Academic Games

Effective Instruction Series2013

ESU 6 Craft Knowledge Wiki

http://esu6craftknowledge.wikispaces.com/

Engaging Students• On some good days we

may have 70% of our students engaged in learning.

• Good teachers make sure that it is a different 70% that is engaged throughout our time with the students and all students are engaged at some point in time.

So why is it necessary to change up instruction?

As your brain gets numb-er Your brain gets dumber

Changing STATES

Change up instruction 5-10 min. for pre-adolescents, and

Every 10-20 minutes for adolescents into adults.

Thinking About It

• Why would you want to change states when you finally have students quiet, sitting in their seats, and looking like they are listening to you?

• Because the brain needs a chance to refocus and start again.

• When you stand up blood flow to the brain increases.

The Importance of Processing Time

• The brain needs time to create connections and pathways to create long term memories.

• The hippocampus can only hold so much • Example of glass of water.• Too much, to fast, it won’t Last.• 10-2 or 5-1 rule

Lecture

Reading Audio-visual

Demonstration

Discussion GroupsPractice by doing

Teach others/immediate use of learning

Average Retention Rate after 24 hours

5%10%

20%

30%

50%

75%90%

Adapted from David Sousa’s figure 3.9in his text, How the Brain Learns p 95

Boosting Retention

Art and Science of Teaching

• Question #5: What will I do to engage students?

• The teacher uses academic games and inconsequential competition to maintain student engagement.

Strategies Enacted on the Spot

• Engagement (Q. 5)• Relationships (Q.8)• Recognizing Rules & Procedures (Q. 6-7)• High Expectations for All (Q. 9)

Question 5: How to re-engage our students!

An Old Proverb states:

• You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make them drink.

• We learned that maybe with “reward and punishment” the horse will do what ever we ask.

• However, consider a different goal, “How can I make the horse thirsty?”

Strategies to increase engagement• Use of games• Inconsequential competition• Manage response rates• Physical movement• Effective pacing• Student interest• Demonstrating intensity and enthusiasm

Games and Inconsequential(Just for Fun) Competition

• Games should always have an academic focus.• Regroup students so that all students

experience winning and losing.• Points are tallied but not used to increase or

decrease scores or grades.

Do two things…

• Participate in the game• Be a teacher on your shoulder and

observe:– Participation– Laughter– Excitement

Research on The Use of Games to Improve Student Learning

Marzano Research Lab reports the results of three meta-analyses.

Student growth in classrooms that used games ranged from a 13 percentile gain to an 18 percentile gain.

This is significant.

Two General Categories

• Vocabulary games– Vocabulary Games for the Classroom,

Carleton & Marzano, 2010

• Turning questions into games– Asking questions elicits students’ attention

TABOOThis favorite game is a

great tool for students to practice vocabulary and summarize. The object is to get someone to say the word using clues that don’t use the “taboo” words.

18

president

ObamaWhite HouseRepublicanWashingtonLincoln

TABOO

Star WarsLuke SkywalkerDarth VaderYodaMoviePrincess Leia

TABOO

John F. KennedyPresident1960’sWhite HouseJackie KennedyAssassination

TABOO

The White HousePresidentOval OfficeFirst LadyHomeWashington DC

TABOO

NebraskaStateMidwestName of the GovernorPlatte RiverPlains

Create Your Own

• Write a taboo term or concept on a notecard

• List up to 5 taboo words

Who am I?• On note cards, teacher writes names of people

studied in class, vocabulary words, places or things from content.

• Student puts on top hat (or baseball cap) or sticky note, and chooses a card without looking at it. The other student tapes the card to the hat, or put the sticky note on his/her back.

• The student determines the name on the card by asking yes or no questions.

Who am I?

•Let’s play. •In your group, pick one person to turn away from the screen. •The name appears on screen. •The “It” person asks yes or no questions until he or she answers correctly.

Who Am I?

• Tom Hanks

Who Am I?

• Oprah Winfrey

Social Studies Examples: Who am I?Elementary

• Daniel Boone• Amelia Earhart• Abraham Lincoln

• Albert Einstein• Dwight Eisenhower• Sigmund Freud

Social Studies Examples: Who am I?Middle School

Social Studies Examples: Who am I?High School

• Joan of Arc• Ulysses S. Grant• Aristotle

Other Examples?

What Am I?

Science• Insect• Mammal• Gravity• Force• Compound• Element – (specific)

English• Parts of speech • Poetry• Essays• Genres• Literary Techniques• Titles

What Am I?

Math• Order of operation• Scientific notation• Pythagorean

Theorem• Variable• Slope• Intercept

Social Studies• The Constitution• Republic• Democracy• Free trade• States Rights• Electoral College

What is the question?Jeopardy: The answer must be in the form of a question.

