Travel to the moon in the virtual world. NASA is giving students a new way to experience a lunar adventure with Moonbase Alpha, a 3-D online learning game for students. NASA created the online virtual games to help promote science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (or STEM) in classrooms.
Set in space, this game lets students become explorers as they solve problems like restoring life support after a meteor strikes a solar array. The game includes a lunar rover, robotic repair units, equipment options, and an interactive command center. The game has single or multiple player options.
NASA also has a "galaxy" of other helpful educational resources to improve student understanding of the moon-perfect for science class. Find moon and solar system resources, other virtual learning options, 3-D resources, and much more on NASA's website!
Computer-based games and hands-on interaction improve learning. According to The Education Arcade's "Designing Learning Games that Matter" and "Moving Learning Games Forward,"
- By offering challenges that seem worth attempting, games channel players' efforts, while still affording them the freedom needed to manage their individual experience in ways that are self-directed and beneficial to their own development. The promise of games is that we can harness the spirit of play to enable players to build new cognitive structures and ideas of substance (Klopfer, Osterweil, and Salen 2009).
This concept is exactly what went into Switched-On Online, an innovative, Bible-based online curriculum from Alpha Omega Publications! SOO includes online, 3-D animated learning games like Spelling Bee, Farmer Frank, and Vocabulocity that promote virtual learning and help students build concept skills through play. Learning doesn't have to be all work; it can also be fun.
Take a walk on the moon and discover a fun way to teach concepts with online games!
Do you use games in your Christian school classroom? How do you make learning more fun?
