Digital Learning Day: Five Game-Based Learning Tools for Success Through Play

As the education technology world continues to evolve, exciting new products and services are emerging to strengthen and create unique learning experiences for leaners of all ages. Digital Learning Day was established in 2012 to spotlight the many different facets, tools, and applications that support and empower teachers and students. It applauds educators who are getting creative with their digital resources to open up a whole new world of discovery. In honor of Digital Learning Day, we’re sharing some game-based learning tools we’ve developed with a few of our partners.

We’ve been in the educational media industry for over 20 years. Throughout this journey, we’ve held on to our belief in the power of learning through play. This roundup of resources offers a look at immersive play in diverse content areas including history, civic engagement and reading, logic, financial literacy, leadership, resiliency, and social emotional skill building. Players learn and develop skills as they play exciting roles of daring explorer, investigative journalist, and even a wily con artist.

We’d love to hear and learn from you! Share how you’re implementing game-based learning tools in the comments below.

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Zoombinis, TERC
Make me a pizza! Through Zoombinis, players learn important life skills including algebraic thinking, data analysis, and theory formulation in a fun and engaging setting. With 12 puzzles and four levels of increasing difficulty in each, players are constantly challenged, improving their problem-solving skills as they advance through the game. Play the revamped classic game you know and love!

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Con ‘Em If You Can, Commonwealth
Con 'Em If You Can is a fun, interactive strategy game developed to help players learn how to spot and avoid investment fraud. The game turns the tables and players are cast into the role of fraudster, learning key techniques – phantom riches, reciprocity, scarcity, social consensus, and source credibility – to scam the residents of Shady Acres and thwart the Fraud Fighting Agency!

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Operation: REACH, Boys & Girls Club of America
Players set sail on the SS Chelonia to rescue crewmates stranded along a mysterious island archipelago. Aboard the ship, players work with the Captain to navigate and mediate interpersonal conflicts among the crew that threaten the success of the mission. Only with communication, resiliency, collaboration, and empathy will they be able to gain the strength and knowledge to face the final mystery of the Fog, and return safely home. Players gain social emotional learning skills by utilizing tools to keep their stress and anxiety at bay.

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Read to Lead, Classroom, Inc.
After the Storm and Community in Crisis places middle schoolers in the fictional city of Port Douglas – a community devastated by a hurricane. By leading the daily news website and running the community center, students assume a leadership role in the community and pick up literacy skills along the way. The literacy learning games in the Read to Lead series promote vocabulary, multi-media production and editing, and work place readiness through real world simulations.

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Ripped Apart: A Civil War Mystery, Smithsonian Institution National Museum of American History
Ever wondered what it’s like to work at the Smithsonian? With the sudden and curious departure of her last intern, Museum Curator Isabella Wagner needs help solving a mystery dating back to the Civil War. Ripped Apart invites players to immerse themselves in the 19th century by exploring the photographs and belongings of mysterious characters from America’s past as an intern at the museum. The app aims to improve the understanding of American history, while helping players get a feel for the critical thinking skills, analysis, and tools museum curators use to study and classify historical objects and artifacts.

Digital Learning Day Q&A with Suzi Wilczynski, founder of Dig-It! Games

Archaeologist, Social Studies teacher, video game designer – Suzi Wilczynski has done it all. With an arsenal of learning games, from the FableVision Studios-developed Mayan Mysteries to the soon-to-be launched Roman Town, Suzi’s studio Dig-It! Games has a plethora of digital learning resources for students. FableVision recently talked with Suzi about Digital Learning Day and the important role games play in the classroom.

What is Digital Learning Day and why is it important?

Digital Learning Day is a wonderful concept that the Alliance for Excellent Education brought to life back in 2012. It’s a day dedicated to celebrating innovative teaching practices nationwide that leverage instructional technology programs to improve student outcomes. Since it launched as a grassroots campaign, it has truly grown into a national celebration that is driving awareness and recognition of how technology enhances the learning experience in K-12 schools. I think the Alliance says it best when referring to Digital Learning Day as “not about technology, [but] about learning.”

Can you share a bit about the history of Dig-It! Games?

In 2005, I began my quest to create fun, interactive learning experiences for middle school students. As an educator and trained archaeologist, I had used archaeology to bring history to life while calling upon a wide range of skills, including math, science, and language arts. To make these subjects relevant to 21st century kids, I set out to create entertaining, interactive digital games that could be played at school or at home. My goal was to use games to engage children in an immersive way that goes beyond what they can experience from a textbook, film, or lecture. After learning everything I could about game design and playing more games than I care to admit, I released Roman Town in January 2010 to critical acclaim from parents, educators, and the education industry. In 2012, Dig-It! Games partnered with FableVision Studios to produce Mayan Mysteries, an award-winning puzzle-based adventure game about the ancient Maya. 2013 was all about math at Dig-It! Games, with the releases of math-based games Loot Pursuit: Tulum, MayaNumbers, and Can U Dig It! In 2014, we released a continuation of the Mayan Mysteries story, a sequel to the Loot Pursuit series in Pompeii, and mini-games, including Artifact Snatch and Maya Quiz. We’re so excited for what 2015 has in store. We just released our redesigned app for Roman Town and are looking forward to adding to our catalog of fun learning games for middle schoolers!

