Level Up Your Teaching with Edtech Games
for Formative Assessment

Monday, December 4, 2023 ⬥ 2:15 – 3:15 PM
Presented by Melissa Henning

Session Description:

Gear up teacher friends as we embark on an expedition to explore 10 FREE and engaging gaming tools that double as formative assessment opportunities. These digital tools are designed for learners of all ages (K-12) and make reviewing content an interactive and fun base camp activity. Try out tools like Banzai!, oodlu, Baamboozle, and Arcademics where students can collaborate, compete, and check their understanding along the climb. See how easy it is to set up your class, create activities aligned to your summit goals, and generate assessments on the fly. Leave equipped with fresh formative assessment ideas and an actionable map for bringing game-based learning into your classroom. Come ready to collaborate, play, and discover new routes to energize your instruction and energize your students for the educational ascent ahead!

Objectives:
    • Participants will learn pedagogy and the benefits of game-based learning and formative assessment;
    • Participants will evaluate ten gaming tools for assessment use in their lessons; and
    • Participants will collaborate to discuss ways to use the assessment tools and differentiate.

Download a PDF copy of the slides here.

Resource Materials:

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

Resources from TeachersFirst

Other Resources

Mentioned During the Session – 10 Gaming Tools for Formative Assessment

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 SEVEN missions for students to play: For Crown or Glory, Prisoner in My Homeland, and others.
    • Blog post related to Mission US
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).
    • Blog post related to Banzai!
Math Games
    • Grades K-8
    • Link to TeachersFirst Review (including tech integration ideas)
    • Description
      • Math games are completely free. Just be aware some basic ads 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 complete list of interactives, worksheets, and how many tools are available for mobile devices.
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.
    • Blog post related to Argument Wars (game available on the site)
    • Blog post related to Do I Have the Right (game available on the site)
FluentKey
    • Grades K-12
    • Link to TeachersFirst Review (including tech integration ideas)
    • Description
      • Tynker is an engaging tool for students to learn coding basics. The tool is available as a website or mobile app. While the features vary slightly between the web version and the 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.
    • Blog post related to FluentKey
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.
    • Blog post related to Duolingo
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
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!
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.
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 the content.

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.

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 and 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.

Videos (learn more about some of the tools shared)

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.

 

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