Online Educational Games

Reflection

For the online educational game, we chose  Ice Ice Maybe, a game that teaches the player to estimate mathematical equations. The objective of the game consists of bringing the penguins on the other of the ocean by building an iceberg, which they will use to bounce on, in order to get to the other side. The iceberg is built through estimating the correct answer, using the pointer.

Creating the rubric became a challenge for the group when the concept of creativity was brought up. The factor that made it challenging is, when one of us asked, “How is creativity measured?” which followed by a statement that creativity is a perspective that every person has, parallel to the saying, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”  Yet in the end, we all agreed that creativity should be included in the rubric because it implies whether an online educational game is unique or not.

Since my content area is music, I am not able to apply the mathematical aspect of this game. However, it is possible to apply the game’s format if it was in the concept of ear training. For example, using the pointer to make an iceberg, instead of calculating, the student will listen carefully to the given rhythm and will point to the correct time signature, thus making an iceberg in time for the penguins to bounce on.

As stated by Hong et. Al (2012), when children are interested in activities which offer suitable challenges that correspond to their competences, focus their attention, or enjoy their engagements, their interest in the activity will increase, and they tend to learn better than those individuals who do not have such interests. This game holds a lot of interests in terms of fun, the animation itself takes away that feeling of pressure from a classroom, but to just play the game. I believe that this game can keep a student engaged with Math without them even realizing it. I have observed in my job site, in multiple occasions, that students are more engaged when the interests, that is within their age level, are present in the lesson.

In conclusion, I agree with the use of online educational games and would potentially use it in my lesson planning, as an additional assessment or alternative and it can be included as a daily log in or evidence of independent practice. This assignment has allowed me to realize as a teacher that I should incorporate more technology in my lesson planning and also this is a perfect example of standard 2C and 2E in NETS*T, which covers accuracy and suitability, as well as setting the learning environment in the classroom. Online educational games, such as Ice Ice Maybe, is a good way to keep students engaged in learning, while keeping the aspect of fun along with learning. 

Ice Ice Maybe. Retrieved from http://www.mangahigh.com/en/games/iceicemaybe

Hong, J., Hwang, M., Hsu, T., & Chen, Y. (2012). The Relations between Students' Anxiety and Interest in Playing an Online Game. Turkish Online Journal Of Educational Technology - TOJET, 11(2), 255-263.