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?
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…..
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 :
setting homework
teaching a new mathematical concept
revision and reinforcement of taught concepts
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.
Being involved with and leading the games based learning initiatives with the Consolarium is great fun but it is also a great experience in terms of meeting teachers who take some of our ideas forward and then really make the realisation of such projects their own. We are finding that in doing so, these teachers are setting the standard for the use of some of the games. Names that immediately spring to mind in this regard include Kim Aplin and subsequently Ollie Bray with Guitar Hero and Anna Rossvoll, Ruth McDonald and Michelle Law with Nintendogs as well as many others who have taken this on and extended the practice of the appropriate integration of computer games into teaching and learning. I’d now like to add another name to this list and introduce Margaret Young to everyone. A teacher at Port of Mentieth PS near Stirling Margaret has been using Moshi Monsters with her P.1 – P.3 class. I wrote about Moshi Monsters a wee while back due to my interest being stirred when I watched my wee girls using it last summer. It reminded me of Nintendogs in the way it replicated much of what that game does in terms of looking after a virtual creature: ensuring it was healthy and happy as well as managing a budget. However, Moshi Monsters has problem solving, early literacy and numeracy tasks all embedded into the game play as well as the facility to introduce social networking to children via a friends finder and a noticeboard. However, this game was freely available (although an enhanced experience via subscription is now on offer) and can be used by anyone that has an computer with an internet connection.
I have been working on ways in which we could try an extended pilot for Moshi Monsters but while I have been doing that Margaret Cassidy, ICT Development Officer in Stirling decided to try it out with one of her teachers. She introduced the idea to Margaret Young at Port of Menteith PS and since the initial presentation of the idea the most fantastic set of associated rich learning tasks has just flourished.
I had the great pleasure of visiting the class last Wednesday morning and within 5 minutes I was captivated and enchanted by what I was seeing and hearing and I found myself like a child in a sweet-shop in terms of not knowing where to look in terms of the quality learning that was happening.
I had a discussion with Margaret about how she got involved in the project, how she managed it and what added value she feels it has brought to learning in her class and to her continuing professional development.
The game at the heart of the learning experience
The most prevalent method that we employ in our Consolarium initiatives usually involves the game becoming the contextual hub about which learning experiences are planned for and presented to the children. This gives the teacher the freedom and flexibility to combine curricular areas and present learning tasks via the creation of a collaborative story or a process of enquiry. The flexibility of such an approach allows the teacher to accommodate any ideas and questions that come from the children as a result of their experiences and interests arising from the learning tasks. This is exactly what Margaret has done with Moshi. as from the following examples you will see that the game really became the beating heart of the rich learning in the class.
Writing
Very many contexts for writing were facilitated by the game. These included writing adverts to sell your Moshi Monster’s house, writing to explain the desing of flags made to represent Monstro City as well as news flashes about what has been happening in Monstro City itself. I was particularly impressed by the idea of making a tourist information leaflet for visitors to refer to if they were planning a visit to Monstro City. Have a look at how the teacher did this:
…and have a look at some their adverts:
Talking and listening
An engaging debate was cultivated in the classroom when the question of whether or not the children should allow new building work to be permitted on Flutterby Fields: a beautiful fun place to be in Monstro City. The teacher talked about the development of the children’s thinking and their ability to consider and reflect on opposing points of view in this task and even how some children changed their minds as a result of the discussions and arguments put forward by their peers.
Encouraging problem solving in maths
In order to function in the game you must visit the Hall of Puzzles. This is packed full of puzzles that engagement with rewards you with Rox, the currency in Monstro City. The more Rox you have then the more you can spend in the various shops that you can visit. The puzzles are particularly engaging and the children were all very keen to tell me what their high scores were at many of the different puzzle that are available. The teacher has worked with the children to set up the Hall of Puzzles in the class. This became a really appealing ‘den’ in the classroom for the children to visit and explore a range of puzzles and games with each other. Have a look at how this was done:
Design and Technology
The children were asked to think about what kind of shops should be in Monstro City. These ideas were then brought to reality as the children made their own models of their shops from card, paper and other materials. Have a look:
Animation
Children are naturally creative. They have ideas. One of the superb aspects of learning with ICT is that it gives young learners the vehicle through which they can express their creativity and ideas and in doing so develop their ICT skills set. They can also have a positive impact on planning, presentation and awareness of audience. Here we have one example of a stop motion animation created by two 6 year old children. Just look at what they can do….
