Game-based Learning in Virtual Worlds (a case study from Ireland)

Game-basedLearning inVirtual WorldsEsther Lambe, Principal, St. KieransNational School &James Corbett, CEO, MissionV Education

Background●2 Teacher●27 children rural school●Shared LS RT teacher●Agriculture and farming●Children from localtown

September Day Course●Positives●Child centred/child led●Authoring programs/content free●Variety of abilities/backgrounds●Negatives●No idea how it would work●Teacher input? Log in/supervision/ parentalsupport

Teacher View●Set up Groups of mixed ability, boys/girls●Explore Virtual World●Brainstorm for Science challenges●Research topics/record●Consider Literacy/Numeracy objectives●Continuous Evaluation a must

Child’s View●We are doing a project on the virtual world. The project isbased on living things.● There are two groups on the whole 16 acres. 3rd and 4thclass is working on half of the land and 5th and 6th is isworking on the other half of the land.● I am doing the water cycle and John and Eoin are doingthe bog life and animals. We have nearly spent all our timelooking up information about how a bog is formed. Johnand I did bog in a bottle and our experiment is to do the P.Hon the bog in the bottle. We are hoping we will do well. By: Dan

The Beginning

Relig Farm●On mission v me, Emma and Aine are doing about waterpollution and river life. We have blocks with river life onthem and were going to make them move. When you arespreading slurry you have to stay 5 meters away from theriver.●I like Mission V because you can fly, talk and walk . I thinkit is so cool .●If I had my own 16 acres I would have a horse ranch andthe education would be measuring the saddles and tacksand it would be fun at the same time.● By Ciara

Tour of Breachoill●VirtualWorld videos, tour of Breachoill - http://youtu.be/bgbhm5PRguc

● Droighneach Farm●First we downloaded Imprudence. Then we put in the grid calledMission V http://missionv.ie:1909●Our teacher put us into 5 groups of 3 The groups were based on ourPlacenames project.●Then we picked out our Science Challenges and we picked our land inthe North.●We downloaded Scratch for Open Sim. Then we practiced Scratch forOpen Sim.●We made a gate, built our house, decided one two or three storeys.●We put a floor down, put textures on the walls, made stairs, and madethe kitchen.●We made a second floor, made our couches, our tv.●Then we learned about Yeast and Pasteurisation and made bread rise.●We did experiments. We used 3 Green Eggs

●Then we showed how we learned about yeast andpasteurisation by putting posters up in the Virtual World.●We put uniforms on our Avatars to show our schoolsidentity when we were visiting other schools.●We made the doors swivel using Scratch.●We made the light turn on and off●We made the oven door swing out●We made the plate of Yeast bread rise●We made the back kitchen, the extension, the attic,●Chelsea moved in and we made the trampoline, decoratedthe extension and took down our Christmas decorations.●We got information about Yeast and Pasteurisation●We built a model of Virtual World●We put information on posters using coloured paper.

Game based learning●Virtual world is a good game. The virtual world iseducational. We do new things on virtual worldeach week.●Me, Aine and Ciara are doing this project on howthe water gets polluted on the virtual world. Youcan build whatever you want to build on virtualworld such as build a gate●I learned a lot from virtual world. You can do manyprojects on virtual world. You can also teleport topeople.

Concerns●No Previous Knowledge●Addicted?.. Parent●Time constraints / Time limit●Organisation and timetable●Learning styles/learning targets●Curriculum /WSE Inspector

Benefits●New Experience game based●Child centred… team work●Catalyst for Learning all subject areasChild with poor attendance●Group Interaction ..one exception●Problem solving/critical thinking●Creative and fun●Affirmation

Group Problem solving

Quotes:I learnt a lot while doing the Virtual World. I learntwhen something does not work to keep at it.I think in the future Virtual World should be usedfor History ..like what townlands were like longago.. It is good for teamwork too…..JohnIt is a great learning experience.I learnt angles forMaths. It also is good for problem solving likemaking the drops move in the water cycle.. DanWe had a problem trying to get the doors to swivelbut Gráinne got it….Eadaoin

I really like the Virtual World and I also likethe feeling you get when you makesomething really cool. I’d give it ten out often…AnnaWe learned a lot of stuff in two weeks..CathalIt was cool doing the cows digestivesystem…SeanIt went all bonkers but we fixed it up and itwas grand….Gráinne

Water Cycle●Virtual World videos - tour of Water Cycle -http://youtu.be/cwMia8vB_kc

Regional Final Science Competition st 1 Place

Applications now open!If youd like your school to get on next termsMissionV (game-based learning in virtualworlds) programme please apply here -http://www.MissionV.ie/apply

@MissionVHQfacebook.com/MissionVjames@missionv.ie

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Game-based Learning in Virtual Worlds (a case study from Ireland)

by James Corbett on May 23, 2012

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