Post #4

Something that caught my eye in this chapter was the section on K-12 educational software applications. Honestly it caught my eye because of the picture from an Arthur game. I loved that show when I was a little kid. Well an educational software application refers to computer software that is used to support teaching and learning of subject related content. The number and quality of educational software applications have increased dramatically in the past few years. They are available in many different designs, forms, and curriculum levels. Educational games usually include a set of rules, and students can compete against other students or the game itself. Many students find these games a fun way to learn. These games create problem-solving environments making students use higher order thinking skills. An educational computer simulation is a computerized model of real life that represents a physical or simulated process. The user can cause things to happen, change conditions, and make decisions on the criteria provided to simulate real-life situations. SimCity, Sim Theme Park, and Sim Coaster are examples of this type of program. I never liked SimCity so this was not a fun program for me when I was younger. I remember many educational games that were used in my classrooms especially throughout the elementary school years. We had games to practice math and reading. I also remember a game called Oregan Trail. I loved that game when I was little! How many people remember playing this?

I haven't acquired any new skills since my last post. Probably because I wrote my last post about ten minutes ago. I found the Powerpoint presentations to be very tedious though. I spent so much time on the interactive game. I did enjoy it though and am quite proud of it. I definitely will try to use this in the future. I just think it would be a different and fun way to give a quiz.

About two weekends ago I took the General Knowledge Test. It wasn't very hard. I didn't enjoy waking up at 6:30 am or having to be there for six hours either but it's a requirement. For anyone who hasn't taken it and will have to take it, I highly reccomend brushing up on your geometry. That's the only portion of the math exam that I had a little trouble with. I completely forgot about the types of triangles and complementary and supplementary angles. I'm not sure when I get my results but hopefully it's soon!