Mario Kart Competition @ SLF10

Calling all Jenson Button and Lewis Hamiltons of the future.

Would you like to race head to head, in front of a live audience and win the title of

SLF10 MarioKarter Champion ?

This year at SLF10 there will be a Mario Kart Grand Prix for Primary and Secondary pupils.  In order to qualify you must be in the top 4 verified time trial times.

Teachers must submit a photo of a pupil’s verified Time Trial time. These times will be logged on a leader board held on the Consolarium Glow Group and blog so you can track your position against the whole of Scotland. The four fastest primary pupils and four fastest secondary pupils will be invited, with  school representatives, to compete in a live race final at SLF10.  In order to submit a qualifying time you must run your time trial according to the criteria below.

A picture of the complete time trial showing character, kart and time should be forwarded to b.mclaren@ltscotland.org.uk

The four fastest pupils from each sector will then race head to head in the

50cc Mushroom Cup Grand Prix

in front of a live audience at SLF10.

The driver with the most amount of points at the end of the Grand Prix will be the winner and crowned Mario Kart Champion SLF10 and win a Wii and copy of Mario Kart for their school.

The closing date for verified Time Trial times is September  3^rd 2010.  Qualifiers will be contacted after this date.

Have you thought about using MarioKart in your class as a contextual hub or topic?  Check out the Consolarium Glow Group for ideas on how you might do this.  You might also want to think about how you might use MarioKart in subject specific lessons also.  Share your thoughts on the Discussion Board at the Wii, Mario Kart section of the Consolarium Glow Group.

We also have a small number of MarioKart kits (console, software and controllers) available on loan until SLF10.  If you are interested in receiving one on loan send us a summary of how you would use it and what you feel the impact would be upon your pupils. Our team will get together and examine all bids and decide upon the lucky applicants.  Please send bids to b.mcmlaren@ltscotland.org.uk and ensure all bids are with us by Monday March 8th.

It’s always a treat to visit classes where the imagination and creativity of teachers and pupils has driven  engaging and effective learning and teaching. But shh! What’s that noise? Can anyone else hear the drums?

 Can you hear the drums?

I think we had better take a look around, follow me as we climb this hill for a look around.  Wow! what a panorama – look at all the animals..

Every child I spoke to was enthused and motivated by their topic, as was every teacher. You want creative and imaginative writing? It’s there, from a range of different characters and viewpoints. Functional writing? How many reports, factsheets, biographies would you like? Listening and talking? Interviews, presentations with movies, audio, photographs….

In mathematics the children were learning about measurement in a range of scales (15o kg of elephant poo anyone?) How tall is a giraffe? If an elephant was 2d what would its area be ? Can we draw it to scale in the playground? If we know that can we work out the volume of an elephant? So many mathematical questions.  How far away is the Safari we are going on?  How will we get there, will we fly and how much will that cost? and on and on and on; learning in context

I saw a variety of media and tribal art where the visiting specialists were involved in the planning and delivery, music teachers teaching tribal drumming and African chants, Masai warrior dances by children in Masai robes and class made jewellery.  I heard abou the significance of the jewellery in the different cultures and at every step the use of a range of technology enhanced and extended the learning going on.

And don’t even get me started on co-operation and collaboration as teams completed assignments together and presented their findings, reports and thoughts together.  The desire of the pupils to show their work and explain it’s significance and what they had learned was excellent, not just to me but to other classes and their parents and carers.  I saw children explaining food webs to their visitors, anything you wanted to know about a particular animal? Just ask the resident experts…..

Over the last wee while I have been visiting schools to see the impact of some ongoing projects.  I visited Tullos Primary in Aberdeen where a class of primary 6 children have been undertaking a Wild Earth African Safari.  I popped in to see a primary 3 class in Dingwall Primary working on a Nintendogs project and then off to Alvie Primary in Kincraig near Aviemore where a composite p 3/4/5 were taking on their own African Safari.

