Grandma's games

Global Forum November 7-10, 2011

| Washington, D.C.

Virtual Classroom Tour - VCT Partners in Learning Global Forum November 7 – 10, 2011 Washington DC

Virtual Classroom Tour – VCT Name of Project: Grandma’s Games Educator(s)

Author Marina Vasileva, Primary School St. Cyril and Methodius “Centar, Skopje ICT coordinator Dobri Jovevski, Primary School “Ilinden”, village Konopnica, Kriva Palanka Teacher Fatime Alili, Primary School “Zivko Brajkovski”, Skopje Teacher Xhevxhet Fejzulla, Primary School “Dituria”, village Saraj, Skopje Teacher Violeta Ristovska, Primary School “Braka Ribar”, village Tabanovce, Kumanovo Education Advisor Vera Pankovska, Burro for Education and Development, Kumanovo

Grandma’s Games = Digitized Cultural Heritage

Through the Grandma’s Games Project many schools and partnerships (from government institutions to non-government organizations) have been established to achieve the overall project goals. To see the chart of the core /extended team and partners of the project please see the embedded file Teams&Partnerships.pdf

School Brief description of school context

Primary School “St. Cyril and Methodius” located in the main city Skopje has a long history . Its roots are deep , started as the first open cell school, which was newly built in the distant 1836. On 11th May 1858 the school got the name “St. Cyril and Methodius”. The school was rebuilt in 1963 after the earthquake and since then it functions as a modern educational institution.

The local municipal school Ilinden is located in village Konopnica, Kriva Palanka. At this school about 120 students enrolled from the nearby mountain villages. Thanks to technology students can follow the modern trends of teaching with acquiring the 21st century skills..

School Website

www.kirilimetod.schools.edu.mk http://www.ouilinden.mk/ http://brakaribar.com/ http://www.schools.org.mk/index.php?option=com_rsgallery2&Itemid=0&catid=17

Content/Subje ct Areas

Native language, Art, Math, Physical and Health education, Chemistry, Music, History, Life skills

Age/Grade level

1st to 6th grade elementary school, student age 6-12

Project Objectives

The overall aim of the project is to achieve a set of learning goals of the curriculum through traditional children gaming. This is one way of bridging the new IT generation with old traditional and enriched values of our predecessors. Our goal is to recognize the meaning of the game as a great transfer knowledge tool and as a form of personal development cycle of our kids.

Through study of grandmother’s games to build a communication bridge between students from different regions, to overcome “the negative sides of passive cyber games” and to bring back to life the old grandmas’ games with creative use of technology

Project Description Brief description of the project and the background.

What are the stated objectives and learning outcomes? Is the learning activity long-term? Does it call on students to plan their work and assess their work over time?

Please add background information files if needed. See how to embed documents in notes.

Design of the Learning Environment Examples of planning (e.g. pedagogic approach, links to resources used). Please highlight creativity and innovative teaching practices. Emphasize to what extent the planning for learning facilitates the development of different dimensions of 21st century skills e.g. knowledge building, use of ICT for learning, problem-solving and innovation, self-regulation, collaboration and skilled communication.

The children nowadays in general do not know how to play with their friends at the yard, they have not heard of traditional children’s games which often lead to the preference of watching TV , play computer games and sometimes build an aggressive behaviour . They have more online friends than real one with whom they can talk, play and build the childhood. Therefore, we start developing our idea to animate our students by bringing them play and learn outside in the school yard and in meanwhile use the ICT as a tool for communication and learning.

Grandmas’ games and their stories are a major source of our tradition, but unfortunately nowadays we give them no meaning. We believe this project to highlight the benefits of technology but in a different way where students not only learn but found the learning enthusiastic. The project brought “I can do that”- a spirit of the liveliness in all schools, a communication and working bridge in between school partners of the project. The difference we brought was that we use ICT devices as a tool for learning while grandma’s games as a working method.

The project is a cultural journey of traditional symbols and authentic values with new teaching methods which develops a unique approach of the lifelong learning. It is a holistic approach with an aim to recognize the meaning of a game as a great transfer knowledge tool and a form of students’ personal development cycle, all in correlation with the teaching and learning curriculum. The project introduced new ways of learning which focused on “learning by doing” and all participants of the project were driven by the motto “Let’s play games, let’s be friends, let’s learn together!”

