Online Game Evaluation

1. Who sponsors this website? Is the motivation altruistic or is it a commercial site?

Monster.com sponsors the Learning Planet website. In my opinion it is an altruistic site. You can play the games for free.

2. Who is the audience of the game? How do you know this? Does the game meet the needs of that audience?

The audience for this game is 4th through 6th graders. The website states which games are intended for which grades. The Geography Quiz was well suited for 4th-6th graders.

3. What kind of educational game is it?

This quiz is set-up as a drill practice game. It drills the person taking the quiz on the abbreviations of states and on state capitals. It also help students practice their United States geography by asking them which state is located where. For example, one question may read: "Which state is to the south of Nebraska and the north of Oklahoma?" The answer to that question is Kansas.

4. What concepts, skills and/or attitudes are being taught?

The proper abbreviations for states, along with their capitals and geographic locations are being taught and reinforced through the Geography Quiz.

5. How is the instruction of the game provided? Do you think it was well done for its audience (e.g., second graders)? Why?

The instruction for the game is provided as the student works through the quiz. It is well done for the 4th-6th grade audience because it is a simple game and students at this grade level do not need to have it broken down separately for them.

6. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the game?

The strengths of this game are that it teaches students capitals and abbreviations. It reinforces what they have learned in a social studies or geography class by asking them to use the directional clues (North, South, East, West) to locate the correct state described.

This games only weakness may be that it does lack a formal instruction page. Students unfamiliar with computers may not be able to pick up what to do and how to play without instructions. It does also fail to include Hawaii and Alaska.

7. Why do you think this game has value for instruction?

This game has value because it will help the student playing to learn or re-learn state information such as capitals and geographic location on the continent.

8. For what subject might you use this game? How will you use this game in your teaching pedagogically?

I woud use this game to help teach geography or social studies. I would have the students use the game as a quiz to test their knowledge of capitals and other state information learned in class.

9. What is your recommendation of the game to your colleagues?

The game was very easy to play and asked a lot of questions relative to the study of U.S. Geography. I would recommend setting this up on classroom computers and using it as either practice or quizzes for your Geography class.