Gaming

Getting students involved in a difficult subject is at the heart of teaching.  Many of us in the profession know how difficult it is to get students to do something even if they ARE interested!  However finding the medium between fun and learning is still at the essence of teaching, and gaming has become an important tool in this process.  Teaching Social Studies class has always had it’s fair share of games, such as using RISK or Monopoly board games to teach about imperialism or economics, however computer programs are allowing the tool of gaming to be more interactive and more readily available to students whenever they have time to play and learn.

One of the most popular websites at my middle school in Olathe is CoolMath-Games.com.  After having so many students asking to go to it when they finished their assignments, I decided to check it out and see if I could get anything out of the site.  To my surprise there was an entire section dedicated to maps and geography, and the kids started playing these on their OWN!  The best part (besides being free)... they didn’t think geography was boring any more, it was as fun as putting together a puzzle, only this time the puzzle was timed.  The more the students played, the better their map skills were getting, and I realized this was a great opportunity to implement this site into a lesson.

The students now write down their times, trying to beat their previous best (and the rest of the class’s times), and repeating the learning until they got it right.  Many students are enjoying this site on their own time outside of school, making the learning continue.  This site has allowed no down time during a lesson for those who take a little more time on assignments, since they can always go here and play (LEARN!).  We will be using this site the last couple of days before winter break to finish up on several units of study, and I hope the playing will pay off!