Creating Lifelong Learners

Now that testing is over, I’m being asked a lot if I know of any games that students can play on the computer.

Let’s be clear, I like games as much as the next guy (here and some for language arts and here some for math) but I wish that we could shift our thinking to ask if we know of anything students can create on the computer. With programs like Garageband, iMovie and Voicethread, students can be planning and creating projects that are probably just as much fun and equally easy to use now that they’re built in on most computers.

Games, educational or not, aren’t the only things computers do these days. In case you’ve missed it, there are many ways to promote higher level thinking on the computer and empower students to create.

If you haven’t done this yet this year, start now but next year let’s work it in before testing too, students might test better if given an opportunity to design and create instead of just pushing buttons.

Video games are in fact effective teachers of behavior and content. Students will play them and fail again and again until they succeed. Why aren’t we harnessing the power of video games in our teaching to engage students?

Here’s an article on how violent video games can increase aggression in students. Any studies on how reading comprehension games might increase reading comprehension?