Sugar, Sugar:
"Sugar, Sugar" is a critical thinking game that I found through www.coolmath.com that I actually was instructed to play in both middle and high school. The game opens with the words "Sugar, Sugar" across the top of the screen in various colors depending on which level you're on. Below the two words are various blocks, levels and other obstacles set in you way of the goal, the sugar cup. Your mission is to fill the sugar cup with 100 pieces of sugar, while working around the blocks and obstacles. The actual sugar falls from the bottom of the comma "," that separates the words "Sugar, Sugar." As sugar falls down the screen you must use your mouse to click and draw lines to guide the sugar to the corresponding cup. You can draw as many lines as you wish in any way that you wish, as long as you get the sugar to the cup. It may seem simple, however the more advanced you get in the game the more challenges you will face. Sugar cups get added to different levels, so instead of just filling one you may need to fill three cups before the sugar runs out, and it will eventually stop falling. You will eventually need to change the color of the sugar by guiding the falling sugar through a color portal and eventually getting it into the corresponding color cup. Other tricks like, "holes in the floor," which sends the sugar back to the top of the screen once it has fallen through, and the "gravity button," which turns off the gravity with the sugar, thus making it float straight up. These things and more make this game fun, challenging and time consuming. Critical thinking and creativity are keys to completing the game.
ISTE-NETS Standards:
along with creativity and critical thinking, I would say this game definitely prepares students for more 21 century learning method and techniques. The ISTE-NETS Standards all revolve around digital literacy and how students are expected to use the skills in the classroom. When working with media and digital learning tools, the student must take on a more independent role as this type of instruction is more self expression and guidance than anything. I believe that critical thinking is one of the most important skills a young student can work to better in the 21 century, because education is changing and adapting in order to continue to be the best and most effective. This game in particular allows students to be creative in order to complete the goal. They have to find a way to achieve the goal and execute it, and of course this planning process will vary from student to student.
Full Moon:
Full Moon is also a game I got from www.coolmath.com that I had to play in earlier years of school. This is more of a problem solving game than anything. It is set outside at night in a forest where you play a rabbit. Because the name of the game is full moon, the moon is bright in the background and everything else in the picture,(including you) is black, we can only see silhouettes. While playing this rabbit, you will see that he thinks about different things he wants via thought bubble above his head. Whatever he thinks about you have to get to him only using clues around the screen, i.e. trees, rocks, limbs, leaves, owls, etc. The tricky part is that you can't see any depth in anything because it's dark. Problem solving is the main goal, and you have to start from scratch in order to figure out how things work. For example, if I see the rabbit thinking about an apple, I know I have to get the apple to him. Where is the apple? How do i get it to him? The more you click around and play with the objects you're given, the better you get. By clicking around in the dark tree overhead, I may come across a section of the tree that I'm able to drag to the left that would then reveal the apple I was looking for. You just never know how the different, blacked out props on the screen will work until you get creative. I also think this game serves critical thinking skills as well as the previous game. I believe the ISTE-NETS Standards for this game are very similar to the previous game. Creativity and critical thinking in order to problem solve, a skill that is becoming more and more important as time and technology progresses, especially in the classroom.
I feel that both of these games could be used to help performance in math, as they both require set structures and steps in order to reach the goal.
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