Play on Player! 20 Tips and Tools for Remote Game-Based Learning

Resource Materials:

In this section of the Resources Page you will find reference materials, tutorials and how-to information that will help you review or extend your knowledge from the presentation.

10 Great Reasons to Use Game-Based Learning in Your Lessons

1. Develops Hand-Eye Coordination – Games or apps that require the use of a gamepad or a keyboard and the mouse (or a touch screen) help to develop hand-eye coordination. 

2.Beneficial Specifically For Children With Attention Disorders – Research has revealed that online games can actually help children who experience attention disorders. During remote learning, it can be especially hard to keep students’ attention… use games! 

3. Skill-Building  – A lot of games contain certain aspects that help students with many different specific skills, such as learning map skills when playing an adventure game or learning money management while playing a game related to financial literacy.

4. Failure is OK – Games reinforce the idea that it is okay to not succeed the first time. Not succeeding the first time, just shows that more work is needed before the skill is mastered and then the students can try the game again.  

5. Students are more drawn in than with traditional teaching – Games draw students into the learning process and keep them more engaged in the content. 

6. Increases A Child’s Memory Capacity – Games often revolve around memorization, sequences, and more. This can help to increase a child’s memory.  

7. Computer & Simulation Fluency – Our world is dominated by technology. Virtual games can increase students’ computer fluency and simulation fluency. 

8. Helps With Fast Strategic Thinking & Problem-Solving – Many games require children to think quickly and require students to use logic, problem-solving, and accuracy. 

9. Games are FUN and engaging – When students are engaged and learning during games…they are also having fun! Sometimes students are having so much fun, they don’t even realize that they are learning. 

10. Games are great for assessment – Games are a great way to do formative and summative assessments during traditional lessons or blended/remote lessons.  Many games offer immediate feedback to both the student and the teacher.  

In-the-Classroom:

Our In-the-Classroom section is where you will find ideas and examples on how to integrate the tools shared into classroom instruction.

