Games

Name: Learning with games at the library and classroom

Website Adrress: []

As we all know and have discovered that technology is a big factor of education and work in every day lives, now it is very important that we introduce technology to students at a early stage. In fact I read an article, that stated how important its to introduce technology even as a toddler. The example the article provided was to let the toddler touch the computer mouse, and for the parent to show the child how to hold it correctly. What does that have to do with games, well let me say that I was one of those persons that would say that video games was just a waste of time that the child was not learning anything. When I read chapter 9 of Nancy Courtney and it explain that with video games the child is applying analytical thinking, multitask and problem solvin,g etc. I was able to understand how important it is for children to learn about technology at a early age.

The Stonington Free Library Children's Room is a wonderful tool that can be used in the library and the classroom. This website provides several links to different educational games that can be used as a tool in classroom, library, and at home. I enjoyed the different books that are provided by this website. I will use this website with the students and teach them how to find books on line. What is great about these books is that provides movement of character and voices. I will also share this information with the teacher and also when I have parent information night.

Lourdes De Leon

Name: Playing to Learn: Video Games in the Classroom  Website Address: [] 

Description of how the technology has been used and how to incorporate this tool in an educational setting   "Immune Attack," is a 3-D interactive video game that is designed to teach students how the immune system works.  The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) initiated  the video game as a teaching tool that makes learning fun and to be used  as a complementary learning material alongside the textbooks. The FAS has been working on the concept of using video games in the classroom over a period of time and aspire to convince the federal government to allot funding to this field of research. David Hutchinson’s has written a book titled, //**Playing to Learn**//. It references a plethora of video game ideas that are appropriate for Grades 4 to 12 and covers virtually every subject area. It serves as an excellent resource that helps teachers integrate the study of video games into the classroom. The Web site **[]** offers additional information about this book.

Another valuable site with ideas on how to use video games in education is: [] <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; letter-spacing: -1pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"> Author: Cerena Shaw

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 * Title** : National Gaming Day @ your library

Video games complement the services already provided by the school library. Gaming will help the school library to attract students who otherwise might not visit the library. The library offers a safe environment for students to play games and socialize. The students are surrounded by books, magazines, and other resources that promote learning. Libraries tend to choose games with a social element that requires students to interact with one another. Gaming requires student to use reading, writing, and math skills. Video games are hard and the student must work to advance to the next level. Students must develop strategies and predict outcomes which are beyond basic reading. They must read maps and analyze data to move to the next level. The games in the school library are rated "E" for everyone and usually have a social component to encourage students to work with one another.

A gaming program could be provided successfully to a school library with the support of teachers and administrators. The librarian could choose video games that require reading, reviewing data, reading maps, working math problems, in order to progress to the next level of the game. The video games should also be fun and contain social elements that require students to work together. I work at a school that provides Study Island. It's an academic video game. Students must pass a percentage of problems set by the teacher and then they are allowed access to the video games within Study Island. Another idea, is to allow students to earn points in their classroom that they can exchange for minutes in the library. The idea is to encourage the students to come to the library, even if it is to play video games. They will be in an environment that is safe, encourages students to read, and helps students develop social skills. A family gaming night after a PTA meeting or on parents night would give families the opportunity to experience gaming with their child. The family gaming night would give families a better understanding of the role and the importance of the school library. Gaming is a positive technique used to bring more student's into the school library.

DeAnna Downey member when you add your content to include your name and link to the site.

__Website Address__:** [] One way to use this website in the library is to help students become familiar with the library and its resources. This can be done in the beginning of the school year to see what the students already know or don't know. By doing this the librarian will have an idea as to what kind of lessons the students can benefit from the most. To measure the students progress the librarian can have the students play these games at the middle and end of the school year to see how much knowledge the students have gained. Another idea about using this website is for students to play these games when they get done or finish an assignment early. This way the students are doing something that is productive and learning at the same time.
 * __Name__: Quia Library Skills Games and Reviews
 * __Brief Description and How to Incorporate it into a School Library__**: This website is provided by the St. Joseph School Library and is full of games and activities. Best of all these games are all geared towards learning everything there is to know about a library. The activities range from learning the parts of a book to the Dewey Decimal System. These games are easy and fun to use, and they also provide immediate feedback to the user if they got the answer right or wrong. Also, there are different levels about similar topics so it is easy to incorporate the games and activities for all grade levels.
 * Author**: Maryanna Ramirez


 * Name:** **Would you let your kid play video games at school?**
 * Website Address:** []
 * Brief Description:** Author shares recent study of American households that plays video games (roughly 200 million people). Also included is an example of a teacher, a//t the Seward Montessori School in Minneapolis//, using video games to teach writing and presentation skills.
 * How To Incorporate technology into school library:** As the author mentions, video games are ubiquitous to the 21st century learners. There are many aspects of gaming that can be beneficial in education. "Gameplay involves pattern recognition, system thinking, problem solving, thinking divergently and strategic thinking" (Courtney, 111). The use of this technology can draw many of its users into the libraries. By having game consoles, librarians can cross promote materials (gaming magazines, graphic novel or novels). Contests or tournaments can be used to increase library traffic. Additionally, game time can be used as an incentive for promoting attendance, test scores, etc. -A wonderful post on the site suggests to make a video game club as an extracurricular school activity.
 * Author:** Tuan Nguyen


 * Name: Scholastic.com**

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 * Web Address:** <span class="wiki_link_ext">
 * Description:** This site is sponsored by Scholastic. It offers a variety of interactive games as well as tools that allow students to build stories, create poetry by type, create a scrapbook, and take a virtual tour of a book and give it an alternate path. This is a great site for students to access because the material is safe. It is friendly and easy to use and offers numerous connections to literature, reading and writing.
 * Author:** Shannon Padgett

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 * Name:** Skillwise
 * Web Address:**
 * Description:** This site is sponsored by the BBC. It is an interactive site that offers mind challenging games for students of various ages. It includes sections on grammar, spelling, reading, listening and vocabulary. Within the reading section, it focuses on games that include identification of text types, trying to solve a murder mystery and a virtual planning of a travel diary.
 * Author:** Shannon Padgett


 * Name:** Zeeks
 * Web Address:** []
 * Description:** This site is geared toward tweens and teens. It offers some fun interactive games. Specifically, it offers a game called "Lightening Librarian" which helps kids to work on learning specific portions of the library. Since many game sites are geared toward younger students or older students, it was nice to find a site that was specifically geared toward tweens and teens. It has an animae feel to it and is very friendly to use.
 * Author:** Shannon Padgett