Rivalry

This is too cool not to share. First, besides the fact that this is in good fun and about a football rivalry, the key here is to recognize that a group of students designed, wrote, filmed and edited this piece. The quality is what is most impressive and this proves yet again what students are capable of if we just let them try. Enjoy!

Minecraft

This is a tricky one. I have students currently using the program on a current project and I've had one other use it for a previous project. My hesitation comes from how easy it is to get distracted while exploring the world. It can certainly be used to create something very cool, but I've also seen first hand how distracting it can be for students.

In any case, the verdict is still out for me, but for those who are interested this is a great program that allows students to literally build entire worlds. Given, they are very pixelated worlds, but the freedom to create and destroy lends itself to social studies and language arts projects.

Give it a look see and decide for yourself! http://www.minecraft.net/

Create-A-Game

This may not be at the top of the educational 'needs' pile, but I can see this program being used to engage students and shepherd them into some very nice synthesis of their learning.

I'm new to this program, but it appears to have some very nifty features: Thinking Worlds.

The site has a free version, and of course a pay version. The free version is enough to create simple simulations and games though. I can see this being used to create games that reflect the learning of a student in almost any subject area. If someone who sees this decides to try it out, please let me know what you think and how it came together for you and your students. In the meantime, I'll introduce it to some of my project-based learning students to see what they can do with it.

Happy educational gaming!