10 Terrific Gaming Tools + 10 Classroom Use Ideas, Tips, and Remote Learning Suggestions!

Mission US 
    • Grades 4-8
    • Link to TeachersFirst Review (including tech integration ideas)
    • Description
      • Mission US is a collection of free interactive games to engage students in learning US History. The missions immerse students in historical settings and empower students to make choices about how everyday people lived in the past. Players can move through the activities and meet various characters from all walks of life and different periods of history. There are currently SIX missions for students to play: For Crown or Glory, Flight to Freedom, A Cheyenne Odyssey, City of Immigrants, Up from the Dust, and newly added…Prisoner in my Homeland.
    • Classroom Use Ideas
      • Read this related blog post about Mission US with countless classroom use ideas
    • Remote Learning Options
      • Assign one of the missions to your students and allow them to work through the simulation at their own pace. During your virtual meeting time, discuss the mission. As an additional assessment, have students share results on a web tool (such as Padlet or Flipgrid. Mission US has a dedicated area and page for remote learning options. There is a link to this resource from the homepage of Mission US. It also includes a sample schedule and tips sheet.
Banzai!   
    • Grades 2-12
    • Link to TeachersFirst Review (including tech integration ideas)
    • Description
      • Banzai is a free financial literacy tool for all ages. As students work through the units and activities, there are formative assessments sprinkled within the tool. There are three age levels to explore, each with different topics (Junior is for ages 8-12), Teen is for ages 13-18, and Plus is for ages 16 through adult. The students are presented with real-world problems. Students choose their own adventures (and consequences).
    • Classroom Use Ideas
      • Banzai is an excellent resource for any financial literacy course, or for those that don’t have financial literacy classes as an option for your school. Create your classroom account, and then provide students with a class code to sign in to their account. Create as many classes as you like then have students follow the curriculum including pre-tests, simulations of life scenarios, interactives, and post-tests. The Banzai tool grades it all. Set up student accounts and assign activities based on your state standards. Be sure to share Banzai on your class website for students to explore at home.
    • Remote Learning Options
      • Since Banzai! grades the lessons as students progress, this is an excellent (and easy) choice for remote lessons. Also, the ability for students to work at their own pace and repeat information, if necessary, makes this another great remote learning tool. Banzai! is an easy option for virtual learning, as students work at their own pace and level. The program will scaffold the learning and share all assessment results directly with the teacher.
Math Games
    • Grades K-8
    • Link to TeachersFirst Review (including tech integration ideas)
    • Description
      • Math games are completely free. Just be aware there are some basic ads that keep it free. The ads are not obtrusive though. This site doesn’t have a lot of bells and whistles on the main page. You can search on the main page for topics or by grade level. The grade level option gives you a list of which tools are available for mobile devices. As an example, grade 4 includes 126 skills (as interactives), plus 104 worksheets, and 114 of those interactives are also available on mobile devices as app versions. 
    • Classroom Use Ideas
      • No registration is necessary to play, BUT… if you register as a teacher you get additional features including free detailed progress reports, leaderboards, and more. Each grade level also offers students points. Students earn points for each activity completed. Earning that Star at the end is very motivational to some students.  The nice thing about this particular site is that they tell you which of the activities have the app available too – so although it may be slightly different the skills being taught and reinforced are the same.
    • Remote Learning Options
      • This is an ideal tool for remote learning, as students can move at their own pace. You can assign a specific activity or have the students progress through the games within each unit. Math Games offers an easy assessment option during remote learning because students receive instant feedback and teachers receive instant results on students’ progress and achievements.
iCivics
    • Grades 3-10
    • Link to TeachersFirst Review (including tech integration ideas)
    • Description
      • iCivics is a web-based education project designed to teach students civics and encourage them to participate in the democratic process. iCivics.org provides detailed lessons designed for very specific judicial and constitutional concepts as well as for the executive and legislative branches. Some of the lessons have videos and links to other relevant websites. In addition to the lessons, iCivics features several engaging interactives on civics topics, democracy, branches of government, citizenship, elections, and campaigns, and the constitution. Several include full teacher manuals (PDF) and a detailed report of student game performance — very useful for assessment. 
    • Classroom Use Ideas
      • As you study the Constitution or U.S. government, have students participate in the activities, stopping to write blog entries as their legal character discussing the results they have achieved in court or in their role within other interactive simulations. Students can work individually or with a partner. Share the collaborative games available for students to play together even when they are physically apart, this is a great option during remote lessons. 
    • Remote Learning Options
      • On the homepage, there is a link for Remote Learning. Educators and parents can find additional activities in this section for elementary, secondary, and ELL students. All games in the remote learning section average 30-45 minutes. Screenshare how to do these activities during your live lesson, and then have students play on their own. Setup a virtual area for students to collaborate together about what they learn (consider using Padlet or your LMS). 
Tynker
    • Grades K-12
    • Link to TeachersFirst Review (including tech integration ideas)
    • Description
      • Tynker is an engaging tool for students to use to learn the basics of coding. The tool is available as a website or mobile app. While the features slightly between web version and app, they both offer a powerful coding tool and curriculum lessons and activities. The app version offers Tynker Junior, designed for kids ages 5-7. Tynker is user-friendly with free programs available for teachers, parents, and students (additional options are available at a cost). The free portion of the educator site includes three free coding courses, interactive games, blog posts and articles, an art studio, many lessons and activities related to the Hour of Code, and more.
    • Classroom Use Ideas
      • Students can use Tynker to learn various skills. Students can learn and practice logical and sequential thinking. They can learn how to break down larger problems into more digestible chunks. Tynker also teaches drag and drop block coding, basic game design, knowledge about Python, and JavaScript. Tynker helps students to develop deeper perseverance and to engage in the engineering design process.
    • Remote Learning Options
      • Assign one of the complete courses for students to work on during remote learning. There are two courses designed for the elementary level: Programming 100 and Barbie You Can Be Anything. Demonstrate first during your live lesson time. Allow students the choice among several of the free Hour of Code activities. Let them pick based on their interest as activities relate to math, writing, dancing, art, science, and other subjects. Have students share what they chose.
