Ted Winick, who runs the chess club at Palmerston school and others, is initiating a "thinking camp" this August 8-12. The camp will approach thinking from a number of perspectives, including chess, improv, art, and computer games. The kids will play games from one area of the site each day and receive a certificate at the end. Hopefully they will be interested in playing on the site afterwards to further improve the
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I had some interesting meetings yesterday about the site. One was about making an iPhone app version of it, directing parents to games and providing the research as a deeper level. I think this may be a good way to use it. The other was about development of the site itself, and the suggestion of a feedback form for parents which I will send out this week (it being the last week of the workshop. I also spoke to a game developer with concerns about positive gaming, who had some good thoughts about developing the site as a standalone tool for parents and educators (some of his feedback influenced the previous post).
The club will be winding up at the end of April, as the weather warms up and more kids play in the yard.
I've learned a lot from running the club, which I hope I can use to improve the site. This summer I'll be making some changes to highlight the brain-puzzle focus more and get kids working across cognitive skills. I may return to the curriculum idea, recasting the cognitive categories as "levels" and having them go through one before going on to the next. To make this work I'll have to take a close look at the objectives for each game to know where to set the bar. I also have to figure out how to get more feedback on the results, and will be contacting the game designers to see what's involved in getting the scores fed back and tracking time spent. There may be a way to use elearning software to manage each child's learning experience, so I'll be looking into that. I'm still torn between adding lots of games and letting them explore vs. choosing specific games and making sure everyone tries them. Currently I'm leaning toward the latter. In new developments, I have a meeting Wednesday with the Special Ed staff to see how the website might be used within their program. I may also be doing a one-week version of the club at a Thinking Camp this summer, here in the city. I'll continue to comment in the blog as things develop, so I have a development diary. One day it might come in handy! The past few weeks have seen 7-10 kids in the club, all boys. Strange how that worked out. Some of the girls were younger and didn't like to play games if they found them boring or hard. Some were very interested in particular games but had a hard time finding others they liked. It disturbs me things have worked out this way. I wonder if there's something that can be done about it. If your girl has stopped coming, maybe you can give me some feedback. : )
The boys need pushing to stay on the site, but I've developed a strategy to keep their interest and also try and get them to visit areas of the site that aren't their strengths. The Brain Puzzle has six parts for the six areas of the site (Attention, Memory, Problem solving, Executive function, Processing skills and Social skills). If they beat a game in a section, they get a puzzle piece - collect all six and get a certificate. This has its drawbacks but within the context of the workshop it may be the best solution. The easiest games to finish are in Linear Problem Solving, and that's where the first kids have finished. It remains to be seen if any one can beat anything in Memory or Insight. One of the boys just suggested posting high scores, which I can try, but it's hard to track. The club will continue after March Break. Three parents came out to the info night. I described some of the research behind the workshop, and how I chose some games, and answered questions. If anyone else wants to drop by the club to chat while it's on, please feel free.
The past two weeks have gone smoothly, with attendance in the 7-8 range. Some of the new games I added are popular. I'm planning to introduce the self-tracking form this week. I hope to use it to find out what games they're good at and direct them towards ones that exercise other skills. I'm thinking of the workshop now as cognitive enrichment. Not sure I'll be able to measure any individual gains in the workshop itself (the tracking form may help) but it does provide a place where parents can consult about using this as a tool to help solve issues. I'm going to start applying the theory to my own kids, actually. A teacher (non-Palmerston) recently used "ADD" to describe him (not in a negative way, she said she was that way herself), so I'm having him do all 12 levels of Ballance, the game I've recommended for that. Last week's session went quite smoothly. I was a few minutes late, but everyone had opened their computers and was already set up, playing on the site. A couple of kids still tried off-site games but I managed to wrangle them in. I think they don't really get the idea of the club, but then I've never really explained it to them.
Which brings up the topic of this post. A couple of weeks back I asked for some feedback about the direction of the workshop, and whether you would like to have an information night. One person responded in person that they'd like the latter, and that's good enough for me. The only question is when. The library makes sense as they have a projection computer I can use to discuss the site. One option is Friday during the club. If you'd rather a weeknight evening, please let me what's good as I'll have to arrange it with the school. I'll talk for about 10 minutes only, then answer questions, and then I'll ask for input to make the site more useful for parents. Please let me know what you think. Last week's session went well. I decided to add more games to the site and tell them that a condition of attendance was staying on the site. This week I want to provide a sheet so they can track their progress in each game they play. During the session I was taking suggestions and adding new games to the site. I'll put them into the correct categories and explain their purpose when I have time.
