LG2G News - The Advance Team Winter Institute

The LG2G Advance Team reconvened on January 8-9 for their Winter Institute at MPT’s studios in Owings Mills. The Advance Team teachers will be at the forefront of bringing the LG2G game to middle-school math students, and as such, said MPT’s Jennifer Pleszkoch, "the goal of this meeting was for the teachers to walk away with strategies and resources to take gaming into their classrooms."

One way the group worked to achieve that goal was by building lesson plans meeting Maryland standards (and the teachers' curricula) around current online math resources. In the coming months, the teachers will implement these lessons in their classrooms, and as Pleszkoch said, "through their efforts we'll discover what works in the classroom. The game we ultimately create will reflect what the teachers have learned."

Another major theme of the Winter Institute was the use of media in the classroom. "While there are teaching techniques that specifically relate to using games," said MPT's Ann Klimas, "we are happy to remind teachers that games are media and that teachers have been using media in their classrooms for a very long time." According to Klimas, "teachers are going to build on much of what they already do when they bring games to their students."

To learn more about this topic, check out the MPT video "Using Media Effectively":

• Using Media Effectively Part 1
• Using Media Effectively Part 2
• Using Media Effectively Part 3
• Using Media Effectively Part 4
• Using Media Effectively Part 5

Some of the other highlights of the Winter Institute:

• CTE conducted a "best practices" focus group and shared a lesson plan around the amazing space simulation software, "Celestia"
• FableVision presented information on the design and functionality of what will become the LG2G game. (Find out more about FableVision by listening to our podcasts here.)
• MIT conducted paper prototype testing of some of the LG2G game puzzles with Advance Team teachers. (And to see how that went, you can watch the video below. If the video will not play, please use this link.)

All in all, it was another successful gathering of the Advance Team and the other project partners, with everyone recognizing the significance of the teachers' contribution to LG2G. As Pleszkoch said, "The Advance Team members are crucial to the success of this project."

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