For my video game exploration, I chose to explore the game The Quest for The Complete Sentence from the website, https://www.education.com/games/. This website offers various different educational games for young children in subjects such as math, reading, writing, and science. When you click on a game, there is additional information provided on the game, such as how it can be incorporated into a lesson, what subject area it falls under, what grade level it falls under, and any common core standards it acts with.
The Quest for The Complete Sentence is fit for fourth graders, practicing their grammar skills, specifically identifying complete sentences vs. fragments. I believe this game falls under the simulation type, where the player must complete certain tasks before moving onto the next level.
The game is set up as a sort of maze, where there is treasure at the end as a reward. Throughout the maze, I completed several different challenges dealing with complete sentences and sentence fragments. For example, one challenge consisted of two baskets: one labeled “complete sentence” and the other labeled “fragment”. There were four different sentences (set up as a type of word bank) above these baskets. My task was to drag what I thought to be a complete sentence into the “complete sentence” basket, and what I thought to be a fragment into the “fragment” basket. If I got these wrong, I had to repeat the task until I could move onto the next challenge. To add to the “game” aspect, this game allowed the player to control the movement of their character, collect coins, avoid holes (for the character to fall into, therefore ending the game), and gaining points.
I felt as if this game was a good balance of fun and learning. It is efficient practice for students who are just learning what complete sentences are, as they will gain a better understanding of what it is when compared with a fragment sentence. It also allows for practice when the game will not allow the player to move on until they are able to complete all tasks correctly.
Educational Technology -- Mlyssa 