If any of you want to consult about your child's issues and refine the types of games they should play in the workshop, please drop me a line. Happy new year, everyone.
This note asks for your input below on two issues: 1) A way forward for the Thinking Skills club 2) An Information Night. After reading, please leave a Comment at the bottom. The new year is a good time for reassessments and alterations. Looking back at the home page I posted for the Thinking Skills club, I am reminded of my original plan to keep everyone on a progressive path of courses. This has not really worked out. Kids have been allowed to play whatever games they want as long as they are on the website, and for the most part this has worked. Lately, the class has been downright lively, with kids starting themselves up and getting involved in the games. By the last class, however, there were too many people playing games not on my site. There were two reasons for this: first, some Grade 1’s who found the games too hard were constantly asking me for new ones, so I let them play something not on the list but which kept them occupied. Some others I allowed to play with KidPix, a drawing and painting program the school has which is good for creative exploration. Near the end of the last term, I got some of these kids interested in a game from a site for preschoolers which is linked to my site. It does not address specific cognitive skills, but has a good number of free games that are easy and fun and do promote thinking skills. The second source of pressure for off-site games came from older kids who were either bored with the games available or found the higher levels too challenging to be fun. Some of these kids have suggested games to add to the site, which is great. However, I can’t let it go on or the rationale of the club will get lost. To sum up, two approaches have now been tried and found wanting: a) have them follow a curriculum, and b) let them play any game on the site that attracts them. Both these strategies aim at helping thinking skills in general rather than addressing specific learning issues of each child. I see two ways forward, and need your input. PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT telling me which one you prefer, and/or to suggest another path. 1) I can tell the kids that the club is not just to play games but to help them with their schoolwork. I can ask them to complete a form asking them what they like about school, what they are best at, and what they or their teachers think they can improve on. Based on this I can recommend one or more games for them to play, and they will have to promise to stick with them for at least a couple of sessions or until they get to a certain level. This personalized approach may have more value for some individual kids, although it may be harder to get them to come out if they perceive it as a commitment rather than a diversion. 2) I can add as many games to the site as I can find that qualify as cognitively enriching (including, for instance, online chess), and provide more guidance on the site itself, talking about specific learning issues, so that parents can make better use of it as a tool. Kids can play whatever game they want in the workshop, as long as it’s on the site. As a side service, I can offer free consultations to parents about which games might be best for their child. I can also create a new form so that kids can track their own progress. (I tried doing this at first myself, but it became too onerous). My own sense is that Option 2 is more realistic. Please let me know what you think. One more thing: I’d like to gauge interest in an INFORMATION NIGHT to be held one school night, maybe next week. I’d talk for about 10 minutes, then open for questions/discussion. It would be a great chance for you to learn more and for me to get your feedback and ideas. Please let me know if you are interested and what night is best. The past two weeks have been very busy sessions at the club. Two weeks ago, I noticed half way through that it was all boys. What difference did this make? I'm not sure, but it certainly was an active session. One boy was getting phenomenal scores on one of the songs (easy level) in Up Beat, which is for processing speed. He worked at it all session almost, trying to best his score. Another started proposing new games for the workshop, and presented one called Bomba, which I plan to add under Social Skills - Self Control, since it requires you to navigate caverns without touching the sides of the cave (at least that's what it looked like, I have to try it myself first). I also introduced the kids to the Gamma Bros., a coulple of spaceship riders who must shoot around themselves to get to Earth. I brought it up because a boy was unable to connect with any of the games on the site and I had considered this before for Visual Processing or Spatial Attention, though I realize it also helps with Divided Attention since you have to control two characters. I had resisted because it's guns, but perhaps one can be too worried about that. I haven't yet added it officially.
