Digital Media in Today's Classrooms by Wilson Dawn;Alaniz Katie;Sikora Joshua; & Katie Alaniz & Joshua Sikora

Author:Wilson, Dawn;Alaniz, Katie;Sikora, Joshua; & Katie Alaniz & Joshua Sikora
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Incorporated

Teach with Portals. Website: Video game company Valve sponsors a website to help educators use the popular game Portal to teach physics and critical thinking skills.

A plethora of video games can be utilized to support students in developing spatial awareness or learning about physics while also finding enjoyment in the process. For instance, the popular game Portal even offers educational resources for teachers wanting to incorporate this three-dimensional puzzle into their curriculum.

The Internet itself embodies a powerful, interactive resource, and students must be trained to appropriately apply the plethora of online tools available to their learning experiences. The Internet houses an infinite numbers of resources through which to research a particular topic and to apply new understandings and skills using a variety of mediums.

By engaging in interactive content, students receive feedback on their input (whether through keyboarding, clicking and dragging using a mouse, or touching and tapping a screen), thus offering them a two-way interface. Feedback may be supplied by the resource itself, as is the case when students take online quizzes and receive a score, or play online games and earn points or rewards. Alternatively, interaction may be peer-assisted, such as when students seek the support of other students through online tutoring sessions.

Whatever the learning need, one can be certain that a digital resource exists to support teachers and their students in fulfilling it. The collection below denotes just a sampling of the innumerable online resources through which students can interact with engaging, meaningful, and educational multimedia content.

Elementary Resources

• Interactive Sites for Education (interactivesites.weebly.com) offers interactive curriculum for students in kindergarten through fifth grade in content areas including science, math, social studies, language arts, art, and Spanish.

• SMART Board Games by PBS (pbskids.org/whiteboard) provides whole-class interactive whiteboard instruction. Engaging lessons include such favorite characters as Curious George, Clifford the Big Red Dog, and many more.

• Seussville (seussville.com) contains all sorts of interactive content involving Dr. Seuss’s timeless, unforgettable books. Additionally, an educators’ page supports teachers in incorporating the site’s offerings into their daily lessons.

• UW-Madison Libraries include research guides on their extensive site, with one in particular covering interactive websites for English language learners: http://researchguides.library.wisc.edu/c.php?g=177873&p=1169756.

Middle School and High School Resources

• Games by Kids.gov (kids.usa.gov/teens/play-games) offers a wealth of resources with games on every topic and subject area, including art, music, exercise/fitness, nutrition, math, social studies, reading, writing, science, and the list goes on and on.

• Learn4Good Games (learn4good.com/games/for-high-school-students) houses real-world simulations and games for older students. The following represent only a few of the offerings provided:

Re-Mission.net provides games and other interactive activities through which students learn more about fighting cancer.

Third World Farmer is a serious, thought-provoking online game and business strategy simulation activity for high school teens and college students whereby they get an opportunity to manage an impoverished farm in a barren desert area of sub-Saharan Africa.

Game Corp is a highly interactive, entertaining, and quirky business management simulation game for high school and college students as well as grown-ups who enjoy online games that involve business themes and thinking strategies.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.