Video+Game+Critique

The game I chose to play is called “Bookworm” and I found it by doing a Google search of “free online games.” It features a game “board” made up of rows and columns of tiles, each containing a letter. The goal is to make a word using adjacent letters to earn points. On occasion a green tile will appear and a player can earn bonus points if they use that letter in a word. In higher levels, “fiery” tiles will appear and the goal is to create words without those tiles being shifted to the bottom of the column when letters below it are used. ** Learning Outcomes: ** There are a few potential learning outcomes from playing this game. First, and perhaps most obvious, is vocabulary development. Students (especially English Language Learners) will benefit from the opportunity to create words given a variety of letter combinations. Second, it may foster strategic/critical thinking in that the player has to test out various options or letter combinations to create the most effective word. Third, the point value motivates students to create bigger and more difficult words to increase their score. “Bookworm” has the potential to be useful within the classroom environment to promote student learning. First, it is an engaging activity which in turn may help motivate students to play it. Second, it furthers standard curriculum by focusing on vocabulary development. It also integrates 21st century literacies because of the problem-solving component. This game may be a useful “free time” activity for when students are finished with their work as an option in addition to free reading time. It may also be given a more prominent place by creating a competition in the classroom: students can play it as much as they want and the student with the highest score by a certain date wins. There are multiple uses and learning outcomes for this online word game. http://www.games.com/game-play/bookworm/single/
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