I Love Games!!!
What?
Welcome to I Love Games!
This is a unique Global Project Based Learning (GPBL) experience. This project is focused on harnessing
student’s innate love of games, all kinds of games. Students will be asked to share their
favorite games and discuss the Who, What, When, Where, Why and most importantly
the How of their games. They will do
this in two main ways. First they will
be required to participate in a blog that will expose them to students from
other areas of the world, (their locations depend on the participants at any
moment). This will be ongoing throughout
the experience, and the main experience will be the creation of a showcase of
their chosen game. This can be any
number of visual media such as PowerPoint, Keynote, Google Presentation,
SlideShare, Comic Book pages, Animoto video, traditional video, or even stop
motion animation.
Students will need access to a computer with Internet
access, the software or web apps to create the main project, and the ability to
comment on blogs. It might also be
useful to have a microphone and a camera or webcam depending on the project
that is made.
Student Activities
Pre activity: As
your students begin this experience they need to take the Before survey. This is a simple survey that will ask them
about games they like to play, types of games, who they play with, where they
like to play them, and where they live.
Activity #1:
Students will decide what game they are going to choose as the one they will
present. Then they will research the
game that they chose so that they will have information to create their final
project with. They will complete a
research template.
Activity #2: Students will explore the different tools that
they may use for this project. They will
spend time exploring them and then choose which tool they are going to use for
the final product.
Activity #3: Students
will make a project showcasing their game.
They will bring together their research from Activity #1 and the tool
they chose in Activity #2. This will be
the main proof of success!
Activity #4: Students will comment on the site blog and
engage in a conversation about games with other participants. This will be ongoing, and will require at
least 5 posts per participant (or 5 per group depending on age). They may also
post a video of them playing their game of choice if possible.
Exit Activity: Students and Instructors will take the exit
survey. This survey seeks to guide the
future development of this GPBL experience.
What are the learning objectives?
·
Students will communicate via blog
o
This will foster good digital citizenship.
·
Students will research their chosen game
o
This will create a knowledge base from which to
complete their project.
·
Students will create a multimedia presentation.
o
This will allow them to write and communicate
their personal identity.
o
If done with others it will foster
collaboration.
·
Students will develop a greater global awareness
of other students.
o
This will foster understanding of other
cultures.
What
are the standards that are addressed?
·
Common Core Writing Standard 6 This standard focuses on collaboration on
different levels with either face to face communication or a wide focus, which
this GPBL experience provides via learning to blog effectively.
·
Most of the ISTE NETS-S are also addressed in
this experience
Who?
Students are eligible from ages 5 to 19. The teacher will need to decide the
appropriate level of participation for their students. You are their teacher, and you know your
students best. If this is a group of 6
year olds then you might want to do this in a large group setting, discuss the
topics, and then input the information at another time and show the students
what they created. If this is a group of
14 year olds, this would be appropriate as a paired or even individual learning
experience as well.
The Project host is Dustin Ellis. Mr. Ellis is a 4th grade teacher
in Ventura County California, USA. I
love to play! During the year I like to
run, bike, play crazy games with my family, and video games with my children. I like all sorts of games, board games,
puzzles, crosswords, Sudoku, and especially trivia games! My students are a happy bunch, that love to
play all sorts of games too, and even more than play them they love to share
their games with each other. It is
common for these students to have long talks about baseball, Pokemon,
Minecraft, different card games, you name it, they love to play and share.
When?
This GPBL experience has two sessions during the year. The first session will be from October to
December, and the next will be January to March. You need not begin in the beginning or end at
the ending. These are windows of time,
and you can complete the project at your desired pace. Some will progress and finish rapidly and
others will need more time.
Why?
In the world that we live in it is clear to see that there
is much to be concerned about, but there is also much to be joyful about. We all get a smile out of watching a young
person wrapped in the fun of a game.
Seeing them make connections with others as they play! Play is universal, and it is something that
we can all share. If you were to ask a
young person to talk about their favorite game the response would be lengthy
and very detailed no doubt. This GPBL
experience seeks to share that joy and create connections where there were none
before, not by connecting cricket players all around the world, but by
connecting people that love to play, and expose them to the joy of games they
may or may not know about.
This experience is an effective first step into the world of
Global Learning. It is a safe, easy and
fun way to make connections with others that you would otherwise have no reason
to connect with.
