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Make Connections Games for the Classroom
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Make Connections Games for the Classroom

by Peggy Reimers
written by Peggy Reimers

Have you ever been addicted to a game and wanted to include it in your teacher toolbox? Well, Connections is my current game addiction. Hopefully, by now you have played this game! It’s the second most popular game from the New York Times. Are you wondering if Connections holds hidden educational potential? Well, the answer is: YES! And it can certainly engage your students. If you’re intrigued by the idea, or even if the concept is new to you, explore this one-stop shop for Connections as a versatile tool for the classroom. 

What is Connections?

NYT connections is a game where you put words into categories!
The Original from the New York Times

The granddaddy of all the Connections games started with the New York Times and the author is Wyna Liu. In this game, you organize 16 words into four categories of four words each. Each group is linked by a common theme. For example, you might choose the words cow, zebra, dalmatian, and panda. In this case, the connection might be “Animals that are black and white.” Words can be connected by anything, from starting letters to rhyming words to words that mean the same thing and more. There are usually some tricky words sprinkled in to throw you off. For the NYT Connections game, you are allowed to make only four wrong guesses before the game is forfeited. Each group is assigned a color which is revealed when you choose the four words correctly.

  • Yellow – Easiest and usually straightforward
  • Green – not immediately obvious
  • Blue – Increased level of complexity but not as difficult as purple
  • Purple – Tricky

Of course, all these descriptions are upended because success also depends on your ability to: 

  • identify patterns
  • visual acuity
  • logical reasoning
  • strong vocabulary
  • life experiences

You might wonder why I included life experiences on the list. The best way to explain this is to give you a few examples:

  1. If you could easily group “stick, jack, marble, and domino” together, you just might be a baby boomer, as these are parts of classic kids’ games.
  1. If “lab, peke, pit, and pom” stick together like glue in your brain, you probably are a dog lover, as these four informally identify dog breeds.
  1. Grouping “common, future, ice cube, and q-tip” together likely means you love rap music. 

How can Connections benefit students?

Connections can be used in the classroom for students to practice an array of skills. Here are some ideas for the types of skills and concepts students can practice with this game:

Grammar and Mechanics:

  • Verbs: Identify past tense verbs and specific verb conjugations.
  • Nouns: Recognize different noun types (common, proper, singular, plural) or categorize nouns based on theme.
  • Adjectives: Match synonyms or antonyms. Or match adjectives based on a specific theme (e.g., colors describing clothes, emotions describing people, ways to describe taste, etc.) or keep it general.
  • Prepositions: Identify prepositions or match prepositions to their corresponding spatial relationships (e.g., above, below, behind).
  • Pronouns: Teach different pronoun types (subject, object, possessive) or match pronouns to their antecedents.
  • Prefixes or compound words: Words can be grouped by syllables. Compound words, or even words with the same root, can be identified. The sky is the limit!

Vocabulary Development:

  • Synonyms and Antonyms: Find synonyms or antonyms for given words, helping students understand shades of meaning.
  • Word Families: Build vocabulary by identifying words with the same root or base word.
  • Figurative Language: Introduce concepts like similes, metaphors, or personification, matching examples to their definitions.
  • Category: To build vocabulary, students can match words based on similar categories, such as shapes, colors, animals, professions, places (objects found at school, for example), and more.

Science and Social Studies:

  • General Knowledge: Connect concepts from different topics, such as animals, plants, weather, history, geography, and government.
  • Scientific Classification: Design puzzles where students connect terms based on scientific classification systems (e.g., kingdom, phylum, class, order, etc.).
  • Historical Events: Make connections between historical figures, events, or dates.

Thinking Skills:

  • Logic and Deduction: Create connections following a specific logical pattern or sequence. For example, the connection could be the number of letters in words, which vowels they each have, etc.
  • Critical Thinking: Design puzzles that require analysis and reasoning to find connections between seemingly unrelated concepts.
  • Problem-solving: Encourage creative thinking to find solutions and make connections within the game’s framework.

Now that you have some ideas for using connections with content, let’s explore some exciting digital resources.

Connections Resources for Teachers

1. Connections+ 

If you are late to the party and want to play the past NYT Connections, you should definitely visit Connections+. The website houses every game created starting with #1 on June 12, 2023. It is important to note that Connections+ is not affiliated in any way with the New York Times. This site is the ultimate site for Connections fans! It has three important pieces: the NYT Archives, Community, and Create, which allows you to create your own game.

Connections+ is a website with a community, archived connections games, and creation tool. Create classroom Connections games!

Yes, as if having the whole archive isn’t fabulous enough, you can create your own games in a flash. Just click on the pink create button. Enter a game name, the author name, the four category descriptions, and the four clues. You can make the game private or add your game to the Community. 

2. Custom Connections

Custom connections gives you the opportunity to custom build connections games for your classroom.
Screenshot by Emily Horn | Custom Connections Home Page

Custom Connections was created by Claire Wang. This is a very straightforward Connections game-maker site. You can title your game, and the colors match the official New York Times version. For each category, you will enter a title and the four items. At the bottom, you copy the game link to share with others. Bonus – if you make a mistake, you can update, and the link will still work. 

3. Swellgarfo’s Create a Puzzle

Swellgarfo offers a free and simple connections creation tool.
Screenshot by Emily Horn | Swellgarfo’s Connections Home Page

Swellgarfo.com offers a convenient online tool to craft personalized puzzles inspired by the New York Times daily Connections game. It offers the same basic setup as Custom Connections. 

4. Flippity- Coming soon!

I also contacted Steve at Flippity.com. He has this feature on his Flippity to-do list. He let me know he is looking forward to the summer release of a connections-like puzzle maker!

5. Ready-to-Use Classroom Connections Games

I have started to make Connections games for the classroom! You can access my connections games on Canva or on the Connections+ Community page.

Peggy Reimers of TCEA has made classroom Connection games in Canva and Connections+.
Access Peggy’s Connections Games in Canva | Access Peggy’s Connections Games on Connections+ 

NOTE: Connections in Canva is not a digital game that automatically sorts the words into the proper categories; you must write the words on paper, arrange them into groups manually, and reference the answer key. 

The New York Times Connections game may have started as a delightful distraction, but its potential for learning is undeniable! This versatile tool can spark critical thinking, vocabulary development, and even historical and scientific exploration in your classroom. Whether you’re crafting your own puzzles or using the wealth of online resources, Connections offers a fun and engaging way to challenge your students and ignite those crucial “aha!” moments.

