Game Makers PBL- part 1

 

 

 

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GAME MAKERS

I am still fairly new to project-based learning but have loved the ones I have done with my classes the past 2 years. I had this idea for one a few years ago when a kindergarten teacher friend of mine was talking about making games or activities for her students. I thought it would be great if my 2nd graders could create learning games for her class.  However, our schedules did not work out until this year. I was so excited for my 2nd graders to become game designers!

Driving Question: 

 

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Another teacher in our district joined me in planning this pbl. Although this pbl would touch on multiple skills, we chose the following as our focus.

Learning Outcomes/Targets:

  • Write an informative text that clearly gives directions on how to play a game
  • Accurately partition rectangles, squares, and circles into equal parts
  • Choose the correct measurement tool and  accurately measure to create a certain size object
  • Collaborate with others to complete a task

How we kicked off the pbl:

The kindergarten teacher came into our classroom and asked for our help. She said she needed games to help her students and wondered if we could help. Of course, my class was up for that challenge. She brought a list of kindergarten skills and the students asked her a few questions about the skills. The students were excited but we had to learn about game design.

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Time to Explore!

I brought several games and placed them on each table. Each group sat down and looked at the parts of each game.  Then we created a list of what we knew about games.

 

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Part 2: Next post-

Now it was time to consult experts and create a list of what we needed to know. Click here to read part 2!

You can follow our journey here or on our class twitter page  @missmacsowls.