Tom Barrett 'interesting ways' series

1. 12 Interesting Ways* to use a
Nintendo Wii in the Classroom
*and tips
Wii by Ramen Junkie
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution
Noncommercial Share Alike 3.0 License.

2. #1 - Wii Golf Subtraction
4 Player round
Start by making a note of the length
of the hole you are about to play
(A).
Choose someone to come out and
tee off. When their ball comes to a
rest it will show how far to the hole
(B). It does not show the length of
their shot – so complete the Pic: Look at Mii golf!
subtraction with the class A – B = C
(shot length)
More here
We repeated this for the other three
@tombarrett
players.

3. #2 - Explaining 2D and 3D with Super
Paper Mario
If/when all else fails the character can flip between 2d
and 3d to see the area in a totally different perspective.

4. #3 - To keep fit

5. #4 - Use as a Reward/Incentive
Use the Wii as part of a
reward or incentive program
to motivate students in
reading, comprehension, or
other subject area.
For information on a specific
program using the Wii (Wii
Read), click here.
Wii Picture
@woodsar

6. #5 - Number bonds to 10
Use Wii Sports Bowling with
younger children to practice
number bonds to 10.
Write down the number of
pins knocked down and those
left standing to create a
number sentence. Even very young children
can bowl on the Wii and this
Some children could be activity practices lots of other
extended by writing down a early maths skills, such as
three part sum with the one to one correspondence
second ball. and counting small sets.
@claire_barnes

7. #6 - Mario Kart Descriptive Language
Use Mario Kart to explore different tracks / worlds (links to
"Stories set in imaginary worlds" on Primary Framework).
Descriptive writing of settings. Create new Mario characters
then more descriptive language.
@primarypete_

8. #7 - Wii in the ESL Classroom
Use the Check Mii Out Channel to introduce
appearance vocabulary.
- each student creates a mii in their own likeness
- collect appearance words
- review at ESL Tower
- worksheet
Lisa Robertson at lrobertson@rsu14.org

9. #8 - Wii in the Maths Classroom
Bowling for Data - Data Collection used in determining
mean, median, mode, range
Lisa Robertson at lrobertson@rsu14.org

10. #9 - In MFL lessons
• Use Mario Kart to practise directional vocabulary. Children
can direct the driver by shouting out instructions, eg.
"gauche!" (left!) "droite!" (right!). Extend by introducing
additional vocab, eg. "plus vite" (faster!) "ralentis!" (slow
down!).
• Use the Mii editor to teach and practise physical
descriptions. (see tip #7).
• For more advanced students (more-able GCSE & A Level),
use 'My French Coach'/'My Spanish Coach' to
independently learn new vocabulary.
@simcloughlin

11. # 10 Wii Sports for fractions.
Use bowling in wii sports for introducing fractions, some
equivalence of fractions, adding and subtracting fractions.
More details at http://dr-u.co.uk/e9NxMP
@robertd198181

12. #11 Mario and Sonic help convert measures.
In the Mario and Sonic at the Olympics game, use long
jump, triple jump, hammer throw etc to provide data in m
for children to convert into cm, mm, km and Imperial
measures as appropriate.
More details can be found at http://dr-u.co.uk/e2j8IL
@robertd1981

13. #12 Use the remote as an interactive
Whiteboard
In 2009 there was an episode of TED Talks that demonstrated the use of a Wii
remote as an interactive white board. Since that time other software developers
have improved the concept and have developed hardware for this as an
educational solution at the fraction of the cost of a traditional interactive white
board.
We are currently doing a demo of one from http://www.irgreat.com. Do a search
for a local reseller or a provider in your area.
@hairynomas & @nort2h

14. If you would like to:
• Contribute your ideas and tips to the
presentation.
• Let me know how you have used the resource.
• Get in touch.
You can email me or I am @tombarrett on
If you add a tip (or even
Twitter
if you don't) please
tweet about it and the
link so more people can
contribute.
I have created a page for all Image: ‘Sharing‘
of the Interesting Ways
presentations on my blog. Thanks for helping
Tom Barrett
The whole family in one
place :-) Have you seen Maths Maps
yet?