Often as a student teacher you hear about initiatives in the classroom that sound like the next big thing. It can be difficult to be objective as you feel inexperienced.
At the Scottish Learning Festival (2009) I attended a presentation on the use of an internet based resource called ‘Moshimonsters’. The teacher was very enthusiastic about its application in the classroom and her team of pupils presented very well and with a great deal of confidence. This form of games based learning has a contextual element that makes it successful. When it comes to using GBL in an educational setting I think it is important to build in a mixture of contextual activities and game based activities. Further examples of contextual based activities would be Guitar Hero, Endless Ocean, African Safari and Mario Kart Wii. (I will blog about games orientated GBL in the near future.)As I believe that technology is one of the best tools for enthusing learners on an engaging level I watched eagerly thinking ‘wow, this sounds great. How could I use this?’ After I came home I had a look at the site and called upon my trusted guinea pigs (daughters) to experiment. They have been using the site for a number of months now and have managed to persuade many of their friends to sign up thus building up their network.
The concept of the site is that you adopt a monster, look after it, complete challenges and network with other users. There are levels for progression and everything is themed for example; you can buy your monster slopcorn and wash it down with toad soda. To level up the most effective thing you can do is complete the daily challenge. All challenges vary in difficulty and I am not sure about the consistency of them in relation to the target audience. Think sight training, entry level multiplication and long multiplication in one challenge of 10 questions (although this varies as the questions are time dependant). There is also the issue of reading ability; the ‘monsters’ have their own language therefore everything needs to be read by the user.I am not sure whether I would use it for every child individually. Perhaps as an internet safety introduction the class, as a whole, could adopt a monster to look after this could link well with RME outcomes and Health and Wellbeing outcomes providing these links would benefit the pupils in terms of progression. With staff support an older class could set up a ‘Moshi’ club that may run over lunch break or after school. They could support younger users with advice and develop many skills through the organisation and running of the club. There are plenty of ideas and every teacher, school and pupil can find their own way of making any learning purposeful.
The benefit of being a student teacher is that you can take your ideas and run with them. They develop spin off tangents and eventually you realise that you have become carried away or you have lost the initial concept, all this without even being near a class. These are the lessons that cannot be taught, we need to encounter them in order to develop professional objectiveness. The next time that I have a ‘wow’ moment I will probably still get over-enthusiastic but I will have some experience at stepping back for a moment and at least thinking about being objective. My ‘wow’ moments are frequent and I do indulge myself the imaginative side but the perspective should always be there and clear for when it is time for reality to make them full of purpose.
Children are already living in a technologically immersive culture; they do not need bolt-ons. Just because something can be linked into curricular guidelines does not mean it will be productive or immensely beneficial. When planning any topic it is immensely important that the needs of the learners are met and we do not use something because it would be fun or because we have heard of the successes of others.
I have researched many examples of games based learning and have witnessed the enthusiasm and motivation sparked in pupils both through this research and within a class setting. I know that I will incorporate games based learning into my teaching as I have done so already and I look forward to doing so with great anticipation.
Further links: Wii
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I'm not sure about the use of Moshi monsters in the classroom. I would have to know a great deal more about it in order to decide the most appropriate use.
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