Readers,
In this week's post I'd like to start by saying the students are really responding well to the Quest program that I've mentioned in the past. They are scoring high and are starting to figure out the expectations, how it effects their grades, as well as how to best handle glitches in the program. I'm very happy with my school's choice of program for online homework.
For today's post I want to discuss a new experience in the online blended world we live in. Last week, myself and 3 other math teachers at the high school I work at, were chosen to participate in a study. The study is for a computer programming game that could improve the engagement level of students of all ages. It starts by teaching them basic computer programming skills, then moves on to a specific learning objective.
The premise of the game is that you are a Mars Rover and you need to complete different objectives to progress through the game. The programs walks students through basic computer programming, and then you use programming to learn your teaching objective. In this case, the program revolved around slope-intercept form in mathematics.
The goal of the study is to test the engagement level of students. If the engagement level turns out to be better than typical methods used in today's classroom, the Mars game could progress to a national level and be tried out in not only math classrooms, but move into english, science, and any other subject area imaginable.
One half of the students in the study take a pre test, work on the game for about an hour, then take the post test. The other half take the pre test, work on IXL (which is a common math program used throughout the country) then take the post test.
I'm excited to know the results, of which I will blog about next week!
Erin,
ReplyDeleteThis sounds intriguing. At the middle school level we were using Labyrinth which is a math game for that level. Students were allowed to play the game as a reward on Fridays if they earned it. I'd be curious to know how your students are doing? Can they play at home or only at school. Do you think it shows promise with your students?
Erin, this is really interesting. This type of model really works to tie engagement to academic achievement, which would actually make a big case for the increased use of technology as a learning tool (as a hard gain, measurable number). I'm interested to see how this works, and what the outcomes are. Thanks for sharing!
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