Tag Archives: gamification

by | March 12, 2019 · 11:33 am

Merge Cube

Merge Cube is an Augmented Reality square that applies realistic graphics and 3D models with which users can engage (available on iOS or Android) using both free and paid apps on a mobile device. Merge Cube, along with available apps, allows users to apply a different interface to their experience.
Some apps are simple viewers while others are “gamified” and/or more interactive.

You can even print and make your own paper merge cube or make a giant sized ‘class’ cube (I’d recommend using a slightly heavier card or print on paper and glue to cardstock). For full instructions, a video and printable template, visit the Merge Cube Website Support page via the link here.

Galactic Explorer

The opportunity to hold an object in your hands, rotate it, make choices about how you interact with it can lead to a a richer learning experience and deeper engagement. The merge cube allows you and your students to have a somewhat more authentic experience than holding a static model ever could! Imagine students in a biology class holding the beating human heart in your hands, moving it to see how it looks from various angles and even looking deep inside the heart to see the vessels. Students in Math can create and view geometric models. Physics students might create models of molecules or elements, Bio students might design strings of DNA!

In Merge, you can also upload your own 3D models! We know that moving from simple consumption through to creation has learning value. The trend to prototyping and 3D printing in classrooms and libraries as had me thinking a lot about the waste involved in 3D printing and prototyping. I think there is value in creating using Tinkercad or other 3D modelling software, uploading the model to Merge and carefully viewing all dimensions of your model BEFORE or even INSTEAD of Printing. That way, we’re only printing what is ‘needed’, useful or has value.

The following have some free access (for others, you’ll need a Merge EDU paid account.)

  • Object Viewer 
      • If you have students build their own 3d model, they can use this app to hold it and view them from any angle. You’ll need both a free TinkerCad account and a Merge Edu Account (free allows 5 uploads).
      • CREATE!!!
        • Create a 3D object at TinkerCad (you can also use Sketchup or CoSpaces)
        • In Tinkercad, select the “Send to” button on the top right
        • Select “MergeEdu” (you can also share to a Thingaverse account)
        • MergeEdu will open in a new tab. Follow on-screen instructions.

        1. Launch a Merge App
        2. Allow camera and photo access
        3. Enter your model code  if needed **first time only**
        4. Engage with the Merge Cube

    MERGE. Getting Started (2017).

    MERGE. Math with the Merge Cube (2018).

Email, RSS Follow

Leave a Comment

Filed under AR & VR, Engineering, Math, Not Subject Specific, Resources, Science, Technology, The Arts

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , ,

by | February 13, 2019 · 9:43 am

Survive the Sound

“Survive the Sound” allows you and your students to digitally experience the great migration of salmonids (chinook, coho and steelhead) as they make their way through Puget Sound to the Pacific Ocean. As an educator, your class can use this gamified experience that sources real data to observe and track them as they fight the odds of survival.. Should you choose, your class can even sponsor real fish through donations to a US based non-profit.

Not every class can have access to live salmon in the classroom to study their life cycle, but through Survive the Sound they can engage with the real-world and watch the “bigger picture” of living things interacting and responding to their environment. Even for students who have the privilege of raising salmon in the classroom, this provides an extension and peek into the world their little fry will one day hopefully inhabit. Students can hypothesize what might happen to their fish, view the environmental and human impact on migrations, and even learn about and demonstrate the probability of a steelhead’s survival.

Survive the sound supports BC Curriculum Big Ideas related to the interaction of organisms with their environment. From the Grade 3 Big Idea, “Living things are diverse, can be grouped, and interact in their ecosystems,” to the Grade 7 Big Idea, “Evolution by natural selection provides an explanation for the diversity and survival of living things.” 

***AS A CLASS, I recommend focusing on the educational impact of this difficult migration and less on the competitive side since the odds are not in the salmons’ favour. Students might make predictions of what might have happened to their fish, tell the first-person perspective as the fish, thoughtfully engage with the continued life cycle or impact that the greater environment has from a fish passing.

Some possible inquiry questions: How does this one fish support a food web? How do commercial fishing or fish farms impact the migration of that fish? What advantages or disadvantages does this fish have over other species or groups that migrate? What is our motivation for supporting/saving salmon?

*of interest: Survive the Sound is sponsored by local indigenous groups in Puget Sound.

