DreamBox, Mad Science helping kids learn
Published 4:00 am, Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Educational computer games are so old school.
As students settle back into the classroom, they are turning to a new generation of digital tools to help them learn and practice new skills.
The latest educational tools are inspired by Facebook, YouTube and other popular Web 2.0 sites, tapping into the very elements that make them so appealing and entertaining, such as connecting with friends, offering a little friendly competition, and sharing photos and videos. From social networking with a science flair to online gaming with math challenges, they are aiming to make online learning social, personalized and, of course, fun.
"Educators have taken notice," said Michael Horn, executive director of education at Innosight Institute. "Students are spending their time on social media. (Educators) are trying to take education to where students live."
The numbers speak for themselves: Facebook has 500 million users, half of them logging on to the site daily. Facebook also said that people spend more than 700 billion minutes per month on the social networking site. Meanwhile, people watch 2 billion videos a day on YouTube.
It makes sense to add an educational component, said Tim Donovan, chief strategy officer for Everloop, a Danville startup that is introducing the Mad Science Kids Club, a science-oriented social network for tweens.
"It's what kids do. They're naturally inclined to be online," he said. "Instead of fighting that wave, it's better to facilitate it, by giving them something that on the surface is fun and gamelike, but in reality there's learning embedded the more they play."
Mad Science Kids Club
That's the concept for many new sites. High school students preparing for the SATs can use Grockit, which incorporates social networking. Students ages 7 to 12 can create an avatar and use it to explore politics, classical music, space and other subjects through a virtual world such as the Wonder Rotunda.
The Mad Science Kids Club, which begins this month, lets students connect with other students and join groups with themes such as dinosaurs and marine biology. Like Facebook, the students create a profile, link with others, and receive a news feed about what their friends are doing. The site offers experiments they can try at home, which they then can share by posting the resulting photos and videos.
Making educational websites social lets students rely on not just online tutors, but all their peers around the globe. They can collaborate on a project or work as a team to compete in a game.
"That can be highly motivating if done in the right way," Horn said. "When kids love school, it's because it's fun to be with their friends. To build that into learning is realistic and important."
Of course, using technology to teach children is not new. But in the past, much of it was done solo. Computer games were also fairly static; they progressed down a set path, no matter how the student responded to a question.
The latest tools have made leaps and bounds in recent years to incorporate advances with the Internet.
DreamBox, acquired in April by Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and the Charter Fund, a nonprofit venture capital firm, developed an online game that teaches math skills to students from kindergarten to third grade. Students explore an adventure park, earning tokens along the way by completing math challenges.
Tailored to skills
Behind the scenes of the game, DreamBox takes the student's response to each question - if the answer is correct or how close the answer is to the right one, for example - and crunches the data to determine the next question. It's not unlike how Amazon.com shows customers suggestions for books to read, based on what other readers with similar tastes purchased or viewed, said Sarah Daniels, DreamBox's vice president of marketing.
Students, as a result, receive a math lesson tailored to their abilities. If it senses that a student is struggling with a particular concept, for example, it will offer a particular hint or go back to an easier question.
Teacher likes it
Elisa Edwards, a mom of three and a math teacher at Berkeley's Berkwood Hedge independent elementary school, uses DreamBox at home and also recommends it to her students at school.
Edwards compares it to going home with each student, watching them do their homework, and tailoring their next assignment based on how well they understood the first one. "I can't do that, but DreamBox is able to do that," she said.
When her students spend time on DreamBox at home, she can tell. "I can see the leap in their understanding," she said.
Most of the educational sites charge a monthly or usage fee. DreamBox costs $12.95 per month. Grockit is free to join but can cost up to $399 a year. Wonder Rotunda charges $12 per month. Mad Science Kids Club is also free to join, but will charge a small fee for certain activities.
Vetted by educators, they can be well worth the money. "The reality is there are amazing tools at our fingertips," Horn said.