Resources

Jacob Trew, like many teachers, is faced every day with a classroom of students who love games. He has spent this past school year tapping into his students’ love of video games to inspire their love of learning as well: “Getting to do that [play games] while learning is the best of both worlds”.

Dr. Mad Trewth enjoys using instructional games to introduce his students to new content. He was excited to see that Legends of Learning had a huge impact during a unit on genetics, inheritance and DNA sequencing: “We could do as many punnet squares as I’d like and it still didn’t seem to make sense what traits they should end up seeing and why. Legends of Learning to the rescue. After getting to play some of the games that had them match specific Genotypes to specific Phenotypes, it started to click. Once they could see the parents’ inherited traits in the offspring they created, it was truly a game-changer all thanks to Legends of Learning.”

Thank you, Jacob, for helping students truly understand what they are learning. You are a true superhero!

In his second school year of using Legends of Learning, Jeff Krus has found that the platform works best for him as a review and reinforcement tool. Dr. Dendrite explains, “The program hooks students into learning and reviewing concepts.” This hook is exactly what his students need to fully engage in end-of-unit and end-of-year review.

With Legends of Learning, Jeff has been able to reach all of the students in his classroom. As a result, he says, “It has been a great way to get reluctant students to engage in learning”. Using games to review and reinforce, Dr. Dendrite gets to enjoy a classroom of students excited about the content at hand!

Thank you, Jeff, for making your classroom Legendary!

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Terry Ward, The Silver Sensation, is not only a leader of her district but also of the entire science community, serving as President of the Texas Science Education Leadership Association.

Terry met Legends of Learning in 2018 at the Metroplex Area Science Supervisors Big Event. She saw the benefits of game-based learning, but wanted to see data before adopting the program. “We are all about program evaluations, and without data to support the program, it doesn’t fly in our district.”

After conducting a short pilot program during testing season, Terry brought on Legends for Northwest’s middle schools. “We were looking for an engaging way to extend the learning for our struggling students.” Extension of learning outside the classroom has become a topic of discussion among Legends schools this spring, with many districts looking for distance-learning alternatives while planning for potential school closures.

Terry plans to collaborate with Legends to assess the impacts of the program after the 2020 testing season, but she is pleased with the impact on student learning so far: “One of our 8th grade teachers was so excited about Legends and how engaged his students were in the program. They were truly excited about science. Seeing one of our inclusion classes so engrossed in the games was amazing.”

Look for The Silver Sensation in the coming year at TSELA, CAST, and MASS Big!

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Susan Moore, also known as “The Integrator”, leads the highly innovative Blended Learning team for Meriden Public Schools in Connecticut.

Sue is always looking for new and creative ways to engage kids with rigorous STEM content while reinforcing key concepts from core curriculum.

She decided to explore using game-based learning because “when students can transfer their learning to new applications it helps deepen their understanding of material!”. And of course, students love the engagement of games.

Sue has used Legends for three years now, but the key to success with Legends was to clearly identify early on how the program supports teachers with learning both the “why” and “where” it fits into instruction and the “how” of using the program in the classroom. Critical to Legends’ success in Meriden has been leveraging power users to get other teachers excited.

According to Sue, “one of the greatest things about Legends is the immediate connection it creates between students and teachers. When a student logs on for the first time and sees his/her teacher’s Legends avatar the reactions are priceless and the teachers are instantly elevated from Instructor to Science Super Hero.”

Sue’s favorite moments are getting into classrooms and watching students solve complex problems, fail, iterate and ultimately succeed. The excitement, perseverance and sheer joy in accomplishing hard tasks demonstrate the love of learning Sue hopes to help instill in all students, every day.

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Katie Burnham flawlessly integrates Legends of Learning within her units to help students reach their maximum potential! Katie explains, “Legends of Learning is used to enhance or review the knowledge of students within a particular unit. Students can play particular games, then I can take a quick assessment to get an idea if they are understanding the material or not.”

By using Legends of Learning as a formative assessment tool for her students, Katie knows exactly where she needs to focus her reteaching. As a result, Katie says, “students’ test grades have increased by an entire letter grade! I have found that the majority of my students GREATLY enjoy playing the educational games that are assigned to them.”

Katie and her students share the same sentiment that many across the country also share, which is, “Legends of Learning makes learning FUN!”

Thank you, Katie, for making your classroom Legendary!

Kerrie has been implementing Legends of Learning in her STEM classes for the past two years, mastering the art of gamifying across the curriculum! STEM Bettes explains, “As STEM Specialist at Sope Creek ES, I enrich science and math curriculum being taught in the classroom. Legends of Learning allows me to demonstrate to students how STEM and technology relate to the science and math they are learning.”

Recently, Kerrie used Legends of Learning to reinforce a science unit on acquired traits versus learned behaviors, during which her students found one of their favorite games on the site! “While learning about acquired traits and learned behaviors, students were truly engaged with the activities on Legends. Happu is their favorite activity because they are overcome with delight when their dogs finally have all their needs met.”

Thank you, Kerrie, for helping students make connections across all STEM-related fields. You are a true superhero!

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