Behind the Scenes of Team Bravo’s Presentation: “Factor Pair Up”

The game team Bravo chose to do a presentation on is “Factor Pair Up” from the website “Mathplayground”. The game is geared towards fifth graders, however, the game can be played by third graders and up.   

          A challenge Team Bravo faced during this assignment was choosing an educational game. Because most of members were studying to be an elementary school teacher, the group decided to choose games at the fifth grade level. From there, Team Bravo looked at many websites to choose an educational game.  A problem encountered when choosing an educational game was that the games the group liked were not free.  After making an account to play a game,  it would stop working after being played a few times. The website would pop an ad saying the player has reached their “free limit” and ask to make monthly payments to continue the game. This was unfortunate due to the game being very fun as well as educational for students.

          The process on making a rubric for the online educational game was not a difficult task for Team Bravo. The group looked at the different examples Dr. Cyrus provided on the moodle page. From there, the group chose the rubric that they felt was appropriate for rating the game. The rubric chosen was from Team Alphas "Aquamarine Adventure" (2014). The criteria  Team Alpha used were the following: Instructions, Navigation, Visual Appear, Credible Site, User Friendly, Subject, Skill level, Feedback, and Knowledge Gained. The results were calculated by adding up the total number of stars and dividing it by 9.

          As an elementary education major, I cover many subjects for students to learn. Because math is one of the subject’s elementary school teachers must teach to students, it would be very easy to incorporate the game into the lesson. If my students were learning about factoring, the game would be very beneficial in making them practice their factoring skills.

          Again, the game Team Bravo chose is centered around the fifth grade level. A way I can incorporate this game into my students learning is by making them play the game after learning the multiplication table from 1 to 7. In addition, I will also make it be available to play if they finish their math work earlier than expected. This can help stop disruption during  class time as well as allow the student to keep learning even after they are done with their math assignment. I will also use this game as an example for children if they are having a hard time with factoring. If the game does not seem to help, I will have to modify my lesson to make them understand factoring. Once I see the students are finally grasping the concept of factoring, I will bring up the game again to see how they are doing. 

          Technology was one of the most important tools needed to make our presentation a success. My group and I used the website, "Wix.com" in order to present our presentation. In addition, we also used "Google Keep". Google Keep is a google app that allows the user to create, share and work with people by exchanging notes and lists with them. It also allows users to use voice memos, add images, and check off to do lists (What Can You Do With Keep, n.d.).  My group used Google Keep to send little reminders to finish the website. "Google Docs" was used to openly display the groups idea on what to present on along with the making of our rubric. Lastly, my group used "kahoot.it" to engage our classmates by filling out a survey based on their feelings towards the "factor pair up!" game. 

         Overall, this assignment tested our knowledge on how to use technology to present on a educational game. It also allowed our group to experience a new technology tool, "Google Keep". All in all,  it  expanded our knowledge on how to incorporate technology into our lessons and gave a new skill that will benefit students.

Acabado, M.; Beltran, R.; Camaya, J.; & Muna, J. (2014) Rubric  
Retrieved February 28, 2018, from Aquamarine Adventure website: http://mgacabado.wixsite.com/aquariumadventure/faq

What Can You Do With Keep. (n.d.) Retrieved  March 15, 2018, from G Suite Learning                   Center website: https://gsuite.google.com/learning-center/products/keep/get-started/#!/