So, the next time you find yourself captivated by a game, take a moment to consider its educational potential.  With a little creativity, you can transform playtime into a powerful learning experience for your students.  And if you or the teachers create your very own Connections game, send the link my way. I would love to try and solve it. Happy connecting!

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Web 2.0 Tool

New Tools to Try Out This Summer

by Lori Gracey
written by Lori Gracey

Summer is definitely a time to rest up from what has been a very challenging school year, to say the least. But it’s also a time to recharge our batteries through some professional learning. Here are a few new ed tech tools that you should take a look at as you relax and see if any of them will fit your subject area or student needs for the next school year.

River Runner – The premise of this website is simple: Drop a raindrop anywhere in the contiguous United States and see where it ends up. Once you’ve released your drop, the site automatically creates a map and takes you on a visual journey as it travels. It identifies each river it runs into, as well as how far along that body of water it would travel. You can zoom in for more detail on the map, too. I randomly put my drop in Cora, Wyomong and saw that it would travel 2,563 kilometers to Mexico (not where I would have predicted). There is also a global version of the site available.

Nvidia Canvas – If you’d like your students to enhance their creativity, you might consider having them use Nvidia Canvas. This free software available for download for Windows computers turns whatever simple or complex things you draw into beautiful artificial intelligence-crafted images. It works best for landscape images and allows you to select from nine styles that modify the look and feel of a painting and 20 different materials ranging from sky and mountains to river and stone. You can start from scratch or get inspired by one of the sample scenes.

ed tech tools

Loru Games – Loru Games is another assessment/game site for student learning. There are a number of games for them to play for free using either your own questions or those that other educators have submitted. Only the teacher has to have a registration (free); students enter a code given to them by their teacher to get into a game. The site is COPPA, FERPA, and GPDR compliant. Please note that if you want the learning reports, that is a paid feature.

Earth 2050 – Help your high school students become future thinkers by using Earth 2050. This is a website about the future as seen through the eyes of futurologists, scientists, and internet users from all corners of the globe. Select a year — 2030, 2040, or 2050 — and study the predictions for different cities and countries: what will happen to our planet, what our lives will be like, what jobs we will have, what we will eat, and more. Students can also add their own predictions, based on data they gather, to the site for others to view. Sounds like a great project to me!

ed tech tools

3D Driving Simulator on Google Maps – I have to be honest and say I’m not sure of the educational value of this new site I discovered. But I was impressed with its tech. This 3D driving simulator runs on top of Google Maps. Controls are simple: Left and right arrow keys are for steering and the up/down arrow keys let you go forward and backward. The simulator starts you at the same map place every time. But you can get the latitude and longitude for any location you want here and then enter those numbers to drive in your hometown, Paris, or anywhere in the world.

ed tech tools

EmojiMix – Create your own emojis by mixing emojis together. This site was more fun that I anticipated, and I won’t tell you how long I played with it. You can have the site randomly select both emojis, select your own, or search for exactly what you are looking for. Once your new emoji is perfect, you can copy or share it. Simple and entertaining!

ed tech tools

Google Lens – While this isn’t a new tool, it is one that I haven’t taken full advantage of previously. Google Lens works on any device with the Google search feature. Instead of typing in what you are searching for, you simply use your camera or an image to find what you need. It can copy and translate text, provide step-by-step help with math homework (and assignments in history, chemistry, biology, physics, and more), identify plants and animals you see, and much more.

Do any of these websites or tools look interesting to you? Let me know what you think!


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Educational TrendsGood Teaching

Using Online Games to Connect with Students

by Rachel Jane, Guest Author
written by Rachel Jane, Guest Author

In these extraordinary times, online learning has become more commonplace than ever. For example, Education Next’s latest survey shows that 73% of American parents say that they’re willing to have their child take major high school courses online. This is a 17% jump from over a decade ago. Plus, Forbes states that more than six million students globally are pursuing their college education online this year, and experts say that this number will continue to grow until recent risks have made themselves scarce.

However, online classes have one big pitfall: They’re notoriously less engaging. Not only is it hard to concentrate over a screen, but “there are some distractions when learning at home.” confessed a student from Alexander Middle School. It’s also much harder to motivate yourself in a remote setting.

While you can’t be physically there to inspire them, you do have access to tools that will let you connect with them over the network. One of these is online games.

Keeping Students Engaged

Depending on the subject that you teach, the right online game can make your lectures more enticing to be a part of. For example, for older students, consider integrating turn-based strategy games like Civilization into a history lesson plan. It includes aspects of historical change and growth, from housing to trade. There are even entire websites that host a variety of fun yet educational games to teach certain subjects. ThoughtCo suggests the many games at Math Playground due to the sheer variety. Meanwhile, the games at Science Kids are not only designed to be fun, but practical too. The site hosts games for building circuits, tracing food chains, and more.

No matter what you teach, there will be several online games that can be integrated into your classes. With the huge variety to choose from, the key is finding the one that suits your lesson plan best.

A More Personalized Approach

If you search far enough, you’re going to stumble upon online game creation platforms. If you want to keep things in theme or even personalized for every group of students, then this is a good avenue to explore. 

For this purpose, HP recommends Kahoot! for its intuitive approach to learning and assessment. It’s a platform that allows educators to choose from 40-million ready-to-go “Kahoots” or learning games and, more notably, have them make their own. There are different kinds of Kahoots, including, quizzes, challenges, jumbles, and more. Think about how your students took to your lesson and the type of game format they might respond to the most.

Classcraft has a similar type of game creation freedom, though in an RPG-only format. For every question answered, the student gains “experience points” they can use to customize their in-game avatar. Indeed, one of TCEA’s ‘Five Easy Tips to Engage in Game-Based Learning’ is to let them be a part of the game, so Classcraft works great in this regard.

The Key Takeaway

Overall, it’s not enough to reach out to your students. They have to meet you halfway. And a good way to entice them to connect and participate, at least virtually, is with online games.

Game On: More on Games from TechNotes

Photo via Pikist

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world game
Content AreasGood Teaching

The Simulation Game Designed to Save the World

by Andrew Roush
written by Andrew Roush

Simulations, games, role playing activities, and more have been a part of education from the beginning. Sometime games can help students focus on a task or remember a concept through repetition. Sometimes, they can help students work through several stages of understanding, from comprehension to synthesizing new ideas. Games can also teach social-emotional learning, and in the case of in-person games, and even spatial learning and reasoning.

One game that does all of this is the World Game, a physically (and mentally) huge simulation meant to get people to think critically about global issues and even find practical, measurable ways to achieve the audacious goal of world peace. It was an idea ahead of its time, reliant on massive troves of data that only today are accessible to most of the public. With today’s ability to find and use big data from around the world, it’s a good time to revisit the simulation game designed to save the world.

