEM based educational games.  Our archived webinar from January 2012 can provide you with tips and tricks for how to prepare your students for the Challenge.  With our STEM related BrainPOP resources and an extended deadline, you  have just what you need to get started and challenge yourself.  

Let’s hear it for our very own Kari Stubbs, who was recognized as one of Daily Edventures’ global heroes in education!  Daily Edventures is an education-focused blog that has a central goal for 2012: to identify 365 inspiring advocates for education.  Kari was interviewed by the site’s editor, Anthony Salcito, who is also vice president of education for Microsoft Corp.’s Worldwide Public Sector organization.  In her interview, Kari reflects on her experiences as a classroom teacher and shares her expertise on game-based learning and its growing popularity in schools.  She explains the driving force behind our GameUp feature  while sharing the many resources we have to support it. Want to hear more from Kari about educational gaming?  Check out her keynote address from the 2011 Microsoft Partners in Learning Global Forum.  With her wealth of knowledge on education and game-based learning, it’s easy to see why Kari has been recognized as a global ed hero.  She sure is one of ours!

Wednesday, December 14th 4:30 PM EDT Duration: 1 Hour From BrainPOP Educators to ed tech conferences everywhere, you’ve heard the buzz about games in the classroom. Now, take a look at the roots of those games. What’s the development process like? What key ingredients ensure their success? Would you and your students make good game beta-testers? Allisyn Levy and the team from BrainPOP partner Filament Games host.  

  With school break this week, there should be a little extra time to try the newest entry in BrianPOP’s GameUP site, Food Fight!  This 2 player turn based game is not only tons of fun, but also helps players actively learn about ecosystems and habitats.  Click here to visit GameUP and play. We are super excited to announce a Food Fight contest.  The rules are simple and they don’t involve messing up the kitchen! 1) Find a partner and play Food Fight. 2) Think of a creative way to use the game within an educational setting. Follow up activities are acceptable too! 3) Post your idea to this forum. If we select your idea, we’ll promote it on the blog and send you a nifty Moby long sleeve T-Shirt!   We are only accepting entries until November 30th, so be quick, be creative, and you may have an early holiday gift, a splendid T-Shirt from BrainPOP!