TeacherGaming

By playing games on TeacherGaming, students can gain a deeper understanding of a topic. For example, in the game Dr. Guts, students play the part of a doctor who tries to make the body function more efficiently. In a humorous and slightly disgusting way, students experiment with the digestive, respiratory, and other body systems with mixed results for their unsuspecting patients. By the time they've completed the game, their understanding of the human body beats anything they could learn from a textbook. Imagine the benefits of a democracy simulation (Democracy 3) and engineering sandboxes (Cities: Skylines or Contraption Maker) for teaching complex concepts and real-world problem-solving. With Planetoid Pioneers and FazGame, students even design their own games.

Teachers get started by creating a class and listing students by first name. There are no student accounts, which makes setup simple and protects student privacy. Each class has a class code that students use to connect to the game. Most of the games can be played via the TeacherGaming student website, but if you choose a game that requires a mobile/desktop app (or you prefer this option), you'll need to download the appropriate app(s) to student devices in advance. These games are all commercially available, but TeacherGaming improves the teacher experience by streamlining access, designing lessons, and analyzing student progress. While analytics on the skills students experience in the game are nice to have, you'll have to use other methods than the dashboard (like the follow-up activities) to truly measure student learning.