A Man Named Buckminster

Richard Buckminster Fuller (Buckminster or “Bucky” to his friends) is widely regarded as an American architect and thinker, and perhaps best known as the popularizer of the geodesic dome and the expression “Spaceship Earth.” Indeed, his eventual idea for an educational game was based on his belief in the Earth as one system of many systems, one machine with many moving parts.

Efficiency is perhaps the watchword for Fuller’s famous “practical philosophy.” This meant not only knowing verifiably what was available, but also how it could be used most simply and without waste. To this end, much of Fuller’s philosophy was democratic and far-reaching, even Utopian. He believed information must not only be collected, but shared widely. After all, many heads make quick (and efficient) work.

Fuller and Dymaxion

In the early 20th century, Fuller began to develop an idea that would come to define his career and legacy, an idea called dymaxion, which was a portmanteau of dynamic, maximum, and tension. The philosophy has been succinctly described as “maximum gain of advantage from minimal energy input,” or put another way, “more with less.”

This notion went on to shape the course of Fuller’s career and his contributions to design and architecture, first in 1930 with the Dymaxion house, then in 1934 with the Dymaxion car. This concept would stay with Fuller, and eventually influence the creation of the World Game, a wildly ambitious and though-provoking idea for an educational simulation.

A Man Named Shoji

While teaching at Cornell University in the early 1950s, Fuller took on a bright new student, Shoji Sadao.

The Japanese American future architect had been interned with his family at the Gila River War Relocation Center in Arizona during World War II, but was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1945, where he spent five years as a cartographer. By 1954, Sadao helped Fuller create the next piece of his dymaxion project, the “Dymaxion map,” or “Airocean World Map.”

You can create your own, foldable Dymaxion map.

Fuller and Shoji’s map was meant to display the entire planet at once with minimum warping of relative sizes. To do this, they projected a world map onto an icosahedron, or 20-sided figure. This accounts for the map’s strange breaks when projected on a flat surface. Notably and intentionally, however, the Dymaxion projection displays the Earth’s landmass as one contiguous piece — connected, rather than separate.

Sadao went on to work with famed Japanese American artist and landscape architect Isamu Noguchi. When he died in 2019, the New York Times called Sadao “the “quiet hand behind two visionaries,” Fuller and Noguchi.

The Game

According to the Buckminster Fuller Institute, the game is meant to, in the words of Fuller himself, “make the world work for 100% of humanity in the shortest possible time through spontaneous cooperation without ecological damage or disadvantage to anyone.” The Dymaxion map was the perfect choice for a grand, in-person learning game focused on worldwide concerns.

Fuller conceived of a game that would help students think about, understand, and ultimately become responsible stewards of big, global systems, from air, water, and soil, to the movements of people, resources, and more. The World Game posits that informed students can grow up to be smart users of world economies, resource flows, and ecologies by understanding the planet as one interconnected system. In Fuller’s eyes, these engaged learners could help create a planet where resources and human needs are, in a sense, held in dynamic maximum tension in order to support itself; dymaxion.

Premise

Originally, Fuller’s idea was the stuff of science fiction — and probably closer in practice to a war game simulation than an educational game. But throughout Fuller’s life and after, it’s been a powerful thought experiment. At the time the game was being developed in the 1960s and ’70s, however, world governments were practically the only entities powerful enough to collect all the information needed, much less create Fuller’s idea of a computerized map the size of a football field that could reflect decisions in real time. As a professor at Southern Illinois University, he worked to build the technological infrastructure to execute the game.

It is played with the information contained in the six volumes entitled, “Inventory of World Resources, Human Trends and Needs,” compiled and published by my office at Southern Illinois University. …

Our world game will be played electronically by remote controls on a giant model of our earth globe opened out into its flat projection which will be the size of a football field. (See my world map.‘) World leaders will be invited to play the game and to introduce any new data they deem to be missing and the computers memory banks will retain all the data ever fed into it as well as remembering all the plays that have been previously made and their respective outcomes.

R. Buckminster Fuller, testimony to U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations, March 4, 1969

The game’s expansiveness meant that it “remained largely speculative and pedagogical throughout Fuller’s life – appearing primarily through copious research reports, resource studies and ephemeral workshops – Fuller claimed that he had been “playing it ‘longhand’ without the assistance of computers since 1927.”

Even in its earliest stages, however, Fuller and likeminded thinkers saw the potential of the World Game, or a simulacrum of it, as an educational tool. The game itself is a kind of stealth planning, or resource management, simulation. Armed with the Dymaxion world map and reams of data on literally everything, something that only today is becoming close to possible, players would watch the outcomes of their choices on the Earth itself.

A core tenet of the game is the impetus for students to understand global systems and connections. The game itself requires massive amounts of data. The premise, put simply, was to compile all vital data about planet Earth, then help players find ways to move resources where they’re needed without overloading the system. An astounding premise, for sure, but one that could be broken down into several sub-games, or scenarios. Today’s technology, of course, makes it much easier to use Fuller’s premise in education.

“The question of global modeling is something you find elsewhere. But other people don’t design structures for it and produce pedagogical models like the World Game.”

Mark Wasiuta, “Check Out Buckminster Fuller’s Simulation to Save the Planet.” Curbed.com

It was a characteristically ambitious idea — impossibly ambitious to some — but especially aspirational when it was being developed in the 1960s, before TV news, big data, or the internet. As the Fuller Institute explains:

Fuller wanted a tool that would be accessible to everyone, whose findings would be widely disseminated to the masses through a free press, and which would, through this ground-swell of public vetting and acceptance of solutions to society’s problems, ultimately force the political process to move in the direction that the values, imagination and problem solving skills of those playing the democratically open world game dictated. It was a view of the political process that some might think naive, if they only saw the world for what it was when Fuller was proposing his idea (the 1960s) – minus personal computers and the Internet.

About Fuller, “World Game.” Buckminster Fuller Institute

The World Game is, after all, mostly a premise, and as early as 1969, educators were adapting it into teaching games with focused topics. Modern ed tech might give us new ways to use some of the game’s proposed elements, like scientific and population data, and its principles of participatory learning as a way to illuminate ways to actually improve the world.

Gameplay

Fuller envisioned a series of workshops using his concept of “design science,” a process of developing ideas not unlike the Engineering Design Process, allowing players to work their way to a solution to those smaller scenarios, like how to distribute power worldwide.

Through several iterations and using flexible techniques, players use data to develop or test (model) a proposed solution to a global problem. In a 1971 World Game packet, Fuller gives the example of students considering automobile emissions.

