Hello! my name is Daiana Martinez. I am a teacher of English in two different schools in Argentina. I work with both primary and secondary school students in the suburbs of Buenos Aires.

I looooove my job and enjoy spending time with my students. I love planning projects which are enhanced with technology as I find electronic devices crucial for the XXI century education.

I also enjoy reading books, watching films and travelling around the world. Every time I have the possibility, I pack my bag and start a new adventure to different countries and different cultures. I have a curious self which is delighted to learn about others even during the holidays.

I would like to share with you my reflection blog in which I write posts related to education, both in english and spanish.

http://daimartinez1.blogspot.com.ar/

Resources: https://youtu.be/J0FAgGcvLGQ

Reasons to use games: https://youtu.be/2t18sphUCOE

Games as learning facilitators: https://youtu.be/9VojW2P9N40

Activity 1:

I have used games for quite a long time, both electronic and traditional games.

My students used several games to practice certain aspects such as:

* children's rights https://www.childcomwales.org.uk/en/know-your-rights-game/

* Vikings: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/vikings/

* Romans: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/romans/

* Vocabulary lists: https://quizlet.com/80166741/food-chain-flash-cards/

* Scratch.

In the last two games, my stundets felt more involved as they had to create their own games!

Then, I used to play TEG, a strategy game in which you have certain missions and you need to "attack" your opponents. Again, it taught me about strategy and it even gave me the basics about locations of countires in the map!

My favourite video game was The simpsons. I used to play it in my "sega". Again, strategy building and analitycal skills were applied to get better and reach the final level.

https://youtu.be/4-Vt-qVkiYQ

How to use games for thematic & project based learning: playing Wall-E

How to use games for thematic & project based learning: Olympics

How to use games for thematic & project based learning: further resources

Last year I carried out a project about the environment called "Green Helping Hands". Students recycled elements which were going to be thrown to the bin, they wrote poems as if they were those objects, the separated rubbish at school and they even visited the landfill site in Buenos Aires. 

They mentioned this film so many times that I had to watch it! Students could think of the human impact on the environment after playing the game.

I think this year I could work with the same project but focusing on the olympic games. Students could play the game, and, while playing they could investigate about sports included in the olympic games, their rules and countires involved.

Right now my students are bringing their own devices to school (netbooks and tablets) so it would be a great opportunity to include games in my lessons, but they should be games that can work well with the devices we have available.

Now I'm trying out Kodu, a game lab I discovered after I participated in another course from European Schoolnet Academy.

I'll add a webpage suggested by NeleVm: http://www.gamesandlearning.org/

http://godofwar.playstation.com/verify_age/?next=/

I have never tried it, but my students mentioned it last year when we were learning about Ancient Greeks. You can use it within a project about Greek Gods.

Restrains: Budget, amount of students per classroom

Solutions: We should ask school owners to buy a few in order to start it up and try out games in the school. Our classes have many students, so we might need an agenda so that all students have the possibility to play the games.

Language games: https://youtu.be/gbXuFb_TeRA

Movement Games: https://youtu.be/YnVmpiZ8uh0

Brain Training Games: https://youtu.be/i4JkU4A5QKI

Simulations: https://youtu.be/oeQH9TeFJnU

Further Resources: https://youtu.be/o58OxzLsgHk

http://primarygamesarena.com/

Augmented Reality: https://youtu.be/6-3sH2vEps8

Geocaching: https://youtu.be/AxAYnP2QqCY

Gamification: https://youtu.be/RlQza0fEPZM

Digital Badges: https://youtu.be/IQmnRWWxIH8

I have never heard of it but it sounds like real fun! I will explore it during the winter holidays and see if I can use it the second part of the year!

Ever wondered how you can make Microsoft Office more exciting? Check out Ollie's video below. Here are the key links:

• ‘Ribbon Hero’ (www.ribbonhero.com), which is a free plug in for Office 2007, 2010 & 2013 and is now in its second generation.
• Microsoft Mouse Mischief allows you to ‘gamify’ traditional PowerPoint quizzes and presentations to allow more than one user to collaborate at any time. Microsoft Mouse Mischief for Windows 7 and Windows 8 can be downloaded for free frommicrosoft.com/multipoint/mouse-mischief

At my school badges are used daily in primary school. Students are given badges for god behaviour, best speaker effort among others.

Besides, we also have digital badges that are given through edmodo.

I have used games in my lessons for a couple of years. I always have both educational and non-educational games in a box for fast finishers to enjoy their spare time in class.

My new challenge now is to incorporate games with students devices. I would even like my students to create their own games!

Simple Games Design Tool: https://youtu.be/KPby0ODFN9o

Games Design for Younger Children: https://youtu.be/4FcMEHXYKmQ

Advanced Games Design Tool: https://youtu.be/LzXMQVAwrOA

Activity: https://youtu.be/yIi9enA5ySg

A good game should be entertaining as well as challenging. I prefer games which have a story so I can feel part of it. I also pay a lot of attention to graphics, they should be clear and, if possible, realistic!

