Evaluation of PBSKIDS.ORG educational game “SUPER WHY”

SUPER WHY is an educational tool that takes a new approach to learning by promoting reading as a powerful, meaningful experience for children aged 3 to 6 years old. The narrative stories of SUPER WHY are based on classic fairy tales - with a SUPER WHY twist! The stories are content contemporary, age appropriate, and interactive.

The interactive format of this tool allows children to practice the necessary skills needed to be fluent readers, since it accommodates the basic reading skills such as: Emerging Literacy Concepts; Phonemic Awareness; The Alphabet Code; Fluency; Text Comprehension; Spelling; Written Expression/Handwriting. SUPER WHY teaches kids to make inferences through theme comprehension which helps develops their abstract thinking. SUPER WHY incorporates some important elements of literacy that are very important when teaching preschoolers. These elements include: stories, characters, language development, vocabulary, letter identification, letter sounds, rhyming, word families, comprehension, and text. “Because repetition helps kids’ master skills, simple concepts and strategies are repeated within each story. This repetition gives kids a sense of empowerment as they watch and read.”

Each game is hosted by a superhero character that makes the power of reading come alive. The super hero characters encourage a lot of interactivity. The characters look at, talk to, and directly engage kids by repeating phrases or asking for an input such as "When we have a question we look, (children responds) in a book" or give "a big thumbs-up" for a job well done. When kids are able to voice their opinions, it makes them feel smart and powerful, especially when they see how they influence the outcome of each story.

The super hero characters include:
Ø Alpha Pig…with Alphabet power! Letter Identification
Ø Wonder Red...with Word Power! Word Decoding; Word Families; Rhyming
Ø Princess Presto...with Spelling Power! Encoding; Spelling; Beginning Handwriting Skills
Ø Super Why...with the Power to Read! Reading, Reading Comprehension, and Vocabulary
Ø Super You...with the Power to Help! Concepts of Print; Theme Comprehension

The preschooler I used for this evaluation played, Wonder Red...with Word Power! Using her "Wonder Words Basket," Wonder Red overcomes obstacles by rhyming and changing the words in simple word families, such as wall, ball, and tall. Through these games, kids are taught a strategy for decoding words by sounding them out and noticing the same word endings. Wonder Red's catchy rhyming song also helps kids learn how to decode

Websites of interest
http://pbskids.org/superwhy/
http://pbskids.org/

Evaluation of IXL.COM Math Practice site

Ixl.com from Quia Corporation, is an educational drill and practice online resource tool for preschool and primary school students (subscription based).Drill and practice exercises from this website can enhance the daily classroom experience. It has unlimited questions on hundreds of math topics and a comprehensive reporting system.

IXL MATH provides students with extra math practice on grade-appropriate math skills, while having a little fun. The preschoolers start with counting and learning shapes, while the later grades delve into topics such as addition, subtraction, fractions, probabilities and decimals.

Math can be a challenge to some students, so it’s very important for young learners to get a firm handle on the basics. This can only be achieved with practice. The online resource IXL Math is an alternative to boring worksheets, presenting math quizzes for students from Preschool age straight to the final grade level in primary school, in a visual way.

B.F. Skinner’s behaviorism predicted that teaching would best succeed using the traditional rote learning, memorization and drill and practice techniques. Skinner argued that “learning by doing” included not only actual practice of a given skill, such as playing the piano, but also drill and practice memorization techniques (Skinner, 1968). Even though the Montessori elementary schools philosophies suggest that these methods are not effective, they still devote resources to drill and practice. The skills built through drill-and-practice should become the building blocks for more meaningful learning.

In order to evaluate the educational resources provided by ixl.com, I used a 4 year old preschooler to determine the usability and suitability of the kindergarten skills. The skills are organized into categories, I chose the "POSITION" skill to see how well the student performed. This skill covered concepts such as inside and outside, top middle and bottom, left and right, above and below, and location in a three by three grid.

The educational tool on this website is suitable for four reasons: · The use of color and the illustrations of smiling kids. The colors and pictures make the site appear very inviting and friendly. · Various aspects of each question can be read aloud when students click on the audio icon (as seen to the left). This accommodates for the  students whose reading skills have not yet developed. · The layout is very good, and navigation within the site is very easy. · The positive reinforcement given immediately after an answer was submitted enhances a child’s self concept.

http://www.ixl.com/math/
http://www.ixl.com/math/grade/kindergarten/

del.icio.us Tags: math,skills,educational,practice

Evaluation of an Educational Software: Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing 20 Deluxe

Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing 20 Deluxe is a typing tutorial software produced by Broderbund Software, for typing professionals and even typing  newbies. Product Features - Learn essential keyboarding skills or improve overall typing efficiency. - 350 personalized lessons, exercises and tests - Detailed progress reports assist in identifying strengths and weaknesses - 12 Entertaining typing games - Bilingual instruction (English & Spanish)

Mavis Beacon teaches typing 20 deluxe is a very simple and easy to use typing program. Anyone should be able to expand their typing horizon whether they are a beginner or professional typist.

Mavis Beacon provides new users with a pretest to determine their typing speed, and then suggest a suitable level for them to begin. The lessons let one know where their weak spots are and give them tips for improvement.The program includes many videos and interactive guides to encourage good and comfortable typing habits. Mavis Beacon also gives one the option to personalize their keyboard and sound options and allows one to set their own typing speed goals. MP3s can be imported for listening, while doing practice lessons.

The typing software is very user friendly, installs in seconds without any errors.

Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing 20 Deluxe comes with a PDF file user manual, and brief help tips within the program. Broderbund can be contacted through their email or their telephone customer support line.

Product Description

In addition to Mavis Beacon's personal typing instruction, detailed progress reports assist in identifying strengths and weaknesses

Includes 12 entertaining typing games.

Arcade-style games like "Penguin Crossing" enrich the learning experience.

Mavis Beacon continues to be one of the best software to teach typing. The CD's are great. It is highly recommend for Beginners, Intermediate typists, and even Advanced typists.

Games Like Mavis Beacon

If you aren't dead set on using Mavis Beacon to play typing games or improve your typing, there are limitless typing games you can play free online.

• Typeracer is a fun multiplayer game you can play online. After signing up for an account, you are pitted against three other typists to see who can get to the finish line first. You are given a block of text to race through and must be fast while remaining accurate in order to win. The website keeps track of your average words per minute and your fastest speed and compares you to others in your speed group. There is also a daily leaderboard that updates several times an hour. Don't want to race against others? Then just load up the practice section to simply improve your speed.

• Go to Free Typing Games if you want to play some games as well as learn advanced typing techniques. The games range from typing words to defeat aliens to typing words to destroy meteors that are falling to Earth. You can also engage is simple speed tests to get listed on the high score board or just take some lessons.

• If you have a Facebook account then you can add the Typing Maniac application. Words fall from the top and you must type them quickly so they disappear. If they hit the bottom, then they start piling up and eventually reach the librarian. If they do, the round is over. Progress through increasingly difficult levels to become the best. The game lists your friends that also play the game along with their scores

http://online.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Where_Can_I_Play_Mavis_Beacon

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