PowerPoint Games in K-12 e-Learning Environments
Abstract: There is no denying the success and popularity of WebQuests among teachers. WebQuests are very creative and very useful. For those of us interested in technology integration in the schools, this is a significant step in the right direction. Yet, WebQuests are instructivist examples of technology integration – they are web-enhanced forms of direct instruction (albeit some teachers have students create their own WebQuests). We consider constructing homemade PowerPoint games as a constructionist alternative to WebQuests. PowerPoint is nearly ubiquitous software tool and PowerPoint games are already a familiar part of many classrooms, though usually in the form of already existing games (such as Jeopardy) that a teacher modifies for instruction. This project is different in that it contends that a better use of class time for learning is to turn over the act of game design to the children themselves. In this project, students in social studies course delivered by a mid-western high school designed PowerPoint Games as a means to review for portions of their mid-term examination.
Presider: Hien Nguyen, The Pennsylvania State University