At present, there are at least two approaches to formulating and documenting World Game strategies. One is mentioned above — inventory, trend, then inductively come up with a strategy to anticipatorily meet the needs you see. For example — another trend, that of Carbon monoxide (CO) production, when compared with the automobile trend would lead one to the conclusion that somewhere around the year 2000, the CO from the increased number of automobiles would do irreparable harm to the planet. One could anticipatorily design a CO-less engine to meet that emergency, or better yet, a total pollutionless transport industry.

Another approach is a deductive one-that is, start off with the strategy, and then document your intuition of it through the inventories and trends that are relevant to it.

The World Game: Integrative Resource Utilization Planning Tool (1971). R. Buckminster Fuller.

Learning Outcomes

The Power of Simulation

Looking to use a World Game-inspired simulation in your teaching? Today, there are remote learning and in-person ways to using gaming and simulations. But how well do they work?

The Visible Learning MetaX project, based on the research by John Hattie, classifies gaming and simulations as “likely to have positive impact” on learning. Meanwhile, Hattie gives tactile simulations, in which “students who struggle with achievement in school are provided with tactile stimulation and environment manipulation aimed to increase focus and time-on-task and attention,” has an estimated effect size of 0.58, or as having a “potential to accelerate” learning.

Fuller’s game was meant to be played in person and on a giant-sized mat, no less. Today, a number of similar simulations are using simulation activities both online and in person, some inspired directly the World Game.

Remembering the World Game in the Digital Age

Since 1969, the World Game has been adapted by educators in many ways, as technology has caught up with Fuller’s vision of a data-driven, cooperative scientific and economic simulation. By the 1980s, more pedagogical ideas and new technologies allowed the game to be realized in ever more substantial ways.

In 1980, the World Game Institute and the World Resources Inventory published the World Energy Data Sheet, which compiled a nation by nation summary of energy production, resources, and consumption. Further, they developed the world’s largest and most accurate map of the world, one of the most detailed and substantive databases of global statistics available anywhere, and educational resources designed to teach interdependence, collaboration, respect for diversity, and individual participation in a global society.

“World Game (1961)” Games For Cities

In 2001, the educational company o.s. Earth bought the principal assets held by the World Game Institute. Soon after, they began leading “Global Simulation” workshops, which Games for Cities, a group that promotes public affairs simulations, or “city gaming,” calls o.s. Earth’s workshops “a direct descendant of Buckminster Fuller’s famous World Game.”

o.s. Earth overview video

Even more attention came to the game in 2015, when the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University hosted an exhibition on the topic entitled “Information Fall-Out: Buckminster Fuller’s World Game.”

In 2019, o.s. Earth’s assets, including those it secured from the original World Game Institutes, were acquired by the non-profit Schumacher Center for a New Economics, now home of the World Game Workshop.

For those looking to carry out similar educational games, a number of them, each with different focuses and features, exist, from high-level management simulations to role-playing life simulators to even history simulators. Check out ESC 13’s list of simulation and game activities. Have you own idea for educational simulations and games? Let us know in the comments.

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Zoom games
Content AreasEducational TrendsGood Teaching

Distancing without Disconnecting: Zoom Games

by Dr. Bruce Ellis
written by Dr. Bruce Ellis

Whether you are a teacher working with students or are just trying to work from home during this strange time, it’s important to social distance without disconnecting. Social and emotional support is a valuable resource to provide. Here are a few games you can play using Zoom to connect with students, friends, and peers. Though these are not necessarily content- or work-focused, you can easily tweak them to make them fit those needs.

Believe It or Not!

There are lots of sites that provide trivia knowledge and quizzes based on specific areas of interest. For this game, the host should identify the area of interest and then gather trivia knowledge from the internet. Change some statements slightly before sharing with your players. Players can then do thumbs up/down to indicate whether they believe the statement or not. Once everyone has voted, tell whether the statement is true or not. If it isn’t true, tell the true trivia information. For example, “Marco Polo discovered pasta. Believe it or not?” That’s actually false as found in the will of Ponzio Baestone, a Genoan soldier who requested “bariscella peina de macarone” – a small basket of macaroni. His will is dated 1279, 16 years before Marco Polo returned from China. (REFERENCE) If the trivia information is written as a question, but not a yes/no question, consider rewording to to make it easier for players. For example, “How many stars are in the American flag?” could be reworded to “There are 51 stars in the American flag. Believe it or not?” That’s false; there are actually 50. Here are some locations to check out for interesting trivia knowledge:

Scavenger Hunt

If you have had the opportunity to watch daytime TV programming, you may have come across a show called Let’s Make a Deal. I don’t think they do it anymore, but “back in the day” at the end of the show the host, Monty Hall, would ask if someone has a _____ (and then call out a random object). Audience members would quickly rummage through their purses and bags hoping to be the first to pull out the object for him. If you were the first, you would win some money. This is a similar game except you aren’t limited to what you have in your purse or on the table. For this game, the host calls out an item. It can be generic (like a can of food) or it can be specific (such as a can of beans). Players have a designated amount of time to run locate the item at their house and bring it to show on video. Players that arrive back with the item before the time limit receive a point.

Pictionary 

Like the real game, the virtual game has one player that is drawing while his/her teammates are trying to guess what it is. Once players are put into teams, consider having them rename themselves with their team name and their first name. This will keep it easier to keep track of who is on which team. Here’s how players can rename themselves (scroll to the section CHANGING THE NAME INSIDE A ZOOM ROOM). As the host, private chat the person who is to draw first – this way no other players can see the word. Before the first drawer begins, have his team identify themselves to make sure they all know who is on which team. The team has 30 seconds to correctly guess what is being drawn using the white board feature. If successful, the team gets a point. Play moves to the other team. Here are lists of words to help you get started:

Going on a Picnic

This is a fun game to play with students. It is something like a twist on 20 questions. The player that is “going on a picnic” answers yes/no questions of everyone else. Players are trying to guess what rule was used to pack the basket. For example, the rule could be things that are red in which case someone could ask, “Did you pack strawberries?” in which you would answer yes. If someone asked if you packed bicycles, you would answer “It depends” since some bicycles are red. After players have had a chance to offer ideas of what was packed, you can either allow them to guess or send them to breakout rooms to discuss what they think the rule might be. Once everyone is back together (from their breakout rooms…if you are using those) call on someone to guess the rule or allow them to ask about more items that might be in the basket.

