Web-based games and creative writing in the primary years
There has been a lot of discussion recently about Samorost and Samorost 2 - fantasy, Flash-based games by Amanita.
The discussion has centred on how the games have been used in creative writing classes in primary schools and the dramatic impact they have had on improving student outcomes in this area.
One teacher has blogged about her experiences with it and you can see a summary of her principal entries below:
- Setting the scene: stating the initial issues, eg “Descriptions of any sort seem quite hard for my students to write – they consist of basic details of what can be seen, without any emotional connection to either character or setting.”
- Initial reactions from students: “When you activate certain objects or certain people you have to think how it will affect your surroundings.” Martin. “When we worked as a team we did well. Everyone thought it was exciting so they all wanted a turn.” Timothy
- Student responses and outputs: setting the scene and putting themselves in the character’s shoes
- Six Thinking Hats and Samorost: The teacher used de Bono’s six Thinking Hats to help structure her reflections and evaluation of the experience.
- Final reflections: a wonderful final reflection post, looking back on why it went so well. Read the comments too - they help frame the post.
If this isn’t a great example of a teacher’s e-portfolio, I don’t know what is.
