Big Brain Academy@ Cathkin Learning Community…
Posted by: mimanifesto on: March 14, 2009
Started using ‘Big Brain Academy’ this week. Basically, for those that don’t know, this consists of 100’s of problem-solving puzzles and mental maths questions. It can be played individually or in teams and will store data so that you can monitor your performance, a little like the Dr Kawashima stuff for the DS. We are using it on our Wii’s in both the secondary school and the cluster primaries as a part of the ‘BrainBoosters’ project. The team games are really great as they put ‘gentle’ pressure on the kids to solve problems before passing on the Wiimote to a team-mate rather like the baton in a relay race. The other members of the team roar on their team mates and the competition to see which team completes the 20 puzzles first is very intense…
As well as helping with their problem solving and mental maths skills, I think this game is very good for schools because of the group/collaborative skills it engenders. The kids organise their teams, work together to complete the tasks, and share the time on the Wiimote. It’s been really great for developing co-operation, sharing and social skills for my ASN pupil group. It’s also helped with this in the primary schools where I work, with the BrainBoosters project now consisting of four activities (the others being DS Brain training, TutPup maths, and on-line science games linked to their curriculum) which each P7 class complete in bursts, moving on to the next activity after 20 minutes.
As well as the children benefitting from this intervention once a week, my colleagues are also able to tap into valuable practice-based CPD on games-based learning delivered in ways which is meaningful and relevant to their classroom practice, and which is low-cost and sustainable with each new year group. Another example of a ‘Walk the Talk’ style of CPD, delivered by classroom practitioners who actually use the methods day in day out in their own classrooms..
Cost effective CPD for LA’s in these challenging financial times too, and a great learning experience for the children at the same time.
2 Responses to "Big Brain Academy@ Cathkin Learning Community…"
[...] them compete against one another. Jaye, teacher and Mimanifesto blogger shares her experience with Big Brain Academy in the classroom and gives suggestions on lesson plans that can be based around the game. This entry was posted in [...]
1 | Interactive voting systems and the how and why of multiple choice questioning… « Mimanifesto – Jaye’s weblog
May 28, 2009 at 6:23 pm
[...] moment) as well as the ‘BrainBoosters’ games-based learning project report and paper (here and here) the next school year is shaping up to be one very much focussed on using classroom pedagogies to [...]