I also consider important to have clear objectives and an understandable control system. It should be easy to learn how to play and buttons/options should be at hand. Otherwise, you get bored trying t learn how to play!

I have never used any of the games mentioned in the video but I heard about Kodu before and I downloaded it in my computer to work with my students. I thought that they could create games set in the different biomes we are working with as a way to finish the project.

Now that you mentioned Spark I'll try it out too!!

PEGI and Parents Control: https://youtu.be/LrABE62TxAQ

Evolution of Games: https://youtu.be/EfWEYewVBEc

Talking about games: http://www.pegi.info/es/

Peer Review: http://techtv.mit.edu/videos/14629-no-one-writes-alone-peer-review-in-the-classroom-a-guide-for-students

1. Students learn while playing the game. By playing a game, students may be able to understand new concepts or ideas, take a different perspective, or even experiment with different options available for them.

2. Games provide a context for engaging practice. As a teacher of English, I consider important that games provide meaningful contexts for the use of the language as students have to write commands or understand what characters are saying or even read instructions.

3. Through games students can acquire different skills. Games require tudents to develop and use critical thinking skills, creativity, teamwork, and good sportsmanship.

4. When playing games, students can develop a variety of connections with the content and can generate positive memories. Those positive emotional connections lead to positive attitutede and can facilitate learning.

5. Games capture students’ attention and actively engage them. Students really love playing games, it is a good way to focus their attention and enjoy the lesson.

With my students we talk about games. I'm interested in knowing what they play at home. THis year they started bringing their devices so I generally see the apps they have downloaded to play. They explain me about their favourite games and we "find excuses" to use them in the classroom.

Most of them love minecraft. I will need to try it out since I don't understand it quite well. I don't see those graphics as entertaining as the realistic ones other games have.

It is motivating and enriching because you feel accompanied.

When I do peer review with my kids I generally give them a checklist so that they know what to focus, they all share the same aims, and nobody feels threatened with negative comments. I also encourage children to add a positive comment in the review.

-The lesson plan makes direct use of games as a tool for teaching & learning:for example, the lesson plan develops a classroom project that revolves around the theme of biomes using the programming tool Kodu in order to implement students in coding. I think it’s a very good idea as I believe that when students create their own games or rules etc., related in subjects familiar to them, they are devoted in the game and the learning process.

-The lesson plan uses game elements to enhance traditional teaching & learning: Indeed in the lesson plan there are elements of gamification, as it gives the opportunity to students to analyse and explore what are the factors that makes a game interesting or not.

- The lesson plan is well aligned with its learning outcomes: activities and assessment clearly link with the defined learning outcomes and allow the teacher to determine by the end of the lesson(s) if the objectives have been achieved and it is also well organized.

- The lesson plan is balanced: there is a good mix of activities with at least four different Teaching & Learning Activities used (TLAs in the Learning Designer) and none of the Activities taking up more than 35% of the time (see the pie chart for this).

Congratulations!

Have a nice summer!

Games as a tool for teaching: The lesson plan uses games as a tool for teaching. The game is used as a tool of engagement and there is  work on another topic such as language and culture.

Games to enhance traditional teaching & learning: In the lesson plan there are elements of gamification, as it gives students the opportunity to give feedback to the work of their peers and obtain points for that.

Alignment with Learning Outcomes: There are no learning outcomes described.

Balance: There is good balance among activities and most of them are included. I would also have included “inquiry” which is directly linked to the aim of the game, as far as I am concerned.

Games as a tool for teaching: The lesson plan uses games as a tool for teaching. The game is used as a tool of engagement but there is no work on any other topic such as language, story writing or content. However, the development of the lesson to teach how to use Scratch  is really good and comprehensively.

Games to enhance traditional teaching & learning: In the lesson plan there are elements of gamification, as it gives the opportunity to students to analyse and explore the games to choose the three best in a padlet

Alignment with Learning Outcomes: There is only one learning outcomes defined. Some such as developing a hypothesis could have been integrated into the lesson plan. There could be an activity at the beginning where students formally develop and discuss  a hypothesis regarding the use of the animated story.

Balance: There is an ok mix of Learning Activities but the Practice activities dominate the lesson plan. I would suggest to allocate more time in between the different stages for Collaboration and inquiry of the applied concepts. This would make the lesson plan more balanced.

 I think the author chose a very interesting game for the age of children in primary school and will get through this, pupils have fun and learn a lot.

 Students will, through these classes have practical training on animal characteristics, as well as improving knowledge of computer use.

 The author is not developed a way of rewarding and competitions during the game I think it is important to motivate pupils.

 I think it's time practical training quite a bit, I should leave more time for independent work and reduce the introduction to the topics and methods of work. I understand that these are young children and that they need more to explain before starting work, but still needed to be reduced to a shorter form.

Daiana, thank you for a great project and I wish you every happiness in its application in the classroom. Greetings from Serbia.

Nikola.