Year 4 Science this term is all about interdependence within ecosystems. As teachers, we had recognised when we were planning for this unit that the use of several gaming apps had the potential to support inquiry in this unit. When we say ‘inquiry’ we are looking at skills such as the students being able to identify questions we might explore and to predict outcomes. We are also interested in them being able to collect data and represent results and findings and then being able to communicate their ideas.
Games are interesting aren’t they? They are certainly part of children’s culture. They are also however, the subject of suspicion and cynicism from the older generation. When talking to our parents at the last Parent Information Night for the BYO Trial class, I made the point that an engaged child is a child more likely to learn. I also made the point that we need to value the teachers in our midst who attempt to harness the potential of games in education. At the very least, these teachers are adding another tool to their tool box of strategies and by having a range of strategies they are increasing the chances of reaching more children – by engaging them and in doing so potentially deepening their understanding.
Interesting things to realise about games:
- Children are clearly motivated and engaged by the use of gaming.
- Watch children playing games and you will witness resilience, perseverance, a growth mind set, collaborative learning and communication.
- There are lots of other things to like about gaming – for example, there is a clear link between actions and feedback which leads to improvement in performance and they often place the user in situations where they are solving problems. Games also seem to tap into the natural instinct to learn.
- There are many games that have educational value and often all that is needed is an educational context to be applied to them. This article here which I read this week reinforces this.
Initially, in this unit we used an app called “Pangea Safari” to provide a context for children to explore the food chains and emerging food webs visible within this ecosystem. What was interesting about this experience for me was that many of the children had already explored this app and had gained from it what we had planned for them to gain from it before we even started the lesson. They were easily able to create a map in Popplet or Explain Everything that documented the food chains that emerged from their observations and interactions with the game. Our job was then to differentiate effectively by providing an extension activity for those who needed it.
It made me wonder about games and their true potential in a learning situation. Jason and I discussed that for teachers, the major difficulty here lies with us being able to document this learning, capture it and match it to assessment outcomes. Being immersed in a gaming environment can provide opportunities for all sorts of learning – this may include what we plan for but all kinds of other learning that may or may not be just as important or even more so. Our job as teachers is to harness this potential and shape the use of the game so that we are able to document the learning.
‘TOPIA’ is the next app we are using to support learning within this unit. TOPIA is a much more sophisticated app which allows the user to create a world with all the geographical features they wish to include. They then have to add animals and plants to it and achieve a balance of elements within the ecosystem. Our experiences using this app are for my next blog post!
If you are interested in finding out more about the potential of games – please view Jane McGonigal’s TED talk below:
Jane McGonigal – ‘TED’ Talk on ‘Gaming can Make a Better World’