Directing Student Use (or misdirecting it?) and Teacher Friendly Directions for Childsplay

After my students learned how to log on (and log off), and change their desktop backgrounds, I moved on to using some of the applications. I had envisioned and planned a slow, methodical process for each student to learn how to navigate to a program and use it. Fortunately, my students knew better and I had enough sense to let the synergy of the learning process take over.

I gathered the class in front of the workstations and had them walk me through the log on procedure. Then I demonstrated going to Applications in the upper left hand corner of the screen and sliding down to the Games menu. I showed how to slide the mouse over to the programs and directed them, no, told them, that they could "ONLY go to Childsplay or GCompris" (which is actually labeled Educational Suite GCompris). I then demonstrated the basics tools and buttons of each program. The first group of 5 started to work. It was NOT a quiet work time and the rest of the class kept drifting up to the bank of workstations to observe and comment. But the level of engagement and the conversations about what they were doing was exciting. Each student contributed. Each student observed. Each student thought. And by the end of the morning, each student had tried stuff out.

At the beginning of that week, I insisted that everyone continue to ONLY use Childsplay or GCompris. However, two things happened that reminded me I was wrong for insisting. The first was a technical problem. For, the most part, our recycled workstations weren't producing sound and since our technical help is extremely limited, sound was not going to be fixed that first week. Both of the programs I had limited my students to had sound, and a few of the activities within those programs depended upon sound to interact meaningfully with the user. Secondly, I had made the rest of the applications seem extra-desirable by limiting my students. It wasn't long before individual students took the risk to try out the other games. Soon, every single student had tried other games despite my constant reminding that I wanted them to ONLY use Childsplay or GCompris. I had planned that I would introduce each application slowly and thoroughly. What a boring plan! My students knew better and engaged themselves in learning the other games and helping each other learn the other games. The dynamics of learning around the workstations transcended all the other pre-determined social strata in the classroom. Every student was new, every student discovered something, every student shared their knowledge and skill.

I was reminded, once again, to stand out of the way when students take control of their learning.

Here is my initial attempt to explain Childsplay to the rest of my team of K-2 teachers. My colleagues wanted non-technical information about what they were having their students use. This was what I gave them. They were appreciative. Several of them used it as a resource for parent volunteers. Hope it helps you!

Games
Childsplay
Go to Applications and click on Games. Slide down to Childsplay and
click on it. The Childsplay window will open. It will show a cow
while the program is loading. The next screen is mostly blue with a
series of icons.

~The first icon of 2 blue pegs and 2 red pegs can not be played right
now because it requires sound. It is a version of Memory using sounds
instead of images. Hopefully, we will have sound soon.

~The second icon is letters and numbers with a speaker. This also
requires sound. It is a matching game.

~The third icon is a windmill scene with a penguin and falling
letters. This does NOT require sound so you can use it now. The
object of the game is to type the falling letters before they touch
the ground. This is good for letter recognition and keyboard
orientation. Clicking on the elephant gives you a screen with the
aim, the suggested age group, and the # of levels. Clicking on the
trophy gives you the high scores and clicking on the stop sign takes
you back to the icon screen.

~The fourth icon shows 2 airplanes and two cards. This is the game of
Memory. It does not require sound. The aim of the game is to find
matching pairs of images. If you are successful, you get to enter
your name on the high score list. Clicking on the elephant gives you
a screen with the aim, the suggested age group, and the # of levels.
Clicking on the trophy gives you the high scores and clicking on the
stop sign takes you back to the icon screen.

~The fifth icon is of an air hockey table. This is basically a game
of air hockey. The player can choose to play by themselves, with a
friend, or against the computer. It's a good eye-hand coordination
activity and develops the skills of controlling movement on the
monitor by using keys rather than the mouse. Clicking on the elephant
gives you a screen with the aim, the suggested age group, and the # of
levels. Clicking on the trophy gives you the high scores and clicking
on the stop sign takes you back to the icon screen.

~The sixth icon is another sound based one. I'll give you more
information about this when we get sound.

~The second row of icons begins with a group of green letters. The
first level of this game shows a picture, a word, and indicates that
the player should spell that word. Subsequent levels leave out some
of the letters. This helps with sight word recognition, spelling, and
keyboard orientation. Clicking on the elephant gives you a screen
with the aim, the suggested age group, and the # of levels. Clicking
on the trophy gives you the high scores and clicking on the stop sign
takes you back to the icon screen.

~The next icon is a group of red numbers. It is an activity where the
user needs to put the right numerical operation (+, -, x, /) on the ?
in the number sentence. This is done by dragging the correct symbol
to the question mark. This is hard. But, it doesn't let you place
the wrong symbol. Clicking on the elephant gives you a screen with
the aim, the suggested age group, and the # of levels. Clicking on
the trophy gives you the high scores and clicking on the stop sign
takes you back to the icon screen.

~The third icon in the second row is a game of Billiards. It involves
using both the right and left mouse keys to be successful. The right
key is for aiming and the left button is for hitting the ball. The
longer you hold the left button down, the harder it will hit the ball.
Fewer hits to get the ball in the hole gets you higher points.
Clicking on the elephant gives you a screen with the aim, the
suggested age group, and the # of levels. Clicking on the trophy
gives you the high scores and clicking on the stop sign takes you back
to the icon screen

~The fourth icon is a Pacman. This is a game of Pacman only you have
to collect letters in order to spell the given words. My class is
really enjoying this game! You also need to use the arrow keys to
maneuver through this maze. Clicking on the elephant gives you a
screen with the aim, the suggested age group, and the # of levels.
Clicking on the trophy gives you the high scores and clicking on the
stop sign takes you back to the icon screen

~The last icon in the second row is another sound one. Watch for updates.

Quitting
In order to Quit Childsplay, you need to be on the menu page with the
icons. Click on the stop sign. A translucent message will pop up
asking you if you really want to quit. You need to type Y for yes and
N for no. If you type Y, the game will close and the desktop will
appear.