To get more deep info about the background and learning impact of the project please see the embedded files Backgorund.docx and Learning Journal.docx.

Would you like to know WHY did we revive the Grandma’s Games? Watch and hear WHY Grandma’s Games.

Ask your grandma which games they have played when they were kids?

The impact of the games in comparison to the nowadays access of technology enables more ecological and healthier patterns to the child learning and teaching development.

We brought into life the 12 forgotten grandma’s games. Each game has its own story. See how can you play The grandma’s games we implemented as a learning technique where students through paying-movingmemorizing-reproducing-interacting-learning-competing and creating products developed the key 21st century skills throughout all the project cycles. See few examples

Research &Survey

We hope you enjoy our project!

www.grandmasgames.org The Facebook Site

• research • communication • collaboration& reflection • data processing

Games’ production

•knowledge building • peer learning, teaching &assessment •pedagogic and crosscurriculum approach •student mentorship •critical /creative thinking •problem-solving •use of ICT

Play, Learn &Fun

• discuss, form opinions, make decisions • shared responsibilities • be tolerant, self reflective build a sense of “a fair player” •innovative teaching

Teachers’ Manual on Grandmas’ Games with Ready Lesson Plans

Evidence of Learning Examples of products and outcomes created by the learners throughout the project – including use of ICT. What sort of ICT is used and how has it been used in the project.

To what extent do students use ICT in ways that support knowledge building, collaboration, or learning beyond the classroom? Does ICT use enable new knowledgebuilding/collaboration/learning beyond the classroom opportunities that would not have been possible without it?

Have digital tools been used in imaginative and groundbreaking ways to support learning processes?

Please add files, videos etc. which documents clearly the learning process and evidence of students’ learning

Through the use of ICT students learnt about the rules of old traditional grandma’s games using MS Word, communicated online via Live MSN, shared the game results individually and in group using MS Excel, recorded and published videos on games using Live Movie Maker and designed/drew the games in Paint. See the summary of what IT tools and how have been used.

The learning objectives of the curriculum wouldn’t have been achieved without the use of online MSN and SKYPE video conference links . The game rules and survey reports about the games students wrote on a computer, then created Bing maps about their origin. Then, drew their own designs on games, inserted the data on MS excel tables, developed surveys in MS Word, recorded videos with a Flip camera and then published a game. Made presentations on Power Point, took pictures of activities and made an auto collage of images. Using MS Song Smith students composed an anthem on grandmas’ games. One of the games is programed and played with MS Kinect.

23.000 Views on Videos posted on Facebook ; 778 Likes; Switzerland, Montenegro and Croatia joined the project; Grandma’s Games Web Site, Grandmas’ games with Kinect; the national Cultural Heritage Digitized; ready Lesson Plans for Teachers, soon to be part of the national curriculum as an inventive teaching and learning method…

In total

The creative use of technology and stimulating the learning environment amongst students increased ICT competences. Students and teachers for the first time had the opportunity through video conference lessons to share information and practices on the research and implemented activities. This was done at the same time in between 5 schools from different places, from the rural to the main city . For the first time, students had an opportunity to play interactively with Kinect and to set up new learning skills including physical activity.

The ICT an enabler and evidence of Learning and Teaching !

See More Check it out…

See our collage of Grandma's Games in One Note with the evidence of the use of ICT, gained IT competences, E-products deliverables, creativity and innovation

Facebook Statistics for one Month

The steel will help you learn and play, throw precisely and learn the measurement units.

The matchbox spin with various numbers. We do sum, and you can too.

Knowledge Building & Critical Thinking Examples of how the learning activities require students to move beyond reproducing what they have learned to building knowledge through interpretation, analysis, synthesis, or evaluation.

Extended Learning Beyond the Classroom If the learning experience is not bound by classroom walls, time-frame of conventional lessons, subject parameters – please show examples of this.

If the project addresses real world issues (i.e. authentic situation and data from outside the classroom) or has meaningful impact on communities locally and / or globally please show examples of this.

The critical thinking amongst students we built it while trying to introduce them into problem situations step by step.

• First, to let them consider how they can influence their peers with an idea to reduce the time in front of any IT device, to develop a creative research and drive a survey to collect the most popular grandma’s games with further thinking on not only how to play and have a fun but also on how to learn and develop news skills.

