What is online gaming?
Online gaming is the specialized application or technology, which connects players through internet or over a computer network. (Fundamentals of Game Design).
There are many variations of online gaming, and many different uses. One of fastest growing frontiers of online gaming is using the online gaming technology for educational purposes. There are many different programs and technologies out that focus making the gaming experience count. Game designers and educators are teaming up to make online gaming experience that are not only fun, but also mentally stimulating. Over the next few weeks I will attempt to show and explain the different online gaming programs and developments that are out to help kids learn while gaming.
http://www.zurinstitute.com/onlinegaming.html#children
Gaming Resources:
Educational Games for Children and Teens
Young Children
- Capital Penguin: Single-player game in which the player learns U.S. states and their capital cities. You must jump on the state that matches the given capital city; jumping towards the wrong state means your penguin will fall into the ocean. Hits and misses are recorded for learning feedback.
- Grammar Gorillas: Players identify parts of speech in order to win bananas. Levels are beginner (nouns and verbs) and advanced (all parts of speech).
- Grand Prix Mulitplication: Up to four players can play this game, which tests the ability to solve math problems quickly in order to win the Grand Prix. The student's correct answers enable a faster pace of the car.
- Lemonade Stand: This game simulates the real-life task of running a lemonade stand. Start with twenty dollars; see how much you can make. Fun way to teach beginning business.
- Tug Team: Up to eight players can play this game which builds familiarity with fractions. How quickly the student correctly answers the fraction problem determines how much the dirt bike will tug, and the team with the fastest rate of correct answers will win the tug of war. Hits and misses are recorded and displayed at the end of the game, along with the student's rate.
- Virble: Word-building exercises, great for younger children and English Learners.
Teens
- Airport Tycoon 3: This business management game provides as close to hands-on experience as one can get remotely. Players manage an airport, including security, bad weather, customer and staff needs. Good 3D graphics.
- Crossword Puzzle: This game for teens and adults is created by Dictionary.com and a new game is posted daily. Crosswords keep the mind fresh.
- Darfur is Dying: This game educates players on world issues by showing the violence present in Sudan. The player may be at home on the computer, but they are certainly not isolated when playing this awareness-building game.
- Fitness Frenzy: Another time management game, this time the user runs 10 gym sites and performs personal training. The player helps his or her "clients" to shape up, while keeping them happy and performing all the necessary duties of the job. Great practice for offline time and project management.
- FreeRice.com: This game builds vocabulary and social awareness by donating 10 cents for each correct answer to the UN World Food Program.
- FunTrivia.com: Trivia games for teens, new games added every hour. Tests and rewards knowledge and quickness to answer.
- Gamestar Mechanic: Players get a chance to win enough power to design and create their own video games by solving a set of puzzles. One question asks users to determine how two players arrive at a given point at the same time using physics concepts.
- Geology Explorer: This game for high school and college students is designed to teach geology in a fun, interactive way. Players perform a number of exploratory tasks on the planet Oit, identify findings, create a map and overcome hardship.
- Guess That Phrase: Like Wheel of Fortune, players choose letters that are included in the phrase to be discovered, then guess the phrase. Builds quickness with letters, creativity with words.
- Hotel Dash - Suite Success: This game teaches time management skills by allowing the user to run a hotel. Guests must be attended to, luggage carried, and all in a manner that leaves the hotel system running smoothly!
- Little Big Planet: This multiplayer game for PlayStation 3 comes in 24 languages and has over a million levels - impossible to exhaust! In addition to playing, users can create their own challenges, to be played by others. Opportunity to be an active player and creator teaches exploration and game-building skills. Available at cost.
- Magic Pen: Players use and learn physics and geometry by using logic to construct 2-Dimensional figures.
- Math Baseball: Players complete math problems to play baseball. A wrong answer is a strike out, and correct answers are hits. Whether the hit is a home run or simply to a base depends on the difficulty of the question.
- My Little Word Puzzles: Tests the user's knowledge of definitions and spelling with this game. Letters are randomized and a definition is given; players can learn new words as they put the letters together.
- Reach Out Central: This game teaches emotional and social skills by allowing the player to re-do scenes from their lives which they wish had turned out better. It shows how beliefs and actions affect one's mood and leaves the player with experience trying out different responses to various situations. Provides practice for emotional well-being.
- ReMission: The player gets to destroy malignant cancer cells in this health-promoting game.
- Trivia Machine: Classified as a Brain Teaser, this game gives players a chance to test their trivia knowledge on a wide array of topics, including sports, music, technology and science. Players are rewarded for being knowledgeable!
- Virtual Cell: An interactive game designed to teach students the parts of a cell and how they interact. Includes worksheets for teachers and knowledge test questions.
- Words in a Word: Players find words (4 letter minimum) in other words. Builds vocabulary, quick word recognition skills.
Oliver, I am stoked that you chose online gaming! This is the future, and the future is now. Games can be so interactive and fun to play, as well as an amazing learning experience. I'd be interested to learn about the effects of games on the brain such as if there is any research for or against brain development, social development and learning capability. Anyway, can't wait to keep reading. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteOliver, I myself am not much of a gamer but I do believe in the benefits of online gaming. Now a days, there are so many ways to create profiles and personalities which are added benefits that make gaming more interactive. Especially in sports games, now there are features that allow you to manage a team as the general manager which is educational in the sense that you have to understand the business side of the industry.
ReplyDeleteGreat first post! I look forward to reading more about online gaming.
Interesting topic, I'm excited to learn more about gaming as an educational tool. Anyways, this kid's got a lot of ambition and I'm loving it. I think it's great that he was able to use that game to learn more about history and develop the three skills he speaks to; I wonder how he came to see that though. Did he realize it on his own that he was learning or did his parents/teachers/guardians help convince him of it? It makes me wonder if games could be encouraged to support learning. But then, perhaps kids would defer from playing because they would see too much of a connection between their "fun-time" and their "school-time" activities...I probably would. I do remember playing this typing game on the computer when I was a kid though. I swear I'm good at typing nowadays because of that game, because it made it fun. That's the key in educating our youth these days--the struggle of making learning just as fun as gaming so that they choose the former over the latter. Who says they can't be combined to get the best of both worlds though? Clearly this kid thinks they can be.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Oliver and thanks for all of those links. Wow, there are a lot of opportunities for young and older to engage in online gaming and I may click a link or two to check them out. I am not a gamer... have never even tried it... so now that you are in my blogging group, your easy to read and access gaming sites is making it easy for me to check it out. Thanks for that.
ReplyDeleteAre you a gamer? A classmate in my entrepreneurial class during undergrad studies invented an online gaming app or something like that and he was very involved in the gaming movement around campus. I believe through his invitations I discovered there is a gaming community and they hosted get togethers to showcase their apps and/or introduce the 'sport' to others.
Its a fascinating topic and while I believe I'm a bit too busy, old(er), or engaged differently, I may give it a look and a try. Thanks again for making it so easy to do.
Hello Oliver,
ReplyDeleteI am an extreme gamer! I live playing video games. Thank you for all the links. I think some people do not realize that their are many games that can be used for education. I am a huge fan of Diner Dash and Hotel Dash. I agree with 100% both of those games teach you how to manage time and teaches you how to run things (hotel and diner) smoothly.