- November 25th, 2009
Manga High
- Brian Clark
- Comments: 3 Comments »Tags: cfe, games based learning, glasgow, mangahigh, mathematics, maths, Numeracy, online
Hello, World!
First of all, let me introduce myself. I am Brian Clark- new Development Officer at the Consolarium. I am Principal Teacher of Computing at Portobello High School in Edinburgh and have just started this Games Based Learning secondment with LTS.
Day 1 (well, day 2 actually)
First job took me to the Manga High training day at the Savoy Centre in Glasgow with my esteemed colleague, and fellow DO, Mr Brian McLaren. We spent the morning with 10 Glasgow based maths teachers who are going to pilot Manga High in their schools.
The Manga High team have developed a series of games for the 10-16 age group that requires the application of mathematical concepts from the first click of the ‘Play Now’ button. It is one of the first games based learning tools I have seen that really challenges pupils of all abilities, and, importantly, it is presented in a modern, accessible and flash based format that regular users of miniclip.com are familiar with.
“Mangahigh’s unique game-based learning system brings out the mathematician in ALL students who love games.”
Let The Games Begin
Here are a few of the games that we were introduced to ….
Flower Power
The maths team take on an ordering game. Can you do better? How much can you harvest? How much can you make?
It’s amazing how the quickly contest hotted up! Try it yourself.
Ice Ice Baby
It’s all about estimation! Guess correctly, or should I say, guess as close to the correct answer as you can, and you can save our little Antartician friends! Save the peguins!
These are just 2 examples of the activites MangaHigh have created. You can try all the games here.
But, that’s not all…
So, the games themselves require application of maths from the beginning (did you try the Pyramid Panic game? Wow! Talk about real problem solving with real maths), but what makes MangaHigh an exciting development is Prodigi.
Prodigi provides lessons and questions based on the ability of the pupils. The questions are generated based on how well pupils perform in the games. This can all be monitored by the teacher using the Analytics tool. More detailed information can be found here.
The Pilot Schools
The 10 Glasgow schools invovled in the pilot are developing impelmentation strategies for various year groups. Some of the ways the schools are planning to use Manga High include :
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setting homework
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teaching a new mathematical concept
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revision and reinforcement of taught concepts
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a tool to increase motivation in class
What was really encouraging to hear was that the maths staff were discussing the application of MangaHigh at all stages from S1 up to Higher. There was also great discussion about how to implement MangaHigh a classroom that did not have 20+ computers. One great idea was to use an interactive whiteboard and an electronc voting system – really looking forward to following that particular implementation up!
In terms of CfE, there are so many specific outcomes this games based approach to maths covers. There are the obvious links to the Numeracy Accross Learning and Mathematics outcomes. Also, within Technologies, it tackles many of the outomes that focus on ICT to Enhance Learning.
Brian McL and I will be following each schools implementation of this over the coming weeks and will update you on their experiences.
Categories Consolarium, Numeracy
[...] looking at ManagHigh with my colleague Brian McLaren and 10 Glasgow Maths [...]
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Great post!!!