Week 8: To Game or Not to Game...

This weeks objective was an exciting adventure for me!  I attempted to use Glogster but was not finding success so decided to just play with the games thoroughly instead!  I played the games with two different approaches, one as an educator with the goal of meeting standards and as a "student" who was required to play this game for my class.  I found myself very engaged as both an educator and as a student for many of the games and others not so much (which was expected).  I also had my 15 year old freshman foster daughter play the games but she had a hard time with some of the content (due to not remembering or having limited prior knowledge of the topics I choose).  Ultimately, I choose to work with the website Bio Man (http://www.biomanbio.com) due to its specific biology applications.  I liked the assortment of different games that were available and the array of biology topics that were covered.  The three games I decided to focus on were:
1.  Cell Craft: Cell Organelle/Job Game
2.  Angry Aliens: Evolution Game
3.  Photosynthesis/Respiration Game

But I found myself drawn to the Cell Craft Game and so that is the one I will focus on to answer the questions below.
 
1. Was the child engaged?
My child was engaged, she really liked the features that allowed you to see the objective or look up a vocabulary word that you had forgotten.  She felt that the descriptions and visual aids were very helpful and supported her ability to learn and remember the material! 
2. Did the child learn the skills that were targeted? 
Due to the nature of the game and the steps required to complete each task it was clear that the students was getting a clear understanding of how each organelle functioned within the cell and how each organelle depended on the others to do the their job!  It was clear as the student worked through that a worksheet that had the students write out the different jobs of each cell "part" and the examples of how each part functioned as a way to review and study post game would be necessary.
3. Can the child demonstrate that these skills were mastered? 
In order for students to move on to the next level they had to complete certain tasks, although the tasks were not challenging the students had to work through all the questions and tasks.   I would create a test/quiz to indicate mastery prior to a student moving on to the next level.  You would need to create multiple versions and would need a 80% or higher mastery to move on to the next level.
4. Who in your PLN did you consult with about these games? How did they respond or assist?
I chatted with current biology teachers at my school to find topics that seemed to be challenging for students and they stated that cells was always challenging because it is really a memorization task for students so I wanted to find a game that students were given examples of the organelles and provided ways for students to remember the job of each organelle.  I have not had a chance to show this game to my colleagues yet but I hope to have them play with the game to tell me what they think (it may be to simple for a h.s. biology course but not sure yet).