Saturday 4 June 2016

Ferran's Game

For our ICT last session I prepared a very simple game using Kahoot; a well known app that allows us to develop team (or single) games using the classroom screen, digital board, computers or tablet-type devices. So it is a very versatile app to work with. 

This Kahoot game is about some easy riddles to have fun in class and play a little bit with the language. The game can be listed in the Applying step on Bloom's Taxonomy; because will have all the students thinking and relating all their knowledge in order to answer all the questions correctly. 
The activity's target age is 10-11 years old. The riddles aren't difficult, but it is true that the students playing must have high reading skills. 
The objective of this activity is to practice fast reading and improving the reading comprehension.

Here you have some screenshots of the Kahoot created:





Then, I have selected a website that offers a wide variety of games for our students. It is called FunBrain and it is full of little games to have fun and learn (indirectly) specific vocabulary. 
This kind of websites are often left out by teachers for not being "serious" or academically relevant. But they are very powerful tools actually; allows the student to try lots of games and stay with those that makes him/her feel save and motivated.
I discovered this website in last years' practicum; the students showed to me... and I was amazed for the large archive of games it has. 
I was doubting about this website (or this kind of resources)... but if children love it, that means it is good. 

this is how the website looks

Ferran Rodríguez i Díaz

Friday 3 June 2016

Kahoot and Science (Geography)

Hello teachers!  I'll show you an idea of how to use Kahoot program, a free software game-based learning platform designed to create questions and interact with them in the classroom through different devices. When a session is created, Kahoot gives us a password, and by that password all of us can enter in the same session and compete and learn from each other at a time. In this case we will use Kahoot to study the political map of Europe.



Target audience

The activity created is thought to be developed with third key stage (5th - 6th grade).

Aims:

- To revise the unit we have been learning about the last sessions, the political map of Europe.
- To create a game in groups and play with their peers in class





Competences:

-          Management of information and digital:  the students use the computer or other devices.

-          Knowledge and interaction with the world:  is a Geography class, specifically we are working the political map of Europe.

-          Interpersonal:  In groups, they have to cooperate and respect the opinion of others


Classroom Management

Having worked the political map of Europe in previous sessions, all students will be disposed in groups of 3-5 students with a device per group that they will use to create the activity. They will have 20 minutes to think about the 5 questions that will make to the other groups. The teacher will go group by group observing that the questions are well made and are not very difficult. When all groups have all ready to ask the questions, each group will make to the other groups five questions and go counting the points. At the end of class the group that has most point wins.

Material: One device per group


Assessment

The teacher will take into account the process of creation of the game by the groups, not only the final result of the competition. The teacher also will observe if all the members of the group participate actively in their groups during the creation of the game, if they create the questions in English correctly, if they need much help or not and if they treated properly the computer or the device.

Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy

This activity is mainly a HOT in the Bloom’s Taxonomy because the students have to identify which contents they can use to make the questions in order to create the questions.  Finally, when we have created the game, they use LOTS because they remember what they learned on the previous sessions.

Four English skills

The creation of this game involves mainly reading and writing. In order to create the game all of them they have to read the unit about the political map of Europe and write on the device the questions correctly in order to make the questions.  Although we could also use the speaking and listening if we added a variant that students have also read aloud to his peers the question.


Advantages and disadvantages

Advantages: it’s a very motivating game for the students.  Easy to use and very intuitive. We don’t need to create an account, simply with a PIN we can play. They learn playing.  


Disadvantages: if the internet connection doesn’t work we cannot play. Sometimes they get focused on the competition and forget the real aim of the game.  Another problem may be the lack of participation of some students in their respective groups.