They also used Crazy Talk to bring to life their Monster characters that had been created in Art & Design.
Keeping connected and being safe
One of the benefits of using this resource is that children can keep connected. One child in this class spends six months of the year in Scotland and six months in New Zealand. Currently in her antipodean abode she can keep in touch with the class via her noticeboard. As Moshi Monsters is freely available to anyone (see their safety policy) there is an issue in terms of ensuring that the children are not exposed to any inappropriate contact. The teacher and the class decided to use a special code for the duration of the project and this meant that they could only accept a friend request if this code was in the name of the person requesting to make friends. This meant that the community was kept to the classroom and any worries about unknown people becoming involved with the children in the classroom context were fully addressed.
There has been some concern about children wanting to play with their Moshi Monster for far too long at home. Incentives to jump up the levels and to ensure that your Monster is happy and healthy in the game play need to be maintained and balanced in terms of appropriate time spent on the game. Lessons need to be learned about what the Consolarium can do to ensure that parents are fully informed about such initiatives, what benefits they can bring to their child’s learning but also what the school and the home need to do to ensure that children understand that too much of one thing is not necessarily good for them. Everything in moderation is a lesson that we can help children learn.
Maybe Moshi Monsters also need to consider ways in which children can withdraw from the game for periods of time without their lack of engagement with their monster leading to its demise! Something akin to the ‘dog hotel’ in Nintendogs wouldn’t go amiss here.
A delightful time at Port of Menteith was most certainly had by me. Rich learning, happy and motivated children, innovative teachers and a Headteacher willing to allow informed risks with new ideas and approaches in the use of ICT and games, in this example, to happen in his school.
Superb stuff and very many thanks to all at Port of Mentieth PS and Stirling Council for enabling such innovative work to take place. Now, how do I make an extended study of this work….?
Move over Dr Kawashima there is a new Professor in town! Yes, Professor Kageyama is about to hit your DS screen with his Maths Training programme. Due out next week this ‘game’ is similar to Dr Kawashima in the sense that it is meant to be played for a short time each day. As the player develops their profile the game adjusts to their level and opens new games to challenge them. Have a look:
This game will most definitley merit exploration to see how if, and how best, it can be applied in the class setting. It remains to be seen if Professor Kageyama is as engaging as Dr Kawashima and whether the game play facilitates the same kind of desire to self-improve in the learner. Just a few more days until it’s released and then we can talk about how numerate we all are!!! Let us know how you get on with it if you do buy a copy. Your thoughts about its application in class are also most welcome.
..so says Stephen Heppell in his Back and Forth article in the Guardian (18/09/07). Stephen came up to visit Dundee a few months back and I took him to see the children that I had worked with on my Nintendo DS Dr. Kawashima project. He was very interested in what had happened in the project and he summarised it this way:
“It will be no surprise to readers that performances got better in some key areas of the curriculum, but new orders of merit also emerged as unexpected performances showed new and unrecognised potential. Being brainy became cool, too, and it has been quite a while since schools students regarded anything related to school technology as cool.”
Full details of the project can be found at the Kawashima Case study within the Consolarium’s sharing practice area.
We delivered a seminar presentation about this project at the Scottish Learning Festival. There was great interest about what happened and added value in terms of the DHT from the school that I worked with talking about how he and the school feels that there has been a longer term affect on the dynamic of the class as a result of the project.
The more I talk about this project the more I am hearing of other teachers talking about using the Nintendo DS in the class. If so what are you doing with it? Let us know.
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