I also introduced the class to Sim Rescue, in the Altruism section, and some of them got into that. This past week, four boys who aren't in my club appeared at some of the computers declaring themselves a newly formed computer club, and started playing games. I'm not sure if this is allowed by the school or not, but they claimed to know about responsible internet use at school and kept to gaming sites. There were girls this week too, in our club, some of whom wanted to play KidPix, which I allowed (some of our other kids asked to use it too). I know of KidPix as a creative drawing program, and it fits the parameters of the club because it exercises creative thinking and executive planning funcions (to an extent), which I have recently become aware of as an area to explore. (Google "Tools of the Mind" to see what's going on educationally with this.) Another dad who happened to be there told me that KidPix was actually created by a fellow with dyslexia, and it's designed using icons instead of words as well as a lot of sound effects - basically anything you do, including dragging a pencil across the screen, has a sound effect. I'll have to look into the research behind this further. The class is developing in interesting ways. Another father attended last week to help me out, and I realized the kids could be keeping track of their games and progress themselves (I had been trying to do it for them). That will make things easier to run. I even got some time to play with Silver Sphere (try it!) myself. There was also a Santa-on-a-sled game my son Rory discovered which I let the kids play: you have to draw a path on the screen for Santa's sleigh to follow. It's creative, uses spatial attention, requires planning and revision and problem solving... My only problem is where to put it! FYI, the club will continue this week and on the 17th, and then restart in the new year. Last week's session was smaller (5 + Gil), with kids out for various reasons. A couple were very involved throughout, doing well on some hard games, but one wanted to read books and a second couldn't get interested in any other games after having enough of one. Getting kids to stick with a game if it doesn't offer immediate success is difficult, at least in this format. The games themselves are supposed to be 'fun' enough to keep their interest. One solution is to get more games on for more variety and to address more skill levels, as long as the games are still focused on discreet cognitive skills. Another strategy might be to offer some different incentive to continue playing a difficult game, though I don't know what this might be. Interest is the best incentive.
Another issue coming up is reading difficulties. There are two strategies on the site for auditory problems, because there are two types of auditory problems. In the first, children find it difficult to separate sounds when they are listening. This isn't always apparent in normal conversation, but it makes it hard for them to listen in class and always know what's going on. It also affects reading, because when we read we kind of listen to an internal voice (why kids lips move at first) and so it's similar to listening in that way. These are called phonological problems, and are addressed under Processing Skills - Phonological Skills on the site, by two sets of games. One is from Hearbuilder.com, and one from Starfall.com. Hearbuilder is software you can buy (reasonably priced) and the website gives you samples of each of their games so you can try them out to see if your child a) has difficulty with them and b) is likely to try them. (As stated above, if a) is an issue, b) is hard to achieve.) However, it does give a good sense of whether the tasks, such as blending syllables, are an issue for your child. I haven't used this with kids, but it does seem to be well designed and based on good research. The second program is free online, called Learn to Read (from Starfall). It goes the next step by attaching sounds to letters and words. It's very entertaining, and if your child can spend time exploring the site it may be of help. Ideally, I think the two programs can go in tandem, first dealing with listening skill then combining it with letters, but your child's interest and self-discipline will be a big factor as to whether they succeed. In any case, these are programs which require some hand-holding at first (meaning you sit with them while they do them), but if they like them that should not be necessary after they get the hang of it. The other kind of auditory skill is processing speed and tied to visual skill as well. These kinds of problems don't show up in tests unless you are timing them, such as the RAN test (Random Automatic Naming), in which kids are asked to read nonsense words and name letters or numbers. Basically, if your child has no problem telling you how many syllables are in "elevator," or how many words in a song title, or breaking down "canary" into ca-na-ry, but they are still slow readers, they may be candidates for this. This is addressed under the Auditory and Visual Processing menus, with Up Beat, a game that requires one to synchronize responses to coordinated musical and visual cues (similar to Guitar Hero), and Kit 'n Run, a version of Pac Man that requires quick visual scanning and action. A few hours playing each of these games can help improve processing speed in those areas, which can result (not immediately, but soon) in improved reading for kids with these deficits. Okay, that was a long post, but I wanted to pass these things on to you. If you try them, let me know how it goes. Last week had a different mix of kids, seven in all. I tried a different approach which I think worked - I demonstrated games on the big screen that I wanted to introduce them to. We then played Ping Pong (the basic attention game) for 10 minutes or so, followed by Movie Munchies (a good short term memory workout) for another 10 minutes. I also introduced a couple of new games. It's still difficult for the Grade 1's, though, to find one that isn't too hard.
For the break, we did a "Brain Gym" workout I found on YouTube. Brain Gym is a series of exercises used by practitioners of Accelerated Learning. They're supposed to activate brain areas and give you exercise at the same time (which is also good for thinking skills). This week I'll follow a similar program, since things went pretty well. Regarding my prize box, initially prizes were supposed to be for once they get 10 stars, but the little kids were getting left out, so I let them all choose something for effort. When they're gone, I think I'll just stick with stars for accomplishing levels. I should have some help tomorrow as well from one of the dads. Friday’s session of the Thinking Skills Club went more smoothly than the first, but was busier in a way as well. We had more kids – 8 – plus my son Rory (9 yrs.), and my parent assistant was unable to come.