You have a wealth of background experience to pull from in the work you do now. We hear you like to play in the dirt. What was your experience as an archaeologist like?

One of the things I liked most about fieldwork was the opportunity to be in another country for an extended period of time. I loved getting the chance to actually experience the culture in a way you really can’t when you’re just visiting for a few days. I do have to admit though, I liked the dirt a lot too! I’m one of those weird people that actually likes studying dirt layers. Finding cool artifacts is fun, of course, but it’s the dirt that really tells the story. Archaeology is all about every day life—artifacts tell us what people ate, what they wore, and how they spent their time. But it’s the dirt that tells us when and how people used those things. Archaeology is pretty hard work—all that dirt is HEAVY!—but it was all worth it to see first hand how people lived in the past.

How did your past experience as a social studies teacher help you in the transition to game designer?

It does seem like teacher and game designer are really different, doesn’t it? Surprisingly, they’re not. A big part of games, especially the kind we make, is teaching something. Even games that aren’t strictly for learning have to teach players how to operate in their world. The fancy word for it is “user interface,” but really, it’s not so different from planning lessons that will engage your students. The goal with both is to communicate information quickly and easily in a form that resonates with your audience. Then you have to figure out how to seamlessly build on that knowledge through the course of a game, kind of like planning a class. Levels are very comparable to units in that knowledge of a specific feature set builds slowly through the level and completing the level shows mastery the way an end of unit test does. Even grading has a place in game design: when you really think about it, grading a test and scoring a level are virtually the same thing—they communicate the level of mastery for the content. Good games, like good lessons, require deep understanding not only of the game content but how the user will respond to it. In that, game designers do have an advantage over teachers. Feedback in games is immediate and leveling up requires full mastery of the content. That allows game designers to communicate directly with the player and know instantly when a feature does its job successfully.

Do you have any advice for teachers looking to implement more digital games in the classroom?

Teachers have always known that games add depth to lessons by engaging students’ imaginations and allowing them to find answers on their own and in their own way. Games on mobile devices, computers, and interactive whiteboards combine graphics, audio, and movement into a coherent whole. These games are interactive and immersive, forcing the player to be truly invested in the outcome. Players are encouraged to strengthen weaker skills while simultaneously taking advantage of their proficiencies. For teachers looking to add digital games in the classroom, there are a few common denominators found in successful interactive learning games, such as being authentic and skills-based. Teachers should consider how different games can be woven into the curriculum based on content. For example, reinforcement games can be played just after students have begun to master new skills. Most importantly—teachers should show their students that they’re excited about adding games into the classroom; when teachers are excited, students are too. Just like playing digital games, enjoy blending fun and learning in the classroom with the addition of these tools to your curriculum!

FableVision Studios partnered with Dig-It! Games to create multiple games, including the award-winning Mayan Mysteries. Tell us a bit about the game and how it applies to digital-game-based learning?

Mayan Mysteries is an exciting educational adventure that turns middle school students into real archaeologists as they explore the mysterious world of the ancient Maya and learn about their remarkable civilization. In the one-of-a-kind puzzle-based online game, players embark on a thrilling expedition with “Team Q” to catch a secretive thief. Play involves visiting excavation sites, identifying and carving dates into the Maya calendar, using real archaeological tools such as trowels, picks, and brushes to uncover authentic artifacts, finding hidden objects, creating maps, using the Maya number system, and more. Mayan Mysteries is true game-based learning: it is standards-based, cross-curricular, purpose-aligned, interactive, age-appropriate, and fun. It can be played at home or at school, and is ideal for interactive learning in the classroom. Its authentic content, contributed by a world-renowned Maya expert, aligns to multiple National Standards, including: National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies and Common Core Standards for Language Arts and Mathematics. Players are immersed in a long-term gaming experience that sparks imagination, excites young minds, and teaches new ideas. It motivates and encourages independent and critical thinking for all learning styles, which are critical components of digital-game-based learning. I’m very proud that Mayan Mysteries has consistently ranked among the top downloads on iTunes. Players around the world are downloading the game that engages kids and brings history to life.

Dig-It! Games produced their first game, Roman Town, five years ago. Now you’re releasing an updated Roman Town for the iPad. What can you tell us about the game and how it’s changed?

