FableVision creates interactive media that educates and inspires learners of all ages. So, it’s only natural that we’re excited about Digital Learning Day – a day highlighting teachers, leaders, and technological programs that encourage and improve student’s learning processes – wherever they may be!
Earlier this week we talked about the history of Digital Learning Day and how to get involved. To continue the celebration, we’ve taken a trip down memory lane to highlight how some of our previous projects promote the topics Digital Learning Day works toward advancing in schools: Digital Citizenship, Language Arts, STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math), and Social Studies/Civics.
The purpose for Digital Learning Day is not only to inform others about the newest technologies and educational advancements in the classroom, but also to show how beneficial these projects are to the teachers and students who use them. From the Digital Citizenship App to Mayan Mysteries, students have been able to further their understanding on topics that may have been hard to learn from a textbook – that experience is why we at FableVision believe digital learning is important for learners of all ages.
Digital Citizenship:
Digital Citizenship App
In today’s digital age, awareness on what is safe to post online has become essential. FableVision worked with Learning.com to create the fun and often-humorous animated world of Alyssa, Trey, and the feline internet superstar, Señor Ticklewhiskers for their Digital Citizenship App. Used in the classroom, this three-lesson app educates students on online safety, the ethical use of digital resources, and cyber bullying.
Language Arts:
Nightmares! Website and Game
Hope you aren’t afraid of the dark! To highlight Nightmares!, the young adult book written by actor Jason Segel, FableVision created a website with Random House for readers to expand their literary learning experience by letting them jump into an interactive, digital version of Charlie Laird’s perilous nights. To add a dash of fun, we also built the “You Snooze, You Lose” game, which offers readers an opportunity to participate in the story by helping keep Charlie awake as he climbs the stairs in his stepmother’s creepy (and not to mention crawly!) mansion.
Water Wonders eBook
Reading Is Fundamental was launched into the digital age when FableVision developed an eBook version of Paul and Peter H. Reynolds’ book Water Wonders, a story that allows children to explore themes of science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics (STEAM). The app features interactive experiments that mirror the ones portrayed in the book – such as teaching readers how to make their own cloud – offering children a fun way to engage with the story. This app brings Sydney and Symon to life in a way that lets children feel like they are also participating in the experiments the two mice conduct – talk about a fun learning experience!
STEM:
STEM Birdhouse Website
Have you ever wanted to build a birdhouse perfectly tailored to the needs of your favorite type of bird? One of six HTML5 STEM-focused websites that FableVision developed for Maryland Public Television teaches you how to do just that; all while letting students explore STEM concepts. The birdhouse site features an online simulation that presents students with different choices on how to build a virtual birdhouse for a bird of their choice, ending with a test to check if their chosen bird type would be happy living there. The site then allows students to print out their prototypes to make a physical copy. It is definitely an activity I wish I had when I was a kid.
Sid the Science Kid Website
Meet us in the lab! Working with KCET, PBS, and The Jim Henson Company, FableVision designed the Sid the Science Kid website and games as an extension of the show – a place where 3-5 year olds can explore and practice scientific methodology. The site encourages collaborative learning between adults and children, offering resources to aid adults as they explore science and help answer their children’s questions. This website lets kids try out certain science experiments they learn about on the show, giving them the knowledge to apply such methods to their everyday lives – a very important goal for digital learning in the classroom.
Sensing Science: The Land of Bump
Through animation, story, and technology, The Land of Bump – a game FableVision designed for Concord Consortium – introduces children to the concept of temperature change and particle movement at an early age. The Land of Bump utilizes technology (a thermoscope connected to an iPad) to teach students how atoms move in different temperatures. A complicated scientific concept on a minuscule, yet major, topic is simplified and told in an animated, story-like way in order to help students better understand the way atoms and mass work while making up our everyday lives. Pretty neat!
Social Studies/Civic Situations:
After the Storm: The Daily Byte
FableVision worked along with Classroom, Inc. to develop After the Storm, a literacy learning game that promotes vocabulary, multi-media production, and editing through a real-world simulation of a busy office environment. Students assume the role as editor-in-chief at an online community news magazine, discovering that working with reporters, photographers, and an IT team – all while juggling the complex issues that confront leaders in the workplace – is no easy breeze! In this way, After the Storm teaches students the importance of being well informed –with the correct information – of social situations, and an understanding that the media may not always be accurate.
Quandary
FableVision helped Learning Games Network produce Quandary, an online game and app that works players through ethical dilemmas – teaching them to weigh varying opinions before making the best decisions to help a fictional society grow. Quandary teaches critical thinking, problem solving, the difference between opinions and facts, and understanding different points of view. With 12 different characters with equally valid opinions, the player, as captain, must listen carefully to negotiate the best option for the good of the entire society – a skill of understanding that is very valuable to have in real life.
Mayan Mysteries
Last, but certainly not least, FableVision worked with Dig-It! Games to develop Mayan Mysteries, an innovative, archaeological, adventure game for the web and iPad. Players navigate the game by reading graphic novel panels and solving Maya-themed puzzles and mini-games to solve the mystery of the identity of Ladrone and the location of Ich’aak. Mayan Mysteries combines interactive game play with compelling storylines and social studies standards-based curriculum to create an engaging environment for learning about the ancient Mayan culture in a very fun w
Have you ever learned something valuable from a digital learning experience that impacted your life in some way? Let us know in the comments! And make sure to educate someone today on the benefits of digital learning!