Charades

In this game, the group is divided into at least two teams. One member of a team goes first. His teammates try to guess what is being acted out before the time limit. As the host, send a private chat to him and give him a choice of two different things to act out. He chats you back which one he chooses and begins acting when you say begin. As the host, you are to listen for the team guessing to see if they correctly identify what is being acted out. If correct, that team gets a point and play goes to the other/next team. Here are some ideas if you need some help getting started:

Two Truths and a Lie

This is a great game to play to get to know everyone better. Each player makes up two truths and a lie about themselves. They may find it easiest to write these down so they’ll remember them when it becomes their turn. When it is a player’s turn, that player shares two truths and the lie (in whatever order they choose). Everyone else is to guess which of the three statements is a lie. Others can hold up 1, 2, or 3 on their fingers, say the number out loud, or type the number in the chat box. Once everyone has voted, the person identifies the lie…and usually clarifies why it is a lie. This game is a lot of fun and requires no real preparation beforehand or props for players.

Dictionary

This game has gone by several names throughout the years. In this game, one player is a dictionary and tells the group a word and then gives everyone else a minute to come up with what could be the definition. Each person is given a chance to share what the definition might be before the dictionary player reveals the real definition. This is a fun way to build vocabulary and introduce students to new words.

If playing with high school students or adults, then consider this twist. The dictionary player privately chats the definition to another player; that player will share the real definition (or a more believable way of saying it) as their guess. After everyone has had a chance to share their guess, they vote on which definition they believe is correct. Those voting for the correct definition get a point. Another player becomes the dictionary and play continues. You may need to establish the rule at the beginning that no one but the dictionary player can search the Internet. If you are not a logophile (a lover of words), then consider using these sites to help you:

Scattegories

Who doesn’t love a good game of Scattegories! Playing online through Zoom can be just as fun. The host needs to share her screen and go to https://swellgarfo.com/scattergories/. Once everyone has a piece of paper and a pen/pencil, the host needs to click the Restart icon; a random letter will appear along with twelve categories. When the host clicks the Play icon, the categories are revealed and countdown begins. When the time is up, have each person share what they have for each category. Players get a point for each answer that is not duplicated by anyone else, but is acceptable by everyone.

Share Your Zoom Games

These are just a few of the fun ways people are distancing without disconnecting. What other games have you played with your friends while on Zoom? We’d love to hear about them. Share your ideas with us in the comments below.

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game design
Coding/Computer ScienceSTEM/STEAM

How to Make Game Design Child’s Play

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

On cable television this past weekend, one of my favorite trilogies found its way into my heart again. I’m not sure what it is about The Hunger Games that gets the tears flowing. I suspect it may be as a result of reading the books. “You imagine your daughter in the role of the main character,” says my wife. She may be right. As I watched the evil President Snow brag on his game-makers to save him, the term “game-makers” stuck in my mind. In this blog entry, we’ll explore a few ways you can raise up some game-makers of your own.

Game Design

After all, game-makers play a powerful role in The Hunger Games. The whole idea of changing life into a game you play to survive has its appeal. Author Daniel Suarez captured this in his techno-thrillers, Daemon and Freedom. All science-fiction aside, game-making is now child’s play.

To be a game-maker, you have to know how to code, to strategize, and to plan big. More importantly, you have to know how to create a meaningful story. Let’s take a quick look at what game design is all about:

Game design is a subset of the field of video game development. Relying on several fields of study, the skills of a game designer are specific to computer science and programming, creative writing, and graphic design.

Designers take the creative lead in imagining and bringing to life game elements. Those elements include video game stories, characters, gameplay, rules, interfaces, dialogue and environments. The game designer is a cross between a writer, artist and programmer. It is a person who presents a comprehensive artistic vision.

The designer must have the technical skill to lead or contribute to various efforts. Those efforts include programming, image rendering, level design. Also, digital editing and other construction aspects of game design. (source)

How can teachers scaffold young learners’ design efforts? One approach may be to introduce them to game creation tools that are less about coding, yet ensure that game design efforts and activities are possible.

Introducing Giphy Arcade

While several design environments (e.g. Microsoft’s Minecraft) come to mind, why not take a look at Giphy Arcade? Giphy (makers of the animated GIF search engine) has created an arcade that includes a variety of mini-games or “microgames.” With Giphy Arcade, you can play existing games on any device.

More exciting for young game designers, you can remix these microgames because each aspect of the game is cutomizable. Giphy Arcade offers templates and stickers to start with. While making a game is child’s play, teaching game design can be quite powerful for learners.

You can find several templates for action in the game. You’ll get to choose your hero, background, and soundtrack.

The Game Design Process and Rapid Prototyping

You can find many different design processes online. It would be important to settle on some process to introduce your students to. For example, this game design process presents some interesting stages. Imagine cooperative groups of students working to design a game.

Watch video overview of the Game Design Process expressed in the image below:

Image Source: https://www.gamecareerguide.com/features/1415/the_game_design_process.php

Another key aspect of game design is failing fast to succeed faster. Rapid prototyping is a must in game design.

A good rapid prototyper would realize that failure is ok! That’s what prototyping is for, so go crazy! If you fail, there will be dozens more, and chances are, you’ll learn something anyway. By embracing the possibility of failure, rewarding experimentation becomes possible.(Source)

Ready to get started?

TCEA Starquest

Here’s a quick game I put together. I didn’t engage in the whole process, or I would have made some changes (e.g. pigs are not the bad guys). That aside, creating this simple game was quite fun and easy.

Play the game at the Giphy Arcade.

Child’s Play

Game-making is child’s play. Game design offers us the opportunity as educators to combine various important elements and can engage students while offering the opportunity for direct instruction. Give it a try at Giphy Arcade.

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esports
Educational Trends

Interview: Esports Program Creator Kyle Berger

by Diana Benner
written by Diana Benner

Kyle Berger, chief technology officer at Grapevine-Colleyville ISD, began an esports program at the district during the 2018-19 school year. I met Kyle while attending an Esports Summit in Arlington last month. After hearing a little bit about the esports program he started, I wanted to learn more. I had the opportunity to interview Kyle a few weeks ago and ask him a few questions about his experiences, successes, and future plans for the Grapevine-Colleyville’s esports program. According to Kyle, “This has been the biggest thing I’ve underestimated in my career.”

How did your journey with esports start?

Our real journey started probably about two years ago and it came about because I was noticing the rise of esports on the collegiate side. I was visiting with a couple of local colleges in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and they began mentioning scholarship opportunities for students. At Grapevine-Colleyville, we are always trying to find ways to connect our students with colleges. In addition, we have a large partnership with Dell. I reached out to Dell about what they were seeing with esports. In addition, you don’t have to be gamer to get this started. If you asked me a month ago, what League of Legends was, I wouldn’t have had any idea.

