The Ideology of Space Invasion as a Technological Learning Tool in the Classroom

The Idea of Space Invasion as a Learning Tool

Space Invasion is a game from funbrain.com, which is an online educational game website that provides comprehensive lessons in most educational fields such as: Math, Reading, Language Arts, and the Creative Arts. It teaches children the use of technology in using the mouse and keypads on the computer and to enhance intellectual and traditional learning at the same time.

In the midst of creating a presentation and learning atmosphere for our online game, creating the rubric was probably the most difficult task. However, in doing such a task, the most difficult part was creating the template for “learner content.” I found this difficult because our game was so simple that it would be hard to create such a template. I mean to say that learner content is not always the easiest task to accomplish especially with a game so simple. As a secondary education major I really cannot utilize this in my content area, however, if I am an elementary school teacher, specifically first grade, I would integrate the use of these educational online games and basic technology in general. According to the online website Technology and Educational Reform, created by the U.S. Department of Education, “The most common--and in fact, nearly universal--teacher-reported effect on students was an increase in motivation. Teachers and students are sometimes surprised at the level of technology-based accomplishment displayed by students who have shown much less initiative or facility with more conventional academic tasks” (Educational Reform).

            I agree that with a game-based enhance culture with probably every household on Guam and the Untied States possessing game consoles and computers, the integration of technology in the classroom is not that far fetched. With online and digital gaming, according to Erik Klopfer, and the entire authors of “The Education Arcade,” “Digital games, whether computer-, game console-, or handheld-based, are characterized by rules, goals & objectives, outcomes & feedback, conflict/ competition/challenge/opposition, interaction, and representation of story (Prenksy, 2001) or more simply, “Purposeful, goal-oriented, rule-based activity that the players perceive as fun” (Klopfer, 2008). They are distinguished by two key elements: (1) an interactive virtual playing environment, and (2) the struggle of the player against some kind of opposition” (Klopfer, 4).

 I think that in general, technology is crucial in this every changing society, especially in the developing parts of the world; if technology can be implemented then it should be taken advantage of.

I believe that I would utilize this game during mathematics, teaching “geometrical” shapes and in the general creative arts portion of my classroom. I will definitely be using a rubric in all lessons and activities in my classes when teaching. In creating the rubric, I will revise my rubric and add more of learner content, to be more specific as to what it is they will and should be learning [objectifying the lesson], this part of the rubric and my missteps within it is probably the only thing I would change in order to enhance student learning.

          According to NET’s standards I feel that the following was achieved post-online educational game project: use technology to support learner-centered strategies that address the diverse needs of students. I was unaware at just the value of online educational gaming until this project was completed. We evaluated our projects based on the game we chose. Each group displayed the diversity of learning and the diverse needs of students by attempting to evaluate their technological game with rubric that would suffice for the viability of the game.

References:

Singh, Ram & Barbara Means.  (n.d.).  Effects of Technology on Classrooms and Students.  In Technology and Education Reform.  Retreived October 04, 2011, from http://www2.ed.gov/pubs/EdReformStudies/EdTech/effectsstudents.html

Klopfer, Eric, et.al.  2009.  Digital Gaming.  In The Instructional Power of Digital Games, Social Networking, Simulation, and How Teachers Can Leverage Them.  Retrieved October 4, 2011, from http://education.mit.edu/papers/GamesSimsSocNets_EdArcade.pdf