Online Gaming and Academic Performance
Published Online: June 13, 2012
Published in Print: June 13, 2012, as Online Games Tapped by West Virginia to Improve Education
Bits & Bytes
Online Games Tapped by West Virginia to Improve Education
Students love to play computer games, and the West Virginia Department of Education is tapping into that love through a website called Learn21.
The site offers all kinds of games that help students in every grade level brush up on their studies.
Fifth grade students in Dottie Pownall's classroom at Orchard View Elementary in Martinsburg have played Probability Pond, a math game offered on the Learn21 website that features a big green frog.
The frog can eat fireflies in colors of blue, yellow, purple, and red. The students have to determine what the probability is that the frog will eat a particular color. The students take turns guessing the answer and entering it on a large smart board in front of the room.
Special education teacher Sharon Collins led some lessons this year, incorporating as much technology as possible.
"Almost every day, we find something online through Learn21 or other resources and incorporate it into our classroom," Collins says.
"With having an inclusion classroom, we have students who have vision problems. We have students who have speech problems, learning problems. We have an autistic student in our class, and then we also have regular ed. students, and it really appeals to their different types of learning styles."
The state education department started Learn21 two years ago. The website offers online games that go along with the curriculum. Teachers can use the games in class, and students can access the website from home if they want to practice some more.
Donna Landin, the department's e-learning coordinator, says Learn21 is meant to help students in a variety of ways.
"They could find content on the website, go into that content, complete a game or an interactivity that went right along with what they were learning in
Published in Print: June 13, 2012, as Online Games Tapped by West Virginia to Improve Education
Bits & Bytes
Online Games Tapped by West Virginia to Improve Education
Students love to play computer games, and the West Virginia Department of Education is tapping into that love through a website called Learn21.
The site offers all kinds of games that help students in every grade level brush up on their studies.
Fifth grade students in Dottie Pownall's classroom at Orchard View Elementary in Martinsburg have played Probability Pond, a math game offered on the Learn21 website that features a big green frog.
The frog can eat fireflies in colors of blue, yellow, purple, and red. The students have to determine what the probability is that the frog will eat a particular color. The students take turns guessing the answer and entering it on a large smart board in front of the room.
Special education teacher Sharon Collins led some lessons this year, incorporating as much technology as possible.
"Almost every day, we find something online through Learn21 or other resources and incorporate it into our classroom," Collins says.
"With having an inclusion classroom, we have students who have vision problems. We have students who have speech problems, learning problems. We have an autistic student in our class, and then we also have regular ed. students, and it really appeals to their different types of learning styles."
The state education department started Learn21 two years ago. The website offers online games that go along with the curriculum. Teachers can use the games in class, and students can access the website from home if they want to practice some more.
Donna Landin, the department's e-learning coordinator, says Learn21 is meant to help students in a variety of ways.
"They could find content on the website, go into that content, complete a game or an interactivity that went right along with what they were learning in