Duolingo
    • Grades 1-12
    • Link to TeachersFirst Review (including tech integration ideas)
    • Description
      • Duolingo is a fabulous world language program. There are nearly 30 languages to choose from Spanish, Russian, Hebrew, Vietnamese, Greek, Indonesian, and several others. You need to register if you want to save your progress. But you don’t need to register to just test out the site. You get to determine how many minutes per day you will “study.” They will even send you reminders each day. Students must have some basic reading and typing skills to use this tool.
    • Classroom Use Ideas
      • Depending on the individual child, it could be useful for nearly all ages. The obvious use of this tool is in world language classes or for ESL/ELL students to learn English. Challenge your gifted students to learn a new language for additional enrichment.
    • Remote Learning Options
      • This is a great program to use during remote learning. Students could choose the language they’d like to practice and learn. Even in 10 minutes per day, students could learn some basic phrases in the new language. Group students by the language that they have chosen to learn (you may want to limit the choices to 4-5 languages). Have students collaborate and communicate in their learned language using a web tool such as Flipgrid.
Arcademics
    • Grades 1-9
    • Link to TeachersFirst Review (including tech integration ideas)
    • Description
      • These games are a great way to build skills and work on math and language arts concepts. The activities are divided into multi-player and single-player games in such categories as “Addition and Subtraction,” “Multiplication and Division,” and “Fraction and Ratios.” There are also language arts interactives! The games are designed for 1, 4, 8, or 12 players. At the bottom of the page, click on “How it Works” to see how to enroll your students, assign games, and keep track of student progress. Arcademics uses HTML5, so you can use any device with a web browser. Find apps for Android and iOS, too. HTML5 allows students to play together from any device, anywhere; this means students can play some of the games with classes around the world. Talk about collaboration! Choose to create a new game or join an existing game. Create a private game if you wish, which requires password creation. No email address or personal information is required for these excellent practice activities.
    • Classroom Use Ideas
      • Use these games for individual practice for students who need extra help. The instant feedback provides great learning opportunities for students and builds confidence. Group students in multi-player games that are engaging and interactive. Focus on students’ honing skills, building confidence, and working together as a group of learners. 
    • Remote Learning Options
      • This site offers collaborative games that are perfect to bring together your class during remote learning. Schedule a time for a reading group or math group to play together (games are designed for 1, 4, 8, or 12 players). While this tool creates a fun collaborative learning experience, many of the games can also be done as single-player offering students extra practice with basic addition, vowels, division facts, and other skills.
Oodlu
    • Grades 2-12
    • Link to TeachersFirst Review (including tech integration ideas)
    • Description
      • Use oodlu to create learning games on any device. Choose from sequencing, multiple-choice, and fill in the blank. Add different forms of feedback to guide students when making incorrect choices. Share the code with students to access the learning games. As students advance through the games, they earn award badges. There is also a teacher dashboard to review and monitor student achievements. The free accounts also include an unlimited number of questions and students. You’ve got to love FREE!
    • Classroom Use Ideas
      • Use oodlu to differentiate learning in your classroom. Assign questions sets to different groups of learners according to their specific needs. Be sure to show students how to log in and access questions, then include a link to the site on your class webpage for students to play at home. At the end of your unit, enhance learning and augment technology use by asking students to plan a multimedia presentation. Extend learning and modify technology use by having students use the Storyboard to create a multimedia presentation with a tool like Sway, reviewed here, to share their learning. Have students include text, images, videos, and a link to oodlu learning games in the Sway.
    • Remote Learning Options
      • Create a game to use as an assessment, rather than a traditional test. Share the oodlu during your live learning lessons. You will receive instant feedback and know what topics may need to be retaught. If you are not ready to create your own questions, search their collection of questions to create your own game easily with the help of the already created questions. Pick the questions that are relevant to your studies.
Quizizz
    • Grades K-12
    • Link to TeachersFirst Review (including tech integration ideas)
    • Description
      • Quizizz is very similar to Kahoot, just a bit more “secondary level” friendly. This tool also allows for some comedic replies from presidents (past and present), minions, and more. I love the memes in between questions, sure to motivate your kids and cause a smile. You can add music, videos, and more. You need an account to CREATE the quiz, but you do not need an account to play the game.
    • Classroom Use Ideas
      • Quizizz offers game-based learning plus formative assessment. Use Quizizz when asking questions that require a reading of a passage or longer time to answer questions. Be sure to set the time limit to the upper reaches of 5 minutes. Students can use code names or numerical screen names for anonymity if desired. Create pretests to offer to gifted students to “test out” of already learned material. Use this tool often to obtain a snapshot of each student’s understanding of content. 
    • Remote Learning Options
      • Quizizz features an area for remote learning on their homepage. There is an area dedicated to asynchronous learning, use these suggestions as you are implementing Quizizz for students to use independently. In the sub-area for asynchronous lessons using Quizizz find many neat ideas such as setting a deadline or creating an evergreen link (your choice). You can also have the option of retakes, flashcards, and other options to obtain mastery.
Bamboozle 
    • Grades K-12
    • Link to TeachersFirst Review (including tech integration ideas)
    • Description
      • Play and even create games. Registration is not required to play games, but you do need to register if you want to create games. Use this tool to create a review game in any subject area. Better yet, have your students create their own game demonstrating their understanding of content.
    • Classroom Use Ideas
      • Save Baamboozle in your bag of tricks for a quick review of any content. Engage students by having them create games to share with the class when reviewing for quizzes and tests. Bring excitement to professional development by creating a Baamboozle with materials you are sharing. Be sure to provide a link to Baamboozle games on your class website for students to play at home.
    • Remote Learning Options
      • One of the strengths of Baamboozle (in addition to creating games) is the ability to find so many ready-to-go games. Find a few games on the same topic and allow students choice on which game they want to use for additional practice. Many of the games are related to timely topics (holidays, staying healthy, election, etc..). Use these games to discuss current events. After the game, have your students collaborate together during live lessons or on a web tool, like Padlet.

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