Teacher Training Starts Early with Educational Games

Tanya Roscorla and Paul Williams bring you the story. 

In Overland Park, Kan.'s Blue Valley Schools, juniors and seniors learn how to teach students and design educational games by actually doing it. And they’re literally ahead of the game in education.
 
"I think gaming has huge potential in education," said Tammy Estes Fry, instructor in the CAPS Teacher Education Program. "Um, I think that our learning styles are shifting. I think we have many more visual learners than we used to. I think that just the media around us — that real time, real world entertainment and the opportunities that exist have really shifted the mindset."
By creating educational games, teachers-in-training spice up the learning experience for younger students.    

"I just want them to realize that it can be fun to learn too, and it doesn’t have to be hard," said Danielle Stoops, a senior in the CAPS Teacher Education Program. "It just has to be something that you want to do."

Football and math make a great team in one student’s game.

"It’s something where they can like start their day off and get their brain going and just something fun I thought they would enjoy very much," said Alec Winsor, a senior in the CAPS Teacher Education Program.

That wasn’t so easy. Let’s see how the fifth-graders do.

In Danielle’s game, Addition Kingdom, players have to add numbers quickly, avoid enemies and reach their exact target number.  

"Like she, she only has 3 left," said Grant Auman, a fifth-grader at Timber Creek Elementary School. "She might not be paying attention and think she has 5 left and she made a 5."

"Hey."
"No offense."
"So she would go over."
"You’re nice."
"So you have to pay attention."
"See, like that."

By testing the games in elementary schools, the game designers get feedback from students. 

"You might want to add 4’s, Grant said. "Because, like, see, right now I’m looking for a 4, and it would be easier if I could just hit a 4 than like a 3 and a 1 or a 2 and 2.

"I really don’t like 4’s," Danielle said. "I thought that was obvious with the scoreboard, you know, like turtles take away 1, the snakes take away 2 and 3, and then the bolts take away 5. I really don’t like 4’s."

But Danielle does like teaching. And this Teacher Education Program gives students a chance to see if teaching is really for them. 

"It’s just a great opportunity for these kids to come in and really see what goes on in the classrooms," said Susan Schuckman, gifted education teacher, Timber Creek Elementary School. "There was nothing like that, you know, when I was learning or wanting to become a teacher."