I think this is a great idea Dustin! If there is one thing all kids are passionate about it's playing. I like the fact that it is not limited to certain types of games, such as outdoor, board games, or video games. This allows for you to reach all kids, not just certain kids. One question I did have though, was if once the projects are finished, are the students or teachers going to upload them to the GLP site to showcase them? Or maybe teachers can select just one or two from their class to showcase so the site does not become too crowded.
ReplyDeleteAnother question I had was with the pre activity where students take a survey. Where is that information going to go? Will it be displayed somewhere on the site? Or is it just for students to think about before they begin the project? I think it would be cool if there was a way to display this information in the form of a graph on your site to show how their class compares to other classes.
I was thinking that the final products would be submitted to me, and then I would conference with the participating teacher to decide on how many and which projects would be showcased.
DeleteI am also planning on displaying both the pre and post project surveys somewhere so that anyone can see the data in an interesting, useful way. I am hoping that this sharing of information might yield some interesting ah ha's.
Coming from a mom of an 8 year old, my son loves games! I think you chose a very good universal topic. I can't quite visualize what the final project would look like, as a teacher would I have examples to look at?
ReplyDeleteHa Ha, You aren't the only one who can't quite visualize this yet. I have the idea in my head. It is like a beautiful bird that I see flying around my house, but it has not yet been close enough to see the fine details. I hope and pray that it comes soon!!!
DeleteI think kids will really get excited about participating in your GLP! Will they be allowed to choose video games?
ReplyDeleteOne idea that might be fun is somehow allowing classes or students to collaborate, if they want, in the creation of the video or description of the game. I'm not sure if it's possible to set up the site to allow that, though.
I also like your idea to require a minimum number of posts because it will keep the site more active and keep teachers or students accountable.
I intentionally made this very open as far as the games go.. I think my GLP is more about play than games, but play is really an abstract concept whereas games are very concrete. The only thing that I am trying to steer away from are sports. Ms. Edgar from Cadre 20 did a GLP called Out Of Bounds (http://learningoutofbounds.weebly.com/) about sports. I learned about it after i conceived my original idea, and I am having a bit of a struggle dealing with the potential overlap of ideas. But Video games are absolutely okay as there are many kids who thrive in that world.
DeleteAurora and Loretta ask my two questions! I had doubts about the information gathered from the survey and how are you going to use it on the GLP. Also, I didn't quite get the idea of the final product of the GLP. Are the student publishing their creations on the project's website or what? Other than that you have a really dynamic and creative project Dustin!
ReplyDeleteYes, both the survey data and the projects will be displayed on the website. I had a hard time with this process, as I like to have a structure to 'hang my content on." I think as we move forward this will make much more sense, I think, I hope!
DeleteGreat job Dustin! I love the concept of your GLP. My question is, are you sure you want to have such a large age span...meaning 5 year olds collaborating with 19 year olds seems like a challenge. Are you planning on grouping participants by age? Or are you thinking the older students will be playing more of a mentoring role?
ReplyDeleteOhh Yes!! When they get into the blogging space they will be split up into different age groupings. Great eye. I figure ages 5 to 7 will be working with an adult, so I may need to modify the expectations and rules for different age groups. Ages 8 to 10 might need to be taught how to do this, 11 -14 might need to watch a vid or read a guide, and 15+ will just need to jump in and do it.
ReplyDeleteThe use of the "before" and "exit" survey is very important because it lets you know where each student will fall within their project and also let's you know if the project accomplished the original goal. Very well done. I wanted to ask how you or the teachers will monitor the activities? I might have missed that in your content.
ReplyDeleteNope, you didn't miss it. I am not totally sure yet. I am thinking of making it a bit of a local shepherd tends the flock and I oversee the shepherds, kind of affair. Maybe scheduled reminders at preselected intervals, and personal interactions as I move in and out of he project.?.?
DeleteDustin, would it help to choose one or two ISTE standards and then link their site to your GLP so that you don't have to write more? Maybe it will tempt teachers to join if they see the collaboration standard is located in more than one place- like it's an important one!
ReplyDeleteI do plan on including the ISTE standards here, but I am not sure if I want to "link out" to some other site. I think that I want to keep them on the page as much as possible. I am even thinking I may look for a blog that I can control and keep natively on my site (password protected and secure of course). I just think that sending them off the site may carry with it some unforeseen consequences that I am not prepared for, like leaving and not coming back.
Delete