bookblog:instructional_strategies_for_dgbl

Instructional Strategies for DGBL

This book will have an extensive set of supplementary materials, from summaries of the theories and models discussed in the book, to templates of lesson plans and teacher guides. It will also include a list of 100 or so instructional strategies that have either been designed specifically for game based learning lessons, or that have been adapted to work with games.

Here's a sneak peak at just a few of them:

A reading strategy consisting of: Title, Relationships, Intent of questions, and Put in perspective, that can be applied to game based learning. It will not always be possible to ‘peruse’ a game level in the same way that readers can peruse a chapter, but it is often possible to have a look around and this strategy will help players do this in a targeted, organized fashion that will help them connect the learning objectives with their gameplay.

Poems written by students about any specific person or object (character or object in a game). To summarize student knowledge of topic. It is normally a short prose that includes information about the object or character.
(Line 1) First name
(Line 2) Three or four adjectives that describe the person
(Line 3) Important relationship (daughter of . . . , mother of . . . , etc)
(Line 4) Two or three things, people, or ideas that the person loved
(Line 5) Three feelings the person experienced
(Line 6) Three fears the person experienced
(Line 7) Accomplishments (who composed . . . , who discovered . . . , etc.)
(Line 8) Two or three things the person wanted to see happen or wanted to experience
(Line 9) His or her residence
(Line 10) Last name
Source: http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson398/biopoem.pdf

Normally, this strategy involves showing sets of examples that demonstrate a single rule (like “i before e except after c.”) and asking the students to stat the rule. In the DGBL version it can be used to uncover various aspects of the gameplay itself. Perhaps a challenge appears every time the player reaches a particular point or achieves a particular outcome. This strategy can be used to make players aware of the rule systems that are built in to the game. Depending on the game, these could overlap with real-world rules.

This is an adaptation of the “Letters from Last Year’s Class” idea. In the original version students write letters at the end of the year for future students. In our variation students will write letters to the next group of players of a particular game. Normally these letters include tips, but in this case it is important to avoid actual spoilers. Other than that, these letters can include highlights from the students’ experiences in the game, new concepts they have learned, pitfalls to avoid. The letters are meant to be shared with the next group of players before they begin to play. These letters can also be used to build or augment existing teacher guides.

A variation on the teaching strategy of shared reading. This is a strategy that uses oversized picture books from which the teacher reads aloud to a group of children. In shared playing the teacher uses a large monitor or data projector to project the game for the entire class and the whole class plays as one.

The book will have about 100 of these instructional strategies helping to make this book a truly practical volume for practitioners and teacher programs alike, so be sure to check them out.

~~DISCUSSION~~

  • bookblog/instructional_strategies_for_dgbl.txt
  • Last modified: 2015/06/07 23:41
  • by becker