Learn to play and play to learn

There are so many games in both the real and virtual world it is hard at times to find those that really work for pleasure or educational purposes.  The internet is filled with games from the simple to the incredibly complex and finding those that would work for adults is a stressful task.  There are plenty of games available for children in k-12, but games that will help the adult developmental writer do not pop up right away.  I did find two that I think would be great to use.

 

http://www.icivics.org/games This site provides all types of information regarding the judicial process in the United States.  What I especially like about it are the games that help teach about those different processes.  As an educator, the more ways learners can experience the way the system of law works in this country, the better informed decisions they can make if the need arises.  As a writing instructor the game “Argument Wars” is a fun and educational way to have students experience the power of persuasion.  Real life scenarios are given and the player chooses a side to argue.  The computer is the counter argument and a judge determines if each side has successfully and completely supported their argument in an effort to win the case.  It was easy to use and great for adults.

 

http://www.thinkingworlds.com/ If it turns out that there is nothing online that can be used (which is highly unlikely), thinking worlds has created a site in which a teacher or anyone else for that matter can go on the site and create a simulation game in just a few simple steps.  It helps to have all of the objectives that students should learn ready so that construction of the simulation goes a little more easily.  In this case, I could take some particular section of the writing class, like subject-verb agreement and have the students go through a simulation in which they are preparing for an interview from the resume construction process through the interview.  The student would have to choose all of the correct language in order to land and start the job.  Learners need real life application, and creating a virtual example of how important it is to be able to speak and write well will help them to overcome such obstacles in the future.