Language Arts examples– The form of word after all of its prefixes and suffixes

have been removed• What are ___________________?

– The part of a word that comes before its base• What is a ____________________?

High school examples

•The person who is telling the story in a book or movie.

– What is a _________________?•Ideas or rumors spread to help or hurt a specific person or cause

– What is __________________?•A law that prevents the reproduction or use of an author’s original work without permission

– What is __________________?

DonDon’’t forget to use physical movement.t forget to use physical movement.• Stand up and stretch (the oxygen effect)(the oxygen effect)

• Body representations (acting out (acting out important content) e.g. have four students important content) e.g. have four students do a visual representation of a celldo a visual representation of a cell

• Give one, get one (standing, students (standing, students compare notes and identify additions)compare notes and identify additions)

• Vote with your feet (Correct? Partially (Correct? Partially correct? Incorrect?)correct? Incorrect?)

Can You Identify?• Each team needs a piece of paper

(or notecard or sticky note).• Number 1–7.• Must identify all seven nonlinguistic

representations.• One member of the team will safely deliver the

paper to the judge (must have all seven correct to win!).

• Empower students to be the judge!

Famous People

1 2

65

3

4

Magic LetterHow to play:oWrite clues that result in answers that begin with the same letter.oStudents are presented with the clues.oThey work in teams to determine the “magic letter” by solving the clues.

Magic Letter =

A list of all of the letters is call the __________.

A person who writes a book is called an __________.

People in plays or movies are called __________.

Magic Letter =

A list of all of the letters is call the alphabet.

A person who writes a book is called an author.

People in plays or movies are called actors.

A

Magic Letter =

Let’s play . . .

Metaphors and similes are examples of __________.

An author can describe events that took place before the time of the story by using a __________.

If you speak Spanish well enough to live in Mexico, you are said to be__________ in the language.

Magic Letter =

Let’s play . . .

The property that tells you that 7 + 0 = 7 and that 7 x 1 = 7is the __________.

A triangle with at least two sides of equal length is called an __________.

3 < 5 and 7 > 2 are examples of __________.

Magic Letter =

Let’s play . . .

Inherited characteristics such as height and eye color are determined by your __________.

The siren of an ambulance sounding louder as the ambulance gets closer and then getting quieter as it passes you is an example of the __________.

A force that can slow an object in motion is called __________.

Magic Letter =

Let’s play . . .

Metaphors and similes are examples of figurative language.

An author can describe events that took place before the time of the story by using a flashback.

If you speak Spanish well enough to live in Mexico, you are said to be fluent in the language.

F

Magic Letter =

Let’s play . . .

The mathematical property that tells you that 7 + 0 = 7 and that 7 x 1 = 7 is identity property.

A triangle with at least two sides of equal length is called an isosceles triangle.

3 < 5 and 7 > 2 are examples of inequalities.

I

Magic Letter =

Let’s play . . .

Inherited characteristics such as height and eye color are determined by your DNA.

The siren of an ambulance sounding louder as the ambulance gets closer and then getting quieter as it passes you is an example of the Doppler effect.

A force that can slow an object in motion is called drag.

D

Talk a Mile a Minute

Things Associated with the American

Civil WarRobert E. Lee

Ulysses S. GrantGettysburg

SlaveryAntietam

Emancipation ProclamationAbraham Lincoln

Things Associated with

Outer SpaceSun

OrbitsMars

VenusSaturnGalaxyMeteors

American Holidays

Thanksgiving4th of July

Fathers DayMothers Day

Veteran’s DayColumbus Day

Martin Luther King Day

Shapes

SquareCircle

RectangleTriangle

Right TriangleOval

Diamond

Artists

Vincent Van GoghMichelangelo

PicassoLeonardo da Vinci

MonetRembrandt

Andy Warhol

Units of Measure

InchesMetersGallonsHoursQuarts

Square YardsLiters

Name that Category

Things that happened in the 1970’s

Types of government

Things Albert Einstein would

say

Liquids Titles of plays

Battles

200 POINTS

100 POINTS 100 POINTS

50 POINTS 50 POINTS 50 POINTS

Things you find on the moon

Types of music

Things a shark would say

Nursery Rhymes

Planets Presidents

200 POINTS

100 POINTS 100 POINTS

50 POINTS 50 POINTS 50 POINTS

Things you find in China

Kinds of fish

Things a tree would say

Soda Pop

Flavors

Cities Vegetables

200 POINTS

100 POINTS 100 POINTS

50 POINTS 50 POINTS 50 POINTS

Summary

• How can academic games help students learn?

• What games do you want to try?• Talk a Mile a Minute, Name that Category

and a Jeopardy power point are posted on the ESU 6 Craft Knowledge wiki at http://esu6craftknowledge.wikispaces.com/