• Second, the students recognize their own learning while playing the grandma’s games, establish logical links between the games and make generalized conclusions about the set tasks as a challenge.

• Third, but not the least, to interpret the findings, self-evaluation with justification of such evaluation and the ability to ask critical questions and lead productive discussions.

The critical thinking methodology is well explained in the Grandma’s Games Manual. Different methods have been implemented to achieve the students’ learning objectives: the webquest method, brainstorming, general discussion, role playing, use of community resources (organize a school visit by our grandparents and participation in different community events), mind walk, learn from each other (videoconference classes in between schools from different regions), PRES method (Point, Reason, Example, Summarize), work in groups, take a position by developing critical thinking skills through everyday practical skills. At the same time, to show maturity in critical cultural heritage and traditional values ​in connection to life and technology, children's rights and democratic values.

The project included a cooperative learning as unique approach that involved mentor students (older students) and students from lower grades. Drive numerous interactive methods to develop communication and other 21st century skills.

The project activities realized in within teaching curriculum applying interactive playing/gaming methods, adopting knowledge outside the classroom walls, in the courtyard, with an open access to implement various workshops. The regular lectures were conducted according to a predetermined program, which we developed a special manual for teachers. The content of this manual could be applicable to all ages of students, from kindergarten to university students because of the possibility of digitizing the Grandma’s Games with MS Kinect as a doctoral thesis for UNI students. For each game we developed a Lesson Plan and How to guides (see the manual). Besides this, the project enriched by other additional students’ activities that added value to the project outcomes such as: students’ competition on grandma’s games song, best drawing for the poster and best drawing on character image of the game ‘Zavor’ on Kinect, best quizzes for testing the gained knowledge as mock trials.

Collaboration Examples of how the students work with other people, sharing responsibility while making substantive decisions for developing a joint product, a design, or an answer to a complex question.

Students may be collaborating with their peers in the classroom, or with students or adults outside the classroom

The collaboration took place in the following key directions: - student-student of different age (mentors), regions and countries through MSN, e-mail, videoconference links.

- teacher-teacher from differing regions and countries to exchange project ideas and developing activities.

- students – other people from different professions to achieve the following joint products:  In collaboration with the famous Macedonian composer Mr. Zoran Dzhorlev and the production house Aleksandar Mitevski produced the Grandma’s games Spot and Hymn. This was achieved through the national Grandma’s Idol (the popular reality singing competition) which organized in three phases: - Students’ competition on best music text on grandma’s games with MS Word; best music composition with MS Songsmith and best singer performance published in Movie Maker.  In collaboration with the national Faculty of IT (FINKI) we achieved to animate the kids to play one of the grandma’s games (‘Zavor’) in KINECT . Moreover, we participated at the LAN Fest conference (an ICT exhibition ) where students not only presented the grandma’s games project but also the idea on how can the national cultural heritages be digitized through the project (a national ID).  In collaboration with Skopje municipality organized an event about the grandma’s recipes where students presented the Macedonian traditional food in front of the foreign ambassadors. To this aim, students researched the customs/traditions , wrote/exchanged cooking recipes and actively participated in cooking the most well-known traditional Macedonian food.  In collaboration with the national Macedonian television, working with various professions producers, script writers and costume designers, students were acting their own produced dramas broadcasted into two TV emissions (see the DVD present at the stand)  In collaboration with the famous artist Zivko Popovski Cvetin we organized and managed the students’ competition on the best grandma’s games drawing published in a Grandma’s Games FACEBOOK Site.  In collaboration with three municipalities (main city of Skopje, Kriva Palanka and Gazi Baba), in celebration of the April Fools' Day, 40 students were transform into grandmothers and grandfathers costumes and masks in the main Square to promote the Grandma’s Games project.  In collaboration with the private American college NOVA we promoted the project and initiated the partnership of public and private schools with an aim to be shared the best school practices Key impact on learning The key learning impact for teachers is that the collaboration and team work with other schools and institutions from different background is a key for the success; this is the best way we could facilitate and share our best knowledge that comes from different perspectives.

Key additional achievements and awards We had a great opportunity to have a great national PR at miscellaneous events to tell our story and leverage the branding of Microsoft Innovative Educators in Republic of Macedonia (See the video collage of key achievements and awards of the Grandma’s Games project). For more details please see the attached PDF file on Key awards and achievements.