Posts on “ lure of the labyrinth ”

This spring, we told you about a national math challenge for middle schoolers run by The MIT Education Arcade and supported by BrainPOP. Between April 1st and June 15th, nearly 1,000 teachers and other adult mentors enrolled more than 30,000 students in the Labyrinth Challenge, centered on the educational game Lure of the Labyrinth. Over the course of the 10 weeks, students collectively spent half a trillion minutes (that’s more than 950 years!) collaborating on the solving of mathematical puzzles to save pets from the “Tasti-Pet Factory.” In addition to gaining problem-solving confidence and bragging rights, students earned chances to win some amazing prizes. Those who worked together with their teammates to reach certain levels in the game were entered into a drawing for a complimentary home subscription to BrainPOP, animation software from FableVision, and Lenovo ThinkPad Tablets. Teachers also had chances to win by completing pre- and post-Challenge surveys. In total, 20 teachers and nearly 100 students were awarded prizes for their participation. “Our partnerships with BrainPOP and Lenovo were critical to recruiting so many players to participate in the Labyrinth Challenge,” said Carole Urbano, Outreach Director for The MIT Education Arcade. “Offering prizes provided that extra incentive to… Read the Rest»

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»

Wednesday, April 11 4:30PM ET: Play Seriously II: The MIT Education Arcade We welcome the MIT Education Arcade back for another webinar to extend our discussion on the objectives of educational gaming and its value in the classroom. We’ll take a more in-depth look into the Lure of the Labyrinth Challenge and further explore the Lure of the Labyrinth math games featured on BrainPOP’s GameUp. You can join this webinar whether or not you participated in the initial BrainPOP/Education Arcade webinar last month. If you didn’t catch that initial webinar, you can check it out any time in our archives.

Wednesday, March 28 4:30PM ET: Play Seriously: The MIT Education Arcade Digital games in class? You bet! Scot Osterweil, Creative Director of the MIT Education Arcade, hosts this webinar on the role of gaming in classroom instruction. Discover how you can use our newest math games – a Lure of the Labyrinth trio – to enhance your lessons and excite students.

BrainPOP is always growing! Whether we’re adding new topics to BrainPOP, sharing our favorite educational games on GameUp or a building new levels on BrainPOP ESL, we’re hard at work curating and creating the best content to share with students.  So what’s been happening recently? Well, this week, we have 2 premieres!  Young artists will enjoy BrainPOPJr’s perspective on Georgia O’Keeffe and Pablo Picasso, while writers will be set straight by checking out the newest BrianPOP topic on Parallel Structure.  On GameUp, our newest games include: Employee Cafeteria, Employee Lounge, and Mine Shaft all from Maryland Public TV’s Lure of the Labyrinth project. Just a few weeks ago BrainPOP ESL announced the debut the first unit in level three, bringing the total number of lessons to 65!  We do our best to create content that will help you and the students who love it. But, as always, we want to hear from you! Please share any suggestions you may have in our educators forum.