I am teaching 8th graders for the first time this year, English. (Taught 6th last year) I am looking for online simulation-type activities that will appeal to this level, engage, and get them reading - no matter the subject area. I would love to hear about any that others have used successfully, thanks!
Elizabeth, Check out the project that I worked on with some 8th graders and their teachers. We used a ning as a social networking tool for our 8th graders to learn online safety, copyright informtion and how to write in character with the book Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes. It is the best project. http://stayingincharacter.ning.com , the author even showed up and participated with us.
This link is blocked here at my school, but this sounds like something(based on your post) that I would really love to try. I teach talented and gifted so this would fit in nicely. Do you have any information on the layout of the project(timeline, activities, rubrics,etc) that you might be willing to share? I will be checking your link out when I get home.
You might look at teamtreks.com, designed for middle school. It hosts a game, Glacier Bay, a learning simulation focusing on leadership and literacy skills. You're dropped off at an unknown location and have to guide a kayak expedition back to the headquarters before one of the teammates gets too hungry, angry, lonely, tired and calls for a rescue and ends the game. So, basically, you need to learn to make decisions based on the needs of others.
Thanks for the plug! There are a good number of science and engineering simulations made by othre Scratch users and published shared on our website... but of course, you can always ask your students to make their own which can be more fun! :)
The math teachers at my site will love this one! I passed it on the AP in the hopes that she can "encourage" non-computer teachers (yes they do exist) to think about letting their students work with the site.
Here is a site maintained by author and thought leader Marc Prensky...
he maintains several sites in this area of study, which provide examples of games--the two most valuable to you I imagine are Games, Parents, Teachers and Social Impact Games.