November 12, 2012 3 Comments

Coming out of the Closet: I’m a Game Designer!

I don’t even really know how to begin here. For the last three years I’ve been working on a secret little project that I wasn’t allowed to talk about in public (NDA). I’ve been designing digital games for learning algebra in my (ha ha) free time. The last couple months have been an absolutely insane flurry of activity as we approached the launch date and as a result, I haven’t posted much. Finally I can tell you that I’m no longer a wannabe game designer. I’ve designed four game apps that are now out in the iPad App store! I’m out of the closet and able to talk about it!

There are three years of stories to tell here about the development process, but I’m still recovering from launch week. So if you’re dying to see, here are the apps:

  • Algeboats Lite is a taste of our resource management game for learning how to evaluate expressions. [Note: Full version is not yet available.]
  • Algeburst: Topics in Algebra is a classic match-3 game for simplifying expressions, solving simple equations and inequalities, and using exponent rules.
  • Algeburst: Topics in Arithmetic is a classic match-3 game for pre-algebra arithmetic, including signed numbers, fractions, decimals, and order of operations.
  • Algeburst Lite will give you 12 free levels to try out the game (6 levels of arithmetic, 6 levels of algebra).

To see videos and screenshots from the games, please head on over to the Facebook pages: Algeburst or Algeboats and give us a LIKE!

 

 

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Filed Under: Algebra, Good Learning Games, Math Video Games, Play and Learn, Prealgebra
November 7, 2011 Leave a Comment

Math about the Electoral College

This was a surprisingly good video about the math of the U.S. Electoral College system.  At first I kept saying “but wait a minute…” but all my concerns were addressed in the video, and then some.  I was surprised by the revelation (towards the end of the video) that it is theoretically possible (although not likely) to win the seat of President of the United States with less than 23% of the popular vote.  Wow.

There is some great math of ratios and percents here.  You can find data and other pertinent information about the Electoral College here.

You might also enjoy playing the Redistricting Game with your students, where you can “recast” who wins an election based on how you draw the boundaries on a map.

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Filed Under: Games for Math, Good Learning Games, Math for Liberal Arts, Mathematics
May 3, 2010 6 Comments

Mindmap: Play and Learn

At the end of yesterday’s presentation, I included a link to a new interactive Mindmap called “Play and Learn” (shortcut is http://bit.ly/PlayLearn).

This map is organized by subject and includes games or simulations that are available for each.  If you know of other games that are useful (focusing on high school / college age), please send them along to busynessgirl at gmail dot com or comment them in here.

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Filed Under: Good Learning Games, Play and Learn, Virtual Worlds Tagged:
May 3, 2010 3 Comments

Playing to Learn?

This is a rebuild of the Presentation I did in Texas called “Playing to Learn Math?” It is focused on a general audience in education and includes many more games and simulations than the prior version.  Before you click through, think about this …

  • 99% of boys aged 12-17 play video games
  • 94% of girls aged 12-17 play video games
  • 50% of teens played video games “yesterday”

Pew Research, Teens, Video Games, and Civics, 2008

Since 2006, the rate of Internet use for teens aged 12-17 has been 93-94%, with roughly 40% using the Internet “Several Times a Day” (Pew Research, Millenials: A Portrait of Generation Next) The next time you have a student who says they don’t have access to the Internet, stop and consider.  To not teach students to use the Internet (and use it appropriately) is akin to leaving out a crucial job/life skill like reading.  If that same student said they “didn’t have access to books” how would you respond?  Our campuses have both computer labs and libraries. Is it unreasonable for students to be expected to use both if necessary?

Playing to Learn? on Prezi

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Filed Under: Future of Learning, Good Learning Games, Lame Games, Learning Game Design, Play and Learn Tagged:
November 15, 2008 Leave a Comment

Crayon Physics

Here is a great example of using the power of technology to teach in a way that is not easily duplicated in the classroom (note I said easily). Mike (from Walking Randomly) tipped me off to this in a blog post and the video shows a soon-to-be-released game called Crayon Physics Deluxe that reminds me a bit of the game Lemmings. In Lemmings, the goal was to get the Lemmings (who just walk mindlessly across the screen) from Point A to Point B by building bridges, ladders, etc. But you only got a limited number of [Read more...]

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Filed Under: Good Learning Games, Play and Learn