How did you launch the esports program at Grapevine-Colleyville?

Last year, we formally launched our esports program. I’ve been a CTO for 20 years and this is the biggest thing I’ve underestimated in my career just due to the overwhelming response to student interest.

We started with 75 official esport athletes between our two high schools. By official, I mean these students were on competition teams and would practice after school. This is different from having a gaming club where students get together in the library to play games. Our program has a lot of structure around it.

As we began looking at our data this summer, some interesting facts included:

  • 70% of our esport students were not involved in any other school activity. Anytime you can get a student involved in some sort of other activity on campus, the other benefits that come with that are just tremendous.
  • 10% of our esports students are autistic. We were gathering kids of this nature that don’t have other areas to get involved.
  • We have a few girls in the program, which is very exciting.
  • Four different college recruiters have already started calling to ask about our students.

All of these facts are something that we did not anticipate just starting out.

What do districts need to consider before starting their esports program?

Different districts approach esports differently. Some questions to think about include:

  1. What is your district’s intent with the esports program? It is important to determine if your program is going to be a gaming club or if it is going to be actual structured play. For us, we talked with our students and sent surveys out to find out where their interest was. We decided structured play would work best for us. Our structure consists of before-school practice and after-school play.
  2. What games are you going to play?
    The games that students are always going to want to play are Fortnight or some of the more violent games. Some districts allow this; however, our stance at Grapevine-Colleyville ISD is that we don’t allow any violent or first-person shooter (known as FPS in the gaming industry). We focus on games that have some type of team structure; we don’t want solo-player games. When there are multiple players on a team, we can build collaborative skills. Traditional athletics follows the same model. The primary games you will see in esports programs are:
  • League of Legends
  • Rocket League
  • Overwatch
  • Smash Brothers Ultimate
  1. What league are you going to play with?
    This is one of the scariest sides for me in esports right now. They call it the wild west of esports leagues because there’s all sorts of companies popping up online that are high school esports leagues. Therefore, you have to determine what league am I going to join for my students to play in. There are several options out there. This is a big decision that the district has to make.

How do you find a league to join?

To find a league to join, a general Google search will get you many options. When it comes to finding a league, a thing to be cautious of is that there are leagues all across the country. For us, we went with Play VS or some people call it play verse. One of the reasons we went with them is because they have a partnership with the National Federation of High School Associations which is also connected back to UIL. They also restrict the games that are played. This is similar to what we are doing with our esports programs. The games focus on education and are not violent.

Structure

Be aware that some leagues might not necessarily have structure built into their program. For example, Play VS has a structure in place in which all students must be on campus in order to play in the competition. Some leagues don’t care and allow students to play from home. Play VS promotes team play, and there is actual coaching involved. This is what takes it to another level for me because all the students are together and involved.

Scheduling

In addition, when considering a league to join, be aware of potential scheduling issues. We were playing teams across the country and time zone differences made it more difficult to schedule times to play. The time of year, such as spring break, made it difficult to manage as well. Due to demand, Play VS now has a Texas-specific league, so we can connect and play other Texas schools.

Schools

Furthermore, there are leagues that have a mixture of private schools, charter schools, or public schools. Your district must decide if there is a preference of what type of schools they want to play.

Vetting Leagues

It’s critical that you vet the league to make sure that it is schools and students that you are playing. You always want to make sure you know who is on the other side playing with your students. You want to avoid online dangers and do your due diligence to ensure that the league you are associating with is credible.

Make sure the playing field is equal

Sometimes, pop-ups come with games that allow you to pay money for extra features. Some esports leagues have partnerships with the video game manufactures to unlock the games completely for the end user so that there is an equal playing field. It would be a disadvantage for some schools to purchase additional features if your school doesn’t have the money to do so. Some leagues do allow this. Play VS, for example, has a partnership with League of Legends that unlocks the game for all the students so that all of them have e access to the same features. This is something I feel very passionate about: everyone is playing on an equal playing field and it breaks down the barriers.

When do students practice and play?

We have one night a week of structured competition play. For example, every Tuesday night. We usually start at 4:30 pm and end about 6:30 pm.

Our overall structure consists of:

  • Monday – The team will practice and review game film. They scout the opponents they will play and watch game film of their opponent. This is much like scouting in football.
  • Tuesday – The competition match is held.
  • Wednesday – The team will review the game of the night before.
  • Thursday – Traditional practice is held.

Our broadcasters might attend practices to practice their commentary skills as well.

Do you have an esports curriculum?

We have developed a curriculum to work with our esports teams and have written a half-semester course that covers all aspects of fitness, nutrition, communication, collaboration, and the different components surrounding esports.

Esports is more than just the players. We have students that are streaming the matches live. We have students in charge of marketing and Twitter feeds. We have students in charge of game film. We have analysts. It’s just not students playing video games. There are so many jobs available that support esports.

Pro esports athletes are making millions of dollars. It’s the same concepts of those students trying to make the NFL. Only a small percentage will make it, but there are many jobs available around it, such as coaching, media, legal, business, etc. That is what our esports program is preparing our students for as well. There is a wealth of opportunities for students to get involved with and not just as the player.

We also reached out to our partner, Dell to help us find esports curriculum. Dell’s computer hardware subsidiary is called Alienware. Their products are designed for gaming and can be identified by their alien-themed designs. Through Dell, we were able to connect with esport industry professionals and curriculum writers. We also involve our students in order to get student voice when it comes to curriculum. Together with esport industry professionals, curriculum writers, our esports coaches, and our students, we mapped out what that course would look like. We really stress “beyond the game” in our lessons.

We have submitted to TEA to get an official course number so we can hopefully offer the course next year. Currently, we are testing the curriculum in our after-school practices. Next year, the curriculum will also bleed into our existing traditional broadcasting classes and sports marketing classes. As we build out, we are looking to have esport broadcasting classes and esports marketing classes.

Do your esports coaches need to be certified?

Currently, a certification program for esports coaches/teachers doesn’t exist. This is one of the biggest challenges in esports. For us, finding the right person to lead the program started with someone who can build great relationships with students. Our students are the experts. They know the games. Therefore, we wanted someone who would nurture and work with them to build the program together. Our coaches do have some interest in gaming, but are not hard-core gamers. Ultimately, it came down to the person who could build relationships with our students. Currently, our coaches are classroom teachers, and we do offer a coaching stipend to them.  We provide a stipend because it is like a traditional sport with after-school practices and games. Last year, we had two coaches, one at each campus. This year, we will be expanding that due to growth in the program. Currently, we have two coaches at each campus and one coach at our collegial campus.

How many students are involved in the esports program?