In Tullos Primary the teacher undertaking the project spoke about her experience at an InService day and the rest of the staff were so impressed by the potential that they will be purchasing gaming technology of their own so games based learning can be extended throughout the school.

In Dingwall primary the children have been using their Nintendogs to enhance and improve literacy. Both management and class teacher have been amazed by the impact and how the desire to write and reach an audience outside the school, through their blog, has moved the learning of all the class forward.

From Alvie Primary the teacher has tied the whole experience together as an enterprise Activity and will showcase the work for parents in a Safari afternoon.  She also reckons that when the wii is returned to the Consolarium it will have a whole class of children attached to it who will not let it go!

In all classes I was met with enthusiasm and engagement and a joy about learning.  In the Guardian newspaper last week Professor Stephen Heppell  comments that ,

“Play is something that ICT has been bringing into learning from the very beginning.  ICT in learning holds the potential to bring back playfulness and engagement…”

     Guardian, Tuesday 8th December, Education Supplement

The Games based learning approach taps straight into this potential and, for those of us working in the Consolarium, we are lucky enough to see practical examples of the impact of this everywhere we go.  Share the joy!  If you and your class or school are using games based learning then please let us know and share your good practice.

“No man is an island”

John Donne espoused that we are all connected and I think that we are all the better for it.  Having connections whether familial, social or professional enriches all that we do and extends, supports and challenges us.

I have been thinking recently about the way my learning has changed now that I am no longer in a school setting and how much I relied on the people in my school staff to bounce ideas off, to rant to, to use the experience of and to laugh with.  Now that I no longer have a physical staffroom to use I have found myself using the skills and knowledge of a different set of people in a very different way.  I have a virtual staffroom, open 24hrs a day containing a set of people from all over the world, with a huge array of skills and experience which I can tap into, and who generously share their learning.  I use Twitter.  There, I’ve said it and it doesn’t make me a bad person!

One of the first people I was in contact with in my very early days of twitter was Caroline Breyley, the headteacher of Burravoe Primary School on the Island of Yell, the second largest of the Shetland Isles. 

 She and her class were considering the use of Wild Earth: African Safari for the Wii and wondered if it would be a worthwhile context for learning.  Through the work they have shared with me it is clear that they have been involved in a very engaging, motivating and successful piece of learning.   I had the great privilege of meeting the children online at the tail end of last week.  We set up a Glowmeet and through the use of this technology children over 400 miles away, including at least one flight and a ferry, could share the fantastic work they had done with me in real time and get immediate feedback.  Go and visit the Burravoe Primary School blog, read about life in their school and read the “Brilliant Story” by Charlotte in  p3.

Through the use of technology available to those in Scottish Education our children have access to an immediate national audience for their work, Glow groups, glow meet, CANVAS and a host of blogs allow our children the opportunity to share their work and receive feedback .  We should all be sharing our practice and seeking feedback on the work we do and providing constructive feedback on the work of others. We cannot afford to be islands.

New to the post!

A quick introduction; I am Brian McLaren and I am the new Consolarium Development Officer.  Three weeks into the job and my head is beginning to stop spinning.  I am amazed by the energy and application of everyone I have met so far and I am really looking forward to supporting and sharing the good practice going on in schools.

I am currently looking into the potential of a number of games for classroom use including “Little Big Planet” for PS3, “Wild Earth African Safari” and “SimAnimals” for Wii. 

If you have any experience of using these games in your class or are keen to do so please feel free to contact me.  I am also keen to hear of your experiences using Games Based Learning in your class and would love to see some pics of your success.

My email is B.McLaren@LTScotland.org.uk

At the Consolarium we have just bought a copy of Boogie for the Nintendo Wii. We’re really interested in exploring this game due to the active engagement that is required form the player. Similar to Singstar and even some dance mat applications this game looks as though it will be great fun to play but it looks as though there are possibilities of retrofitiing this across a range of educational contexts.

Have a quick look:

If you are interested in finding out more about this or feel that this game could make a positive impact on learning in your setting then please let us know.