The Book of Treasures: Word Game Worth Playing

http://www.games.com/play/aol-inc/the-book-of-treasures

Jessica West is a librarian at an ancient library that is rumored to house a lost Egyptian manuscript. One day she finds a secret room and discovers 35 envelopes, each containing six letters. Her curiosity piqued, Jessica is on a mission to discover the secret of where the hidden manuscript resides.

If you enjoy word games like Chicktionary but are ready for a word game and wraps a compelling mystery around challenging gameplay, The Book of Treasures will delight you.

Three ways to play:
* Quest Mode - Find all the pieces of the lost manuscript.
* Endless Mode - Complete as many levels as you can and go for the high score.
* Timeless Mode - Play with no time limit.

Free with ads

Problem Solving: Egg Drop

http://www.kongregate.com/games/Eggy/the-egg

In this physics based game you must get the egg into the basket quite simply by dragging around the various objects to bounce, twang, zip and push your egg into it.

Using Gears

http://www.engineering.com/GamesPuzzles/ConnectIt.aspx

Description
Solve the puzzle by placing gears in the right place, to put things in motion and connect the wires.

Walkthrough here.

Also: http://www.kongregate.com/games/ch00se/gears

scratch.mit.edu

Tried this with my 6-7-8th graders (technology elective), with mixed results.

Programming through object oriented UI, reminiscent of Hypercard and its descendants.

Radix Endeavor from MIT

The Radix Endeavor is a massively multiplayer online game (MMO) for STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) learning in middle and high school. An MMO is a 2- or 3-D graphical, simulated world played online where individuals take on a digital character, or avatar, that they use to represent themselves in this virtual space. They can interact with the designed environment in which activities take place, and also with other individuals' avatars or non player avatars that are part of the narrative. IMO, it is clearly designed to meet the NGSS and then some. It's beautiful and full featured and top shelf artwork. That said, it is PAINFULLY SLOW, and does not appear to be maintained by anyone. Multiple request for tech support over the weeks I've been playing have gone unanswered.

Quandry from Games for Change

Players aged 8 and up shape the future of a new society while learning how to recognize ethical issues and deal with challenging situations in their own lives. Players lead a new human colony on a distant planet. They must make difficult decisions in which there are no clear right or wrong answers but important consequences – to themselves, to others in the colony and to the planet Braxos.

Players develop skills such as critical thinking, perspective-taking and decision-making. Quandry provides a framework for how to approach ethical decision-making without telling players what to think.



 

IME: Students are required to read, a lot. The interface for choosing topics/issues is not at all intuitive. But as a social studies RPG, it has a lot of potential. Recently, the developer is soliciting ideas for characters and scenarios. Post your feedback!

Diamante Poems

Surprisingly good activity within a literature or other content-specific unit, great for vocabulary building

Diamante Poem by readwritethink