If you grow too big too fast, it can get out of control. The overwhelming response can be detrimental to you. I recommend that you cap your program, and this can be dependent upon the games you select. For example, if you have selected League of Legends as a game choice, you will need five active players and then you’ll want one or two subs. If you have selected Rocket League, you’ll need three active players and a few subs. We ran two League of Legends teams at each high school, so that was about 12-14 students. We also ran three Rocket League teams at about 15-16 students. These are just the players. Keep in mind that we also have our broadcasters, media specialists, etc.

We are looking to peak at 250 students this year. We will run a varsity structure. We will have a JV and Varsity team and we will run four teams for each game.

What do tryouts for the esports program look like?

We started with informational meetings. With our parent information meetings, we wanted to make sure parents understood what esports is and that we aren’t just playing video games. There is a lot of structure to the program that parents needed to be made aware of. Even though it is not UIL sanctioned yet, we still follow those same rules like the no pass, no play rule. We also wanted to reassure the parents that we would not be playing violent games.

For our initial student interest meeting, we had about 150 students show up. So, we had to figure out how we were going to manage this. Do not underestimate the amount of interest you will generate. Initially, we had a registration process, which consisted of teacher reference letters and grade checks. Some students realized they didn’t want to be involved when they discovered that Fortnight wasn’t a game being played.

This year, our students who helped build the program are helping with the tryout structure. Things that may be considered could be their existing ranking if they are already playing at home. The students will also have matches and play games with each other to see how well they play together. How well they play together strategically is very important. There are specific positions that students play in the game as well. Therefore, this is something else you need to look at.

Some districts hold tournaments. Those students who advance to certain rounds of the tournament are the ones selected to be on the competition teams. We use the month of September to have our informational meetings, registration, and tryouts, and practices. In October, we start our official matches.

What equipment do schools need? What about funding?

Some games can be played on traditional computers, but we have higher-end video game machines. Our game lab consists of 12 competition gaming units along with traditional computers. Both the League of Legends and Rocket League don’t require that you have a fancy machine to play. This is the benefit of both of those games.

Something to think about is that sometimes our CTE courses require higher-end computers. See if there is a way you can utilize those machines after school to support your esports program, then you can build from there. For funding, we look to CTE because we can also use those machines for courses, such as AutoCAD or video game design.  Also, in our traditional replacement cycle, we may upgrade a few machines a little more for our esports program.

And finally, many thanks to Kyle!

A big thank you to Kyle for allowing me to interview him and for sharing his knowledge about esports. Find out more about Grapevine-Colleyville’s esport’s program here. In addition, you can find Kyle on Twitter at @edtechcto. And check out his interview on the TCEA podcast Ed Tech Club.

 

Photo: Anthony Brolin

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esports
Educational Trends

Why You Need Esports at Your School (And How to Start It)

by Guest Blogger
written by Guest Blogger

This last year has seen huge gains for competitive gaming, known as esports, in education. High schools are upgrading gaming clubs into competitive teams and playing in high school leagues. Universities are building custom esports labs for their new varsity gaming teams. Esports scholarships will be offered at several hundred universities in the 2019-2020 school year.  The activity has arrived in a big way within the educator’s realm of influence. Let’s embrace it.

Plugging into Esports

I went to my first esport event in the fall of 2018, a collegiate Overwatch tournament with 15 teams from across Texas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, New Mexico, and Arkansas. It was hosted by the local professional Overwatch team, the Dallas Fuel. This event highlighted the growing excitement of esports for both the students and fans, and allowed me to network with some industry professionals and passionate collegiate coaches. I took this experience and began laying out a framework for high school esports.  I created the necessary paperwork for parental permissions, student contracts, rules, and expectations, as well as looking at pre-existing district policies for student social media use, tech usage, and athletics eligibility rules.

Four months later, our high school was actively seeking new avenues for student engagement.  The principal had expressed interest in starting robotics and I took the opportunity to pitch esports. As it turns out, the principal was aware of esports and understood the value that it could provide to both the students and the school. I was granted my extra-curricular esports program for team competition. In addition, I began teaching a CTE marketing practicum class (Social Media Marketing / Sports Marketing) that would actually run the esport teams as a business.  

This class will be designing and implementing marketing campaigns for the brand “Badger Esports.” This will include social media, local print ads, broadcasting, and event planning. Student enrollment for this advanced marketing class was 15% of the high school. Student engagement? Check!

Some of the Benefits of Esports in High School

  • Inclusive environment:
    • Everyone plays games, so anyone can be a part of a competitive team.
    • Gaming crosses social groups and genders.
    • It will appeal to students who would otherwise not participate in school activities.
  • Social and emotional learning:
    • Team esports relies heavily on constant communication, collaboration, planning, and execution.
    • Learning to deal with intense emotions in a competitive environment
    • Builds student relationships and confidence
    • Student engagement value is huge.

Integrated Education

Esports is a great vehicle for education. It is easy to tie the student engagement value of esports to other educational goals like I have with my marketing class. I am using esports to increase student interest in an advanced business class by showing how marketing really works in the gaming realm where students already feel empowered. 

The high school esport leagues also offer an assortment of education-specific resources. We use the high school league organization NASEF (North American Scholastic Esports Federation), which provides a host of additional resources from Common Core-approved curriculum, team web pages, free licenses for Overwatch, personal coaching, webinars, and more. NASEF was created from within the education sector by the University of California at Irvine. And did I mention it is free?

Possible Challenges and Solutions

There are several possible barriers you may experience when starting up an esports program. These notes will help you get your program approved.

  • Highlight the complexities of team esports. The social skills and execution that are required to play in a team environment are no less than traditional sports. The students are doing their own play calling and on-the-fly adjustments entirely on their own.
  • Emphasize that esports is not an excuse to play games all day.  Be sure to use the same eligibility requirements as your school’s traditional sports have.
  • For some, esports is a new path to college. List local/state colleges that have varsity esport programs and those that include scholarship opportunities.  
  • Make sure your potential games have age appropriate ESRB ratings. At the high school level, you can use games rated E, E10+, and Teen (13+).

Good Luck and Have Fun!

Esports in education is still gaining momentum, and it is an exciting time to be a part of this new engagement tool. Your students will be all over esports, so be sure to harness that. I am part of a group of educational esport enthusiasts called EsportsEdu. This group is a wealth of knowledge, especially for beginning organizers. 

However you get started, make sure you have a plan and a vision, and don’t forget to have fun.

Matt Tarpley works in I.T. for the Merkel Independent School District and is an #esportsedu ambassador. He coaches high school esports, teach an esports marketing class, and is the McMurry University varsity esports head coach.