Each session begins with at least 10 minutes of a Sustained Attention game (Ping Pong). I think this is important to get them centred and to help gradually improve their scores in that basic skill. After that, the kids played some of the same games from last week, including some from the Memory, Problem Solving and Visual Processing sections. I added a link to a safe site full of free, cognitively stimulating games aimed at preschoolers (Boowa & Kwala, from uptoten.com, in the Phonological Skills section) to appeal to children who had trouble reading, and directed a child who had found some of the games too difficult to one based on the traditionally popular Pac Man (Kit ‘n Run, in the Visual Processing section). There are phonetically based reading games on the site under the Processing Skills – Phonological Skills menu, as well (from starfall.com), though we haven’t used them yet (you can, from home). Letting each child choose their own games from the site gives me a picture of what their strengths are, but I am concerned that it may get a bit unruly and not be workable with a larger group. Compelling them all to do the same game at the same time, for instance in 15 minute blocks, is a possible solution. However, it could leave some kids in the cold if the game is too difficult. On the other hand, if I'm not busy switching games for people I may be able to devote more attention to an individual. This is something I'm working on. We added the Mirror Game to the wobble board exercise during break. Playing mirror (two kids face each other and one acts as a mirror to the other) helps train mirror neurons in the brain which play a role in empathy and in learning. Any other thoughts from your own child’s experience please let me know! We had our first session on Friday Oct. 22. There were 7 children, including my son Gil, and 1 absentee. This coming week I expect 9 kids, and Gil will have a play date. I also expect to have an assistant, another parent who is a retired high school teacher.
Overall, I felt it went all right for a first go. The kids got engaged in the games and were excited about their progress. There were some first-timer discoveries for me: a couple of children found many games too difficult, so I’m making sure there is an easy game to play this week. I also found it a bit hectic attending to multiple calls for assistance, but this week should go more smoothly as I have figured out my routines, and the kids now know how it works. We took a break at half time to do a physical activity, using a wobble board (a toy with a curved bottom that you stand on to see how long you can go), with times varying from 11 to 30 seconds (the cut off). The wobble board requires and encourages balance and self-control. I had to adjust the program a bit: I had thought I would have the kids do all the games in one category (e.g., Attention) before moving on, but some games were difficult and I ended up putting them on games from other categories, which is all right too. I thought I would be able to record how much time was spent on a particular game, but that’s not possible, so I’m recording which game was played and the levels achieved for each participant. Kids get a sticker when they complete a level, and when they get 10 stickers they get a small prize (not candy). I may have to adjust this, to make sure too many kids aren’t disappointed. Also, levels get harder as you get higher, so perhaps the next thresholds should go by 5’s instead (e.g., 15, 20). If you have any feedback for me (your child’s reactions, were they happy or not), please let me know, I want each child to have a positive learning experience. Mitch Parent Link went out today (Thurs Oct. 14) announcing the program, which will start next Friday. I plan to use this blog to keep a record of how things are progressing. I may refer to things students do or say, but will not use names. I'll talk about how the kids interact with the games, the problems they or I encounter, and the solutions. This will be the diary of the workshop.
I'll also post things here of interest to parents in the workshop. For instance, right now when you come into the site you get the "Welcome Palmerston parents" page, but when the workshop starts the first page will be the Kids page, which you can see if you click on 'Kids View'. The pictures there don't do anything today, but when active they'll take them to the game pages on the site without using the menus or reading the definitions etc. Each child will be assigned a particular game to play in the workshop, it isn't a free for all. Because they can access the site at home as well, however, they can also bank hours between weekly sessions if they want (or try out other games, if you let them). I'll be tracking which games are played and for how long by each student. There will be threshholds set (e.g., point score or level achieved within the game) that must be met before moving on to the next game, though part of the workshop purpose is to find out what these threshholds should be. Keep in mind that this is terra incognita - the results of such activity in terms of improving cognition are still being discovered, and may not show up in behaviour in a timely way. If changes are noticed, however, I'd like to hear about them and will build a database around such real-life experiences, to see how well they jibe with the research. |
AuthorMitch Moldofsky is founder of the Thinking Skills Club, a computer game club that helps develop cognitive functioning for kids. He hold a B.Sc. in Cognitive Science and Psychology from the University of Toronto. Archives
November 2013
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