We needed to familiarize ourselves of this game for a good understanding of how we want to grade it. Our first assignment to this project was to create a rubric. We looked online for the basic outline of an educational game rubric. After we got an idea, we came up with our own categories and criteria for this game. The difficulties, I believe, we came across while working on the rubric was the wording of our description of each category of accomplishment and the editing of the whole table on Google Sheets. The wording was a tad difficult because we wanted for our audience to be able to understand the different aspects of our rulings without sounding too colloquial. The other difficulty was editing the table on Google Sheets because it was my first time working with this new technology tool. I have been working with Microsoft Excel and the two are very similar, so all I had to do was play around with it a bit till I got used to it.Since I am majoring in Elementary Education, Number Cop is a great game I can incorporate into my Mathematics lessons. The first way I can use this game would be in class itself. Hopefully, the classroom that I will have as a future educator has a computer with internet access so we can play this game. I would then break my class into groups of 4 where each group can take turns during Math time to play one game each. They would watch one another and take data of how each of them are doing. According to Garfield (1993), children who work as a team to solve a problem, complete a task, or accomplish a common goal lead to better group productivity, improved attitudes, and sometimes, increased achievement. This activity will not only help them with improving their math skills, but also the skill of learning how to work with other people to accomplish a common goal.
In this world that we live in, it is very easy to communicate with one another without having to meet face-to-face. As stated by an online website, new communication technologies can create new environments that produce more open, fluid, and dynamic small group environments ("McGraw Hill"). The best tool we used was Google Sheets because we got to make the rubric together in real time, as long as we were online. We made edits where it was needed without having to leave our front door. For our presentation, we decided to use Prezi, a different, fun way, to showcase our game. Although these tools were very helpful in our group project, I would have to say that our favorite tool is Whatsapp, an app on our mobile devices where we are able to text one another using WiFi. Through this tool, we were able to communicate faster since the messages came like text messages on our phone. In addition, if we had questions that are hard to explain, we can send pictures using this tool.
In the end, I had a wonderful time while working on this online educational game group project for many reasons. I learned new technology tools that I can use for future assignments and as a future educator. In addition, it was a way for me to be able to get to know my group mates more. Through this process, I have learned what each of our strengths and weaknesses were and how we can help each other. Like I mentioned earlier, working in groups leads to better productivity, improved attitudes, and increased achievement - which I believe my group and I achieved.
References:
Garfield, J. (1993). Teaching Statistics Using Small-Group Cooperative Learning. Journal of Statistics Education v.1, n.1.
http://www.amstat.org/publications/jse/v1n1/garfield.html
McGraw Hill. Technology in Small Groups.
http://www.mhhe.com/socscience/comm/group/students/new_com.htm#online
Hi:
ReplyDeleteVery nicely written
-j-