Photo: Alex Haney

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Content Areas

Summer Learning with Games and Math

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

“Here, why don’t we find you something fun?” Jessica passed the iPad to her child. Walk into any home, you’ll find children hovering over their gadgets, trying to keep busy. Abandoned by the school system for a short period of time, they wander online. They hope to find something, anything of interest. While it’s doubtful you’ll be able to steer your kids only towards academic pursuits, try. In this blog entry, we’ll explore two fun websites you can get started your child started on.

summer slide math

Website #1 – Toy Theater

Looking for a collection of content area games? Look no further than Toy Theater, whose motto is “Learn * Create * Play.” Toy Theater describes itself in this way:

Toy Theater is an online game website for kids. It is chock full of interactive art games, fun reading games, and cool math games. Designed for kids in grades K-3 classrooms, it offers free online educational games. Teachers from around the world trust them to provide real classroom value.

Some quick points about the site:

  • Math games focus on counting, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and more. Toy Theater also offers graphing games that include line plots, pictographs, and pie charts.
  • Reading games include hidden picture, spelling, and word search using original art. Free online books, including the Beatrix Potter stories, are available.
  • Art games support art, design, and math. Students learn about symmetry, balance, painting, coloring, and scribbling. Activities include holiday celebrations, animal explorations, and learning about famous artists.
  • Brain teasers and online puzzles are also available. Intended to build memory, engage problem solving skills, and develop spatial rotation, they are all fun and free.

Want to introduce your children to classic games you played as a child? Then you’ll be happy to know they include Tic Tac Toe, chess, checkers, Balloon Pop, and others. Most of what Toy Theater offers works on mobile devices. Adobe Flash-friendly activities will work, if you have a desktop computer browser.

Research Alert – Worksheets Are Insufficient to Prevent Summer Slide in Math

A summer math intervention study drew some interesting conclusions. Students used online math programs and worksheets. The researchers saw no improvement as a result. Assigning worksheets without mentoring or guidance won’t correct summer math loss (Harvard Graduate School of Education).

Worksheets not your thing? Maybe some interactive geometry fun (e.g. tangrams and more) will get your children thinking.

Website #2 – Symmetry Artist

Wish you could introduce your children to symmetry before they get into a tough math class? Then the Math Is Fun website is for you as it has a whole page dedicated to geometry and symmetry. Your child will tons of fun drawing in the online tool. I don’t know about you, but this tool alone would provide hours of fun no matter what the age. Your child(ren) can save or print their designs. To increase the learning, why not save those designs and then have them make a narrated slideshow explaining them?

summer slide math

If you explore the  Math Is Fun website , you’ll find many other exciting activities and games.

As summer begins, keep those brains active and thinking. Remember, you won’t want to give kids a device and turn them loose. Instead, sit with them and spend time working through concepts and problem solving. Your relationship will be the better for it. And, as the Harvard-based research above shows, your child(ren) will retain more.

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iPad with headphones
iOS Tips and TricksSTEM/STEAM

Appify Learning with iOS Science Apps

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

If you are teaching with an iPad and need to “appify” science instruction, consider these apps for your classroom. This collection includes reference guides and games. Each intends to engage students with visuals, videos, and interactive elements. The cost appears after each app. If no cost appears, the app is free.

Reference Guides

  • Bloom ($4.99): See how plants spread their seeds.
  • Field Guide for Lepidoptera:  “Lepidoptera is an order of insects that includes butterflies and moths” (Source). This is a field guide.
  • Journeys of Invention  ($9.99): “With Journeys of Invention you can study, rotate and even operate some of the most revolutionary scientific inventions of all time. Step inside the Apollo 10 Command Module, examine a flea with Robert Hooke’s 17th-century microscope, explore the Large Hadron Collider, or even encode a secret message with a World War II Enigma Machine and share it with your friends to decipher. The app features original and insightful history specially written by Science Museum curators with a rich collection of historic photographs, rarely seen contemporary artworks, archive film footage and video.”
  • Mammals  ($2.99): Explore this interactive guide that shows how mammals play, grow, see, eat, move, and feel.
  • Nature Guides: Find out more about birds, butterflies, moths, dragonflies, and damselflies with these informative color guides.
  • Science 360: A reference guide for current science news featuring images, videos, and text.
  • Science Glossary: A glossary of scientific terms and short biographies that support a science education website. All definitions link to related terms and to free, detailed science learning modules. It is geared for secondary students to use via the web. The various components are fine for anyone interested in science.
  • Weather Line ($1.99): See this infographic maker for your local weather.
  • World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Together: See endangered animals via images and read about them. The app features interactive elements.
  • Ultimate Dinopedia-Complete Dinosaur Guide ($4.99): See 700 dinosaurs with National Geographic’s interactive Dinopedia.
  • Video Science Guides ($0.99): “Short videos (80 lessons) demonstrate inexpensive and easy to recreate experiments that are designed to inspire and excite kids of all ages.”

Science Games

  • BioBlox2D: “BioBlox2D is a free mobile game for iOS and Android where you have to dock molecules together! Matching different shapes and charges. Switch, Rotate, Swipe and match the Ligands to create the perfect match for the Receptor. Learn about the fascinating world of bio-molecules and their interactions!”
  • DragonBox Algebra 5+ ($4.99): “DragonBox Algebra 5+ Is perfect for giving young children a head start in mathematics and algebra. Children as young as five can easily begin to grasp the basic processes involved in solving linear equations without even realising that they are learning. The game is intuitive, engaging and fun, allowing anyone to learn the basics of algebra at his or her own pace.” There is also a DragonBox Algebra 12+ ($7.99). Find a wealth of other apps online.
  • Galactic Genius with Astro Cat: “Galactic Genius with Astro Cat is a puzzle game app for ages 6-11 and beyond, based on mini games of logic, speed, memory, and concentration.”
  • Play and Learn Science: “Encourage early science learning with Play and Learn Science, a suite of educational kids games from PBS KIDS! Let your kids play a wide range of games.”

Using These Apps

It may sometimes appear difficult to incorporate non-game apps into your regular lessons. The standard use for these apps involves students exploring a specific topic. These work well as research apps. This approach does work. Students may tire of only using apps for research. Ask students to determine what has been left out of the app. Create situations where they can research that information themselves. Students can share their findings via a new Google Site or OneNote Notebook. Suggest students think about a different way to group the content in the app. Prompt them to think about what new topics might be included in the future. Take the app-based information to the next level of Bloom’s for greater engagement.

Looking for More?

There are many online resources featuring iOS apps. What are some of your favorites?

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