Educational games are designed to make learning fun and interesting. Children are able to interact and participate in the learning process instead of siting and listening to a constant pattern of oral and boring lesson plans.
The number of educational games are vast. Below are only a few of the most popular ones, including:
- com
- BBC Schools: Games
- PBS Kids Games
- Cool Math
- Math for Love Prime Club
- My Feelings Games
- The Learning Journey: Match It-Spelling
These fun and interactive games offer a variety of subjects, including English and Math puzzles, digital books and reading, Geography, Sports, and Typing
Advantages
Educational games offer teachers and students many advantages. For example, when teachers can integrate games into a particular subject, it eases the pressure of designing lesson plans consisting of massive paperwork.
As a teacher, I used to spend a lot of time copying thousands of work sheets that I found impossible to grade with full focus.
Educational games gave me an opportunity to teach students using interactive materials that children love to engage with.
Moreover, for students, educational games stifle the necessity of listening at boring lectures or oral lesson plans at which students must sit quietly in their seats and listening.
Knowledge of the Most Effective Games
However, teachers should have a vast knowledge of the most effective and academically progressive educational games in the field. The more advanced games, such as cool math, will make lesson planning and student learning a delightful task.
Using educational games shouldn’t take the place of direct teaching instruction. Teachers still must demonstrate the substance of a particular academic topic. Students still need to be shown how to execute problems and solutions when it comes to grasping the gist of a lesson.
Sometimes, educational games shouldn’t be used until 80% of the classroom has an understanding of the subject. Only after this time should the lesson be backed up by fun and interactive board and computer games.
Tips for Using Educational Games
Morning Arrival
When students come into the classroom a good idea is to allow students to grab chrome books or I pads to practice on a subject for mastery. Listening to a fun digital book gets my vote. Reading comes the mind and spirit of students.
Noble Academy, a charter school in Minnesota, takes advantages of this type of learning with amazing results when it comes to getting students in the mood for learning.
Afternoon
In the afternoon, especially after recess, backing up math lessons with math games, including cool math, reinforces the mindset for working with and manipulating numbers.
Math games helps students focus and solve problems. Real life situations dealing with buying and selling, measurements, and investments are practical and will help students understand how the world works with it comes to economic matters.
Before Dismissal
Allowing students to play games before dismissal is a strategy teachers can use to send students home with a sense of accomplishment. In addition, since students are more hyper at the end of the school day, using educational games can be a way of calming students down.
The most important thing is to be creative in your use of board and computer games to reinforce learning in a variety of subjects and situations.
Exploring new trends in teaching and using a variety of games will become more of the norm in the educational industrial. As technology advances and Artificial Intelligence take the center of attention, the tradition of physical classroom participation or lecture presentations will become a smaller factor in academic learning.
