Brain Based Learning

Elisa teaches online professional development courses for teachers at teachertechtraining.com. Register now for Teaching With Games – starts Monday January 4, 2016. Save $50 – Register by December 7, 2015!

Photo by Germán Póo-Caamaño
Looking to cut beyond the hype and dig in to what game based learning is all about? These seven books will give you a deep insight into ways games are being used today, and looks at the good – and the bad – of this growing phenomenon, including gamification.
1. The Gamification of Learning and Instruction: Game-based Methods and Strategies …

Elisa teaches online professional development courses for teachers at teachertechtraining.com. Register now for Teaching With Games – starts Monday January 4, 2016. Save $50 – Register by December 7, 2015!

Photo by Germán Póo-Caamaño
Looking to cut beyond the hype and dig in to what game based learning is all about? These seven books will give you a deep insight into ways games are being used today, and looks at the good – and the bad – of this growing phenomenon, including gamification.
1. The Gamification of Learning and Instruction: Game-based Methods and Strategies …

Elisa teaches online professional development courses for teachers at teachertechtraining.com. Register now for Teaching With Games – starts Monday January 4, 2016. Save $50 – Register by December 7, 2015!
Video Games and Learning: Teaching and Participatory Culture in the Digital Age, by Kurt Squire
About the author: Kurt Squire is an assistant professor of Educational Communications and Technology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is Director of the Games, Learning & Society Initiative.
Summary: “Can we learn socially and academically valuable concepts and skills from video games? How can we best teach …

When speaking to teachers and parents about teaching computer skills to their kids, there are a few things that adults tend to assume about how kids use computers. Many of these things are simply not true, at least in my experience of teaching digital storytelling, animation, and web design to middle and high schoolers. I think an English class that uses, for example, toondoo.com to create comic strip versions of stories that kids might be reading or writing in class, will go a lot smoother if the teacher is aware …

Comics are educationally effective because they create a story (Mallia, 2007). Narrative is a powerful tool in teaching, and provides necessary context for a learner to assimilate the new information into existing cognitive schemas (Nelson, 1989). Since comics are meant to be humorous and entertaining, they can use fantasy to simulate scenarios where a certain concept has been taken to the extreme – sometimes the best way to really understand the uniqueness and limitations of a new concept.
Because they are primarily visual, comics are appealing to younger children who might …

Does video support learning?

Anyone who has ever watched kids play knows it can be serious business. “I’ll be the mommy, you be the dog.” “No, the mommy has to have a baby, not a dog. Besides, I’m a girl – I have to be the mommy.” There are always rules to follow, mistakes to be made, and do-overs to be held. Kind of like life, but with unlimited chances (at least, until the crying starts and someone storms off slamming doors). Games are a great opportunity to role play and learn about different …