We are very excited to celebrate the five-year anniversary of Roman Town with a brand new version of the interactive game. The original Roman Town was created in a CD-ROM format, which met the needs of students and teachers when it launched back in 2010. What kids want and need from educational games has changed dramatically since we first introduced Roman Town almost five years ago. Today, Roman Town is an intuitive social studies-based problem-solving app for the iPad. The game engages and inspires students as it teaches them about the ancient civilization through interactions with characters, exploration of the ruins, and artifacts woven into its mini-games. Players explore Pompeii, play ancient games, and help Charlie and Fiona (the popular characters from Dig-It! Games’ series of top-rated games) find clues to track down the infamous Ladrone. The new Roman Town includes even more challenging puzzles to exercise strategic thinking, spatial reasoning, memory, logic, and math skills, among others. The factual information about Roman life has been expanded and new graphics create a truly immersive experience. Most importantly, today’s Roman Town is even more fun than the original!

Five words that describe Dig-It! Games:

1. Fun – When kids and adults play our games, they can’t help but be entertained!
2. Educational – Our games incorporate age-appropriate content in math, science, social studies, and language arts into interactive learning experiences. Authentic and accurate information that conforms to curriculum mandates and Standards of Learning is built into every game we produce.
3. Engaging – Dig-It! Games engages different learning styles and allow learners to proceed at their own pace and explore topics that are meaningful to them. 
4. Cultural – Our games are tools that allow kids to explore cultures, expand their knowledge, and discover a love of learning.
5. Inspirational – Through our seamless blend of fun and learning, we seek to foster the joy of intellectual discovery and inspire kids to think differently about learning.

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Suzi Wilczynski launched Dig-It! Games in 2005. Wilczynski is a trained archaeologist with nearly 10 years of dig experience, including projects in Greece and Israel. Formerly a middle-school teacher, Wilczynski noticed a lack of classroom options for teaching students about the fundamentals and importance of archaeology. She developed a continuingly expanding suite of learning games including Mayan Mysteries and Roman Town to give classroom instructors and parents fun, interactive tools to help students learn about the ancient civilizations through archaeology.

FableVision Celebrates Digital Learning Day

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!

Digital Learning Day – where education meets the digital age

What is Digital Learning Day?
Digital Learning Day (DLD) is a day dedicated to school reform by engaging students and empowering educators through the effective use of digital tools. I know what you may be thinking – “Is this talking about a class run by computers?” – and the answer is no. The great part about DLD is that there is no limit to what is considered a digital tool and it is up to you to find the best fit for your needs! Don’t you think that discovering new and creative ways to engage students is worth celebrating? DLD was started as a way to actively spread innovative practices and ensure that all youth have access to high-quality digital learning opportunities no matter where they live. Learning how to use 3D printers, sharing student work with mobile QR codes, and engaging in research projects are just a few of the many ways that educators celebrated and shared their DLD activities this past year. If you want more examples, you can see last year’s DLD highlights here.

So what is “digital learning” anyway?
Digital learning is any educational method that utilizes technology to enhance a student’s learning experience. It encompasses many different facets, tools, and applications to support and empower teachers and students. Cool, right? Let’s think beyond the usual Microsoft PowerPoint and see how teachers can feel empowered through designing creative activities that push students beyond their comfort zone. From student-run blogs to filmmaking to game design, the options are limitless!

Why should I celebrate Digital Learning Day?
Good question! The world is changing and it seems like schools have a hard time keeping up. Traditional methods of books and worksheets are often not challenging and could be limiting a student’s potential to learn. Fortunately, Digital Learning Day highlights great teaching practices and showcases innovative teachers, leaders, and instructional technology programs that are improving student outcomes. For example, Educurious created a pop culture challenge for students asking, “How can we avoid the path to Panem, the post-apocalyptic world of The Hunger Games?” This loaded question explores issues of social class, trust, and the media’s role in forming public opinion and political systems. Sure beats a textbook, huh? Ultimately, DLD’s goal is to promote the effective use of modern day tools to improve the learning experience in K-12 public schools. 

When is Digital Learning Day?
Save the date! Digital Learning Day is on March 13, 2015.  To stay connected, follow @OfficialDLDay on Twitter and use the hash tag #DLDay. Don’t be shy to share your ideas and stay inspired by seeing what others are doing. 

Okay, I’m in! Where do I start?
The best way to kick off your planning is to think about how you would like to support high-quality digital learning for the youth or your own community. To give you some inspiration, the Alliance For Excellent Education has compiled a collection of interactive lesson plans, digital tools, and resources here. However, do not feel limited to this list because this is your chance to get creative and think outside the box. The next step is to get involved! Here are some things you can do. First, go to the DLD Planning Guide to see where you want to start. After you decide what is a good fit for you, add your celebration plans here and also Tweet them! Let’s all think about how to extend Digital Learning Day to be a long-term commitment and improve the quality of education for everybody!