I decided to complete this "Thing" because it seemed like an obvious followup to Thing 18. I am interested in gamification as, in a non-digital way, I have always had a game side to my library lessons. Sometimes you just have to teach something dry (alphabetical order) that takes repetition to master. While I certainly make sure that my curriculum includes the real-world application of using an index or an alphabetized list in your research, the few times that any real-world project requires a student to repeat the skill just doesn't sink it in. As some experts say, it takes at least 25 repetitions to learn something. So, here goes...
Quizlet
Quizlet is a great tool that I have used before. In fact I use it after my fifth graders begin to learn about ecosystems but before they choose their inquiry project jsut to be sure that they know which ecosystem is which. We also used it extensively in when we had building-wide vocabulary goals for SLOs. I created Quizlet activities for several of the grades to practice with. If you spring for the pro package, you can add pictures.
Flippity
Flippity is a tool that I definitely could see some of our teachers using, especially for science and social studies. Our fourth grade in particular has review sheets before the tests, so this is an obvious fit. I read Students Create a Quiz with Flippity which is not really a quiz, just a review activity. These teachers had the students create a question for the Jeopardy quiz and type directly into the Google Sheet. It seems to me that a Google Form would be more appropriate. The teacher could even grade the work of creating the question and answer and since the students form responses can automatically be put in a Google Sheet, there is no chance that they would see each other's questions or mess up the Sheet!
I really liked how Flippity could be used with Google Sheets to create crossword puzzles. They are certainly more fun than a traditional worksheet. Although I understand that we should have students go deeper into text, too. Sometimes you just need to know if the students comprehend what they are reading. I actually have an adult crossword book of Murder Mystery Crosswords that has a reading passage and a crossword to complete using the passage for answers. I had been thinking for a while that this would be fun for the students, too. Now, I know a simple way to make one!
I know teachers would like the Bingo boards, too. The Spelling Manager seems like great practice for small group, individual practice time. It is quick, but the students get a chance to practice before their test! The random name picker seems useful for quick collaborative learning.
The Flippity Mix & Match doesn't seem all that useful except as possible story starters. The Flippity Tournament Bracket doesn't seem especially useful either. I can mention it to our PE department for the next Olympics, but otherwise... The Flippity Hangman could be an at-home activity, but I don't see it as useful in the classroom. The Mad Libs has similar limitations. The Flippity Certificate Quiz is simplistic at best since you re-answer until you get it right from a list of multiple choice answers. The Flippity Progress Indicator could be motivating for some students. I am thinking about our fourth grade "Read-Around-the-Library" challenge. Seeing other students progressing could be really motivating for others.
In general, Flippity is definitely something I will present to my teachers and I will ask the IT dept about getting us all the add-on. I think that I will try to find an article to use Flippity crosswords with before the next round of state testing when I have all of my opt-out kids.
Matt Johnson
Okay, having seen Flippity first was a detriment to Matt. Although his Jeopardy Lab is nice, Flippity's seems so much more useful. The Fraction Frog is something I would show our Math AIS people, but I can't see anyone using it in a whole-class format. The Connect Fours is interesting. It definitely could be used for higher-order thinking and to teach how to link things in your brain. It is not a way to teach that I am really familiar with. Most useful for science and social studies, I think. The Bingo Baker has an advantage over Flippity's because it also comes with a call list. That means you could leave the activity for a sub more easily.
The TestMoz test generator allows for multiple choice, short answer and pcik all that apply answer types, which is good. But Google already lets you do that with Google Forms. The Mathmoz is interesting because through the settings, students can practice addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, and binary numbers. However, there are better products that track progress and automatically move students up when they have mastered a level.
TinyCards
Best for blind memorization, these flashcards are really much better than Quizlet. They introduce in small bunches with lots of repetition and quizzing in between. You see the answer, select the answer and have to type the answer. Really a great tool. As you complete levels you see your progress, so it lends a gamification aura to the memorization process with levels unlocking as you succeed. While it has only limited application, it is great at what it does! An obvious application for me would be call number identification (which call number is in what section). This is a skill that my students oftem struggle with now that other literacy and research activities have overtaken so many of the Library Skills classes.
I had already explored Kahoot, Quizziz, and Creating Quizzes with Google Forms in a previous post.
By the way, I learned that if I use WordPad to create my post, it looks much better in the blog!
Update
I successfully got the IT department to agree to unblock the Flippity Add-on. BUT, I'm not sure the add-on is such a bonus over the actual Flippity site. I have been playing around trying to make things and the add-on doesn't always work. It often leaves the "Get the Link Here" sheet off the template. Still, Flippity is useful. Here is my first real attempt at a crossword puzzle. Here is a set of flashcards, too. And a library spelling list.
This is a great tool, but you have to make a separate google sheet for each thing you make. You cannot add them on to each other. So there is a lot of copying and pasting from your original sheet.
I am certainly interested in the jeopardy-type game, but at this point I cannot think of six appropriate categories with five questions each. More tinkering with this topic is definitely in my future.
