Extreme Maths!

Online educational games can be effective tools in the 21st century classroom. There are a few important factors an educator must consider before incorporating it as an interactive educational tool for students. A useful tool educators can use to assess online games is a rubric. Many times rubrics are provided to students as guidance in completing projects, however, they are equally important for teachers to evaluate the effectiveness of various online games. One such game we evaluated with the use of a rubric we created was Extreme Maths. This game is one of thousands of educational online games that add an interactive component to achieving educational objectives. Teachers may also opt to afford the opportunity of discovering new online games to students themselves. Students are a valuable asset in evaluating their success in the classroom. After all, if students find it engaging while the educational objective is being met then an educator’s goal is accomplished.
When evaluating an online educational game there are various criteria to take into consideration. This is where rubrics come into play. According to Rubistar, an online rubric construction tool, “rubrics are often used to grade student work but they can serve another, more important, role as well: Rubrics can teach as well as evaluate.” (“What is a Rubric?,” n.d.) There is a multitude of online resources to refer to as a guide in customizing your personal online educational game rubric. The most challenging part of creating the rubric is choosing which criteria are essential in evaluating the game. Ability of the game to meet learning objectives, entertainment value, and ease of navigating the game are some criteria to take into account. Once the criteria are chosen, online rubric construction tools like Rubistar can be used to create the personalized rubric. There are also pre-existing rubrics which may be easier to modify rather than to create a rubric from scratch.
Extreme Maths (“Math game for middle school kids,high school students online,” n.d.), the online educational game our group chose to assess, was fun, fast-paced, and attention grabbing. With my content area being science, I was not sure it would be a game I could incorporate into my classroom. However, science depends heavily on math and after playing Extreme Maths I can definitely see it as part of my initial lessons at the beginning of the year. Some of the math problems were conversions of the metric system. Students sometimes have difficulty understanding how to move from millimeters to centimeters to meters. Extreme Maths has equations allowing them to convert from one unit to the other quickly. It also focused on fractions which students must understand when figuring out probability. Although it would not be an online game I would utilize often, I definitely see the benefits of using it during the introduction of the Metric System and when studying probability when covering genetics.
If placed in the students’ hands, finding and assessing an online educational game would be an activity they would love to undertake. First, strict overall guidelines would be provided like games could not have any violence or profanity. From there, a rubric similar to the one we created would be provided to the students along with a specific learning objective the game would have to address, such as heredity. The project would be a cooperative activity incorporated throughout the course of the year. First, the class would be divided into 4 groups at the beginning of the year. Each group would find a game pertaining to their assigned subject matter at the beginning of every quarter. They would provide an assessment based on the online game rubric provided to them and submit it for preapproval. Then the group would have a presentation component in which they introduce the game and game rules to the class. Each quarter we could have an online game day which students would find entertaining and inconspicuously educational. As an added bonus, the pressure of trying to find an online educational game their peers would enjoy may be a strong motivational factor in making their final decision.
Online educational games are fun and familiar supplements to the 21st century student. As long as these tools are evaluated properly and thoroughly through the use of a rubric they can be an indispensable tool in the classroom. Tapping into students’ enjoyment of online games and their familiarity and ease in learning through this medium, allows educators to use games to their advantage in meeting educational objectives. Online educational games are learning disguised as fun!

References
Math game for middle school kids,high school students online. (n.d.). Retrieved April 15, 2012, from http://www.learn4good.com/games/mathforkids/middletohighschool.htm
What is a Rubric? (n.d.). Retrieved April 15, 2012, from http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php?screen=WhatIs&module=Rubistar