Reader Question: Technology & Bridges

This is a great question, and I look forward to seeing others' comments and suggestions! A while back, I compiled a list of online games. We put them on the MLC Web pages for families. Here's the list for Grade 4. I have to apologize, though: some of the links might be old or might re-direct you to new sites. I have not been able to check them regularly, though I should add that to my ever-evolving to-do list!

Visit each grade level page for families to find more games. They are grouped by skill. There's a summary of each game and a link to it. All games are on sites unaffiliated with The Math Learning Center. Our rationale for putting these lists on the parent pages was that the games were most appropriate for skills practice, and we were getting feedback that parents wanted ways to help their children practice basic skills, especially on the computer. Teachers can certainly make use of these games, too. Some people have suggested that a computer game could be a Work Place; simply add it to the group of Work Places in use at any given time.

I'm really curious about a few additional things. I know you're all probably too busy to answer, but I'm dying to know:

1. Have you found any good simulation games online that provide meaningful mathematical experiences for students? I'm very interested in the potential uses of gaming with young students. (I'm imagining something more in-depth than the skills practice games we listed on our parent pages.)

2. Have you developed your own lessons to make meangingful use of technology? One challenge of writing technology into the program is that the technology resources available to schools vary so widely. As resources move to the Web (i.e., into the cloud instead of applications on a computer's hard drive), my hope is that computers and a reliable internet connection will be all that's required for teachers to use technology in the classroom. Has anyone, for example, used Google Docs for Educators to, say, use spreadsheets to augment their data lessons?

3. What do you hope to accomplish through the use of technology with your students? We hear all the time that people want to use more technology with their students, but I'm curious about their objectives. What do you want to empower students to do with technology? How will their learning be enhanced? I'm not especially interested in technology for its own sake, but I am very interested in how technology can solve problems for teachers and students (e.g., make learning more engaging, enable students to solve problems they couldn't otherwise solve, etc.).