Worth a try? Hmm … not sure it’s legit!

Before You Write To Nintendo And Ask For A Free DS, Read This

Don’t forget to click on the red link that states the student wrote a letter to Nintendo.

Educational Uses for the Nintendo DS

Found this blog on Educational Game Research.

After a cautious trial with the English tutorial software, in which students write out the words they hear, and are prompted as to whether their handwriting is correct or not …

The school found that nearly 80% of students who used the DS each day mastered junior-high-level competence in English vocabulary, compared with just 18% before. About half of those students had developed 11th-grade-level abilities. The school district is now testing other [DS] software for subjects like arithmetic and Japanese.

http://edugamesresearch.com/blog/2007/07/11/educational-uses-for-the-nintendo-ds/

Majority of schools think games consoles aid education

Research conducted by the British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA) has found that the majority of schools think that access to games consoles is beneficial to primary children’s education.

In a survey of 406 primary schools carried out to determine attitudes to technologies such as games consoles, phones and computers, it was found that three-quarters of teachers thought that home access to educational games consoles such as the Nintendo DS could be helpful to a child’s educational development.

Internet access at home was identified as the most beneficial technology however, while access to mobile phones split opinion with 39 per cent saying that children shouldn’t have access to their own phone outside of school and 29 per cent saying an ideal situation would be all children having access to a mobile.

However teachers were found to be happier with pupils having a mobile games console rather than a mobile phone.

Most schools surveyed said that children’s preference for technology both at home and at school was evolving quickly and the majority said they thought netbooks and smartphones would be more popular with children than desktop and laptop computers by 2015.

In terms of computer use at home, 64 per cent of schools said they provided teacher-directed homework that required computer resources. Just one quarter of respondents said they believed the majority of pupils use computers for entertainment and social networking exclusively, instead of for educational purposes.

Source

DS Trial – Worongary SS – The beginning

We picked up the DS units from EB Games today, they were inflexible with the method of payment however, and demanded cash or card, they wouldn’t accept a school cheque and 1 unit was faulty, don’t know about there testing on pre-owned units.
I took them into school and gave them to the teachers to play with, so they could trouble shoot if there were any problems. We carried out a survey of the students and were suprised by the high rate of ownership. Over 83% of the 96 students in year 6 own a Nintendo DS, so I am not expecting any usability issues.

I created a DSrecordingSheet for the students to record their weekly Brain Age and their daily Brain Training results.

I also created an intro video explaining how to use and what the students need to do.

We will run the trial for a semester then re-test the students to evaluate improvements in problem solving and number facts at the end of 2010.

Nintendo DS Lites in Primary Classroom – Wired Teachers

I found this video on vodpod.com. A great example of Nintendo DS in the classroom.

Collected from youtube.com May 14, 2009 with the description: Another great example of a school using these devices to improve learning. I am sure that YR5 could manage to switch them on without this level of instruction from the teacher, I expect that this was just for the cameras. Use this to convince colleagues in your school to have a good, this is just too good to miss..

http://vodpod.com/watch/1619228-nintendo-ds-lites-in-primary-classroom-wired-teachers

Nintendo DS Used in Japanese School to Teach English

Following on from Barbara’s blog post, I found the following article regarding the use of the DS Consoles in the Japanese classrooms to teach english.  If you note the date, they were WAY ahead of where we are now …….  Nintendo DS English learning software a big hit with students

Creative Solutions Using Educational Technology

This blog post, Creative Solutions Using Educational Technology: NIH Grant Addressing Childhood Obesity by Barbara Schroeder of Boise State University discusses her experience at a preliminary discussion to brainstorm ideas for a federal grant proposal aimed at reducing obesity in young children, focusing on schools with lower socio-economic and refugee populations.  Her suggestions were not received the way she had hoped.

‘… in retrospect, I should have brought the gaming systems with me, demonstrated the interactivity and fun these systems can generate about exercise and healthy eating, and how kids are naturally attracted to the size, touch screen, and interactivity. I should have shown them how these systems not only could address the goals of the grant, but also provide rich learning experiences for the students, such as listening to audio books, music, browsing the Internet, taking pictures, voice recording, and the multitude of games that could address learning goals…’

The wonderful thing about the internet is that we can learn from others experiences.  Mental note to self:  take a DS with you to ‘pitch’ the idea!  Thank you Barbara.

Brain Training Can Improve Grades

Another great post that would look great in a proposal for ds and brain training in the classroom.
By Tracy Packiam Alloway, PhD
There is exciting research emerging on the benefit of brain training. The question is: what works? Is it enough to memorize numbers in backwards order? Previous research outlines programs where students remember number sequences for a few weeks. Although improvements in working memory were reported, there are clear limitations. Most notably, there was no transfer effect: training working memory did not improve academic attainment. This leads to the possibility that some brain training programs are just ‘training for the test’, which means you are just getting better at playing the training games.

In order to address this issue, I recently conducted a clinical trial with two groups of students: the Training group participated in a working memory training program (www.JungleMemory.com) and the Control group received targeted educational support (IEP). The two groups did not differ in their IQ, working memory, or academic scores pre-training.

Both the Training and the Control groups underwent 8-weeks of their respective training programs and then were retested on the IQ, working memory, and academic tests.

The results were dramatic. The Control group did not perform much better without intervention, and in some instances they performed even worse in math and working memory.

In contrast, the Training group demonstrated a clear improvement not only in IQ and working memory tests, but crucially in learning outcomes as well. Students on the working memory training program went from a C to a B, or a B to an A after just 8 weeks of training! This is an exciting step in demonstrating that the right brain training can significantly boost academic attainment.

http://ow.ly/1K617

DS for Learning Podcast

Interview with  Robbie O’Leary, Principal Sacred Heart SNS (www.sacredheartsns.net)

In this latest podcast, Michael Hallissy speaks with Robbie O’Leary, Principal  of Sacred Heart SNS, Killinarden. Robbie has been to the fore in integrating ICT across the primary curriculum for many years, and he has written and lectured widely on the subject while also developing a range of educational digital content for Irish schools. Robbie’s latest innovation is the use of the Nintendo DS to support literacy and numeracy skill development in his school.  In this podcast he explains how the initiative works and where he plans to take it in the future…

The Nintendo DS and Wii in the Classroom by Ben Ryan

Another great report I found on Computer Education Society of Ireland by Ben Ryan.

My use of the Nintendo DS in the classroom came about as a result of an off-the-cuff remark from a restless child in one of my group math sessions with some SEN children. The children in question, although well behaved, found it hard to sit and concentrate for any length of time and rarely completed activities without constant reminders to stay on task. I had tried many of my usually successful strategies to motivate with little or no success and then one day, earlier this year, came the break-through.

http://www.cesi.ie/digiteach-dsandwii