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We call him Science Ninja because this month’s Legendary Administrator Dr. Rodney Culverhouse not only excels at science, but also at equipping his students with a rich array of learning tools!

A few years ago, Rodney ventured into game-based learning in search of an effective way to review materials to support student success on the 8th grade SOL (Virginia’s standardized test). “We had exhausted almost every avenue when I discovered Legends of Learning.” Today, middle school students across his district are spending thousands of hours reviewing material by playing standards-based games and battle-quiz assessments with Legends of Learning!

In the current pandemic, educators across the globe are searching for ways to ensure students are engaged and learning whether they are in school or at home. With a changing learning environment, Rodney reports Legends of Learning has provided a streamlined tool to provide students with additional support to help them be successful in science.

Newport News finally had the opportunity to go one-to-one as a district this school year, thus providing an equitable opportunity for all students and access to Legends of Learning. We smiled when Rodney shared that “many of my students have gone out of their way to make comments on how much they enjoy Legends of Learning.”

Science Ninja unearthed an effective way to review science, and his pupils love it. Well done, Science Ninja!

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The transition to distance learning has led many educators to reimagine their course roadmap. Because there are many challenges with recreating the classroom experience online, teachers have had to quickly determine how to best meet the needs of their students. Roderik Camacho, aka Macho Camacho, knew that Legends of Learning would empower him to tailor lessons that support students’ diverse learning needs: “I try to assign one playlist per week that students get to work on after completing other daily tasks. It has been a fun way to have students engage with science concepts during these distance learning weeks.”

To inspire their students to be intrinsically motivated about their studies, educators have diligently sought to adapt their teaching strategies to accommodate students who may think or learn differently from their peers. Knowing that he needs to bolster student confidence to achieve academic success in the classroom, Roderik uses Legends of Learning to effectively address gaps in student understanding: “There are particular students who have struggled with completing more traditional types of assignments, who regularly will complete their Legends of Learning playlist and reach out to me to see if I’ve assigned anything new. I like that I’m able to offer them something they look forward to.”

Thank you, Macho Camacho, for constantly striving to find ways of developing and maintaining student motivation!

Designing a hybrid learning course has presented its own challenges for many educators because they need to carefully consider how to integrate online assignments with in-class activities. Strongly aware of this, Jean Mellor, aka Stellar Miss Mellor, relies on Legends of Learning to make the student experience as seamless as possible: “We use Legends of Learning for everything: pre-teaching, review, virtual models. I teach hybrid classes so it’s nice to have a platform that is easily accessible at home and at school.”

Whether face to face or online, educators have had to be intentional about course design and instruction. For students to develop and sustain their motivation, Jean knew exactly what to use to heighten student productivity and to effectively create a nurturing classroom environment: “Legends of Learning comes with engagement right out of the box. Students are always excited when I assign a game. They’ve even joked about how they remembered a quiz answer from the game. With the ease of built-in content questions, the students don’t even notice that they are actually reviewing. They just equate the questions with part of the games.”

Stellar Miss Mellor, we are proud to see how you are building a positive classroom community.

As a forward thinker on how to better support students, our Legendary Admin of the Month, Ferleshare Starks aka Sci-Fi the Science Cypher, wanted to explore how to hone in on using games which are naturally engaging to students. She identified a salient pain point for her students. She shared, “Our students were burnt out on traditional remediation for science. While they had some opportunities to engage in learning games, the format was always the same. Students were met with traditional multiple-choice questioning draped in fun music. Keeping them engaged and focused had become a struggle.” She recognizes that she needed to find a new way to engage students in curriculum and to include resources that incorporate 21st Century skills like critical thinking, collaboration and communication, especially for her struggling readers.

With the onset of hybrid learning, Sci-Fi the Science Cypher and her teachers were tasked with finding a more engaging way to motivate students to fear failure less and embrace the challenges, which we all know can be difficult. “I was at my wits end. We had nothing for science.” In their searching, they identified game-based learning as a powerful motivator. She recognized that Legends of Learning offered curriculum aligned, engaging content, real-time feedback and games that students actually want to play. After finding Legends, she told us, “Legends has been a lifesaver for virtual learning. I love the data dashboard – I can see exactly what is going on.”

Ferleshare has seen the power of using content-based games first hand using Legends. She enthusiastically shared, “Game-based learning, as featured with Legends of Learning, has had a profound impact on both my students and teachers. The kids look forward to working through the games. To watch students share and see their eagerness to share with me their adventures tells me we have identified a way to connect to our students and make them feel that success in science is achievable.”

What has also excited Ferleshare is that not only are students eager to play Legends, but teachers have become enthusiastic about incorporating it into their curriculum as well. “As for my teachers, I have seen individuals who may have been reluctant to embrace virtual learning models venturing out to find many ways to incorporate Legends and expand their use of hybrid learning models. Having teachers express excitement because students are now asking if they can do the Legends outside of class is wonderful to see.”

She told us that she instructed her teachers to assign Legends. “No more worksheets or powerpoint presentations. It is essential to get kids engaged.” She observed teachers sending in student and parent feedback showing them engaged in science at home, which she loved to hear.

Bottom line: “Legends of Learning is what we are using for science.”

Sci-Fi the Science Cypher couldn’t pick just one legendary moment, instead she stated, “It excites me anytime I go on campus, walk into a classroom, and see students immerse in a session of Legends.” Students have been so excited about Legends that she went on to share, “Some students would do it all day long if they could.” This is a great problem for any educator to have.

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Cathy Harter, also known as The Activator, is an inspiring leader who is always looking for the best new resources for her students.

When we met Cathy last year, she was immediately drawn to the idea of game-based learning. “Games are fun,” Cathy said. “If students can learn as they play, they will stay engaged for longer and hopefully retain what they learn.”

Once she has a great product, the real key to success for Cathy is implementation. Cathy is an expert at organizing training for her teachers. She feels it’s important because “teachers need time to investigate a resource in a structured format before they share it with students”.

After using Legends of Learning for more than a year now, Cathy still looks back to the training as the piece that really was critical to the success of Legends: “Aryah and Jessica made the training time productive, as well as enjoyable. Teachers could immediately return to campus and use the program with students. I was proud to be able to provide this experience for our teachers”.

According to Cathy, teachers value Legends because it easy to use and provides an important tool to help engage students in science. The result is an amazing experience for teachers and students!

Look for Cathy at the next Science/STEM event you attend. You’ll see her wearing her Activator Cape!

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