Teachers should visit the classroom page to sign up and create a team for free.

There are 3 ways to get involved:

  1. Sponsor a fish and individually
    • If you simply have a favorite steelhead (or 5 favorite steelhead) you want to support and follow, this is the best way. Click on your favorite fish at SurvivetheSound.org, click “pick me,” and scroll to the bottom to click the continue button.
  2. Join a team
    • This is the least costly way to get the Survive the Sound experience. The only catch is, you don’t get to pick a fish unless you reach the team’s next $25 fundraising milestone. To join a team, go to SurvivetheSound.org, scroll down to the “Join a Team” section, find the team you want to contribute to and click “join.”
  3. Create a team
    • This is the option that allows you to create your own team name and invite others to contribute. Go to SurvivetheSound.org, scroll down to the “Join a Team” section, and click “Create a Team.” Then pick a “captain fish” to represent your team and specify a name. After you check out, you can invite your friends to join by clicking “invite friends.”

NOW WHAT?

Visit Stream to Sea or https://www.salmonidsintheclassroom.ca/ for BC resources and information about raising salmon in your own classroom.

Use the Educational Resources provided by Survive the Sound or get creative with how you want students to engage with this platform. Many of the resources focus on American Geography so you will have to adapt it to create British Columbia relevant materials. The list below is an example of the resources available:

  • Puget Sound’s Place in the Salish Sea and Salmon and Steelhead 101
  • Watersheds
  • Food Webs
  • Steelhead and Salmon Survival
  • Stewardship

 

Email, RSS Follow

Leave a Comment

Filed under Resources

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , ,

Gallery

Games: purpose and potential in education

Let my playing be my learning, and my learning be my playing. -Johan Huizinga

Games and play are typically overlooked (Prensky, 2001) by many as a way for students to learn. As defined by Sharp (2012), stealth learning is “when an instructor uses clever, disguised ways to introduce learning objectives through non-traditional tools, such as games, to encourage students to have fun and learn”. Game-based learning allows teachers to incorporate ‘stealth learning’ in the classroom. Like game-based learning, gamification is a way to infuse play into the classroom. Gamification is “applying typical elements of game playing (e.g., point scoring, competition with others, rules of play) to other areas of activity” (Davis, 2014).

Based on Prensky (2001), game based learning can be used for:

  • Material that is dry and/or technical
  • Challenging subject matter
  • Audiences that are hard to reach
  • Developing critical thinking skills
  • Strategy development and communication.

game-259109_640

Some of the benefits of gaming in the classroom include increased memory, class performance, social benefits, and improving the transfer of learning (Sharp, 2012). The social benefits of play include building social competence and confidence in dealing with peers (Singer et al., 2006). Playing games is also essential to children’s ability to regulate their behaviors and emotions (Singer et al., 2006). By playing games, students learn that rules are a part of our daily lives (Sharp, 2012). However, unstructured playtime may be limited in today’s standards and outcomes driven classrooms. For example, some schools have reduced or cut out recess altogether, while others have reduced lunch break hours. Interestingly enough, a Quebec elementary school has introduced a one-year pilot project on a near-complete ban on homework, with the goal to ease pressure on parents and to improve student performance (Shingler, 2014).

Resources:

References:

Davis, V. (2014). A Guide to Game-Based Learning. Retrieved 5 December 2014, from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/guide-to-game-based-learning-vicki-davis

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Game-Based Learning. Retrieved from http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Ch1-Digital%20Game-Based%20Learning.pdf

Sharp, L. (2012). Stealth Learning: Unexpected Learning Opportunities Through Games. Journal of Instructional Research, 1, 42-48. Retrieved from https://cirt.gcu.edu/jir/documents/2012-v1/sharppdf

Shingler, B. (2014). Less work, more play: Quebec elementary school bans homework for the year. Retrieved 9 December 2014, from http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/less-work-more-play-quebec-elementary-school-bans-homework-for-the-year/article20295710/

Singer, D. G., Golinkoff, R. M., Hirsh-Pasek, K., & MyiLibrary. (2006). Play=learning: How play motivates and enhances children’s cognitive and social-emotional growth. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press.

Email, RSS Follow

Leave a Comment

by | December 10, 2014 · 11:07 am