This spring I used Endless Ocean 2: Blue World (Adventures of the Deep in the UK) with my grade 5 class. We were studying wetlands and were using the game mainly as a comparison study of wetland and ocean ecosystems. The game has several dive locations. You start in the South Pacific, there is a dive in Greece (with a cool shipwreck), the Arctic, the Antarctic, and the Red Sea. There is also a dive in the Amazon River, an interesting change, as it is a freshwater environment.
The game is great for studying oceans, but you can tie in measurement, ecosystems, food web, history (Greek shipwreck and underwater Egyptian Temple), and a comparison of freshwater vs. saltwater.
The video shows students diving in the Aegean near Greece. The dive locations are fictional, but real in the greater context of the location on Earth. The dive isn’t in a particular “real” location, however, the context, animals, and ecosystem fit with the Aegean Sea.
I really like the Arctic dive. The diver has to move slower because of the cold water. You encounter all sorts of Arctic creatures including polar bears, seals, narwhals, walruses, and Greenland sharks. As a teacher in Canada, it is a great fit for any study on the North of Canada. When you surface you can see the vast ice flows, and it would lead to a great lesson on climate change.
The Antarctic dive with penguins and seals is a great contrast. I always struggle against media and common misperceptions of my students that polar bears and penguins live together, when in fact they live on opposite ends of the earth.
The Amazon dive worked very well with my wetlands unit so we could compare Canadian wetlands with those of Brazil. Jeff Corwin made a fabulous video about the Brazilian wetlands found here, and on United Streaming if your school subscribes. It is a great companion to an actual underwater swim using the Wii.
This game has huge potential in classrooms as it provides interesting, engaging locations, animals, and learning opportunities for students.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Jen Deyenberg, Lucas Kent. Lucas Kent said: RT @jdeyenberg: Games in the Classroom – Endless Ocean 2 – http://bit.ly/bGfif0 #edtech [...]
First I want to say congratulations on your new domain name! It feels so good when you go from a .blogspot or .wordpress to having your own domain! It is like getting your own car for the first time after driving your parents car for years.
Anyway, that said I would like to introduce myself, my name is Jaimie Ellis and I am in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 course at the University of South Alabama, and he has assigned your blog as the blog I am to comment on twice in the next two weeks. I saw that you had someone assigned to this blog before, which is how I found the new domain. I shall have to let Dr. Strange know to update his database.
As for your blog post, that game sounds like an amazing tool for many different classes! From the video it certainly sounds like your students enjoyed it very much! It is interesting for me to note that you, as a teacher from Canada, and myself a student on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico could find the same game useful in such a variety of ways!
Hello! My name is Kristen Hayes and I am also in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama. This game sounds like it would be so useful for any age group. Not only are video games more interesting than a book to a 5th grader, they can now teach them important things.
I was assigned your blog for the next two weeks to comment on and summarize, if you would like to see what I think here is a link to my blog
http://hayeskristenedm310.blogspot.com/
Also here is my class blog
http://edm310.blogspot.com/
I am also in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama.
Your idea to use this game in your classroom is a very good one. I hope to create ways use tools like this in my classroom. I imagine the students were excited about being able to play and learn at the same time. Out of curiosity, did the kids have anything to say about it? Did the game help them retain the material a little better? I would think the engagement the game provides would aid a little at least.
The students loved using games in the classroom. We also used Mario and Sonic at the Winter Olympics in Math, Professor Layton and the Curious Village as a Novel Study on the DS, My Work Coach for vocabulary building on the DS, SimCity on the PC for local government, and Scribblenauts for problem solving on the DS. More info here: http://www.trailsoptional.com/category/games-based-learning/
Using games not only increases engagement, but allows students to try things they might not be able to try in real world situations. When I used Mario and Sonic to teach decimals they did much better and really retain the concepts. They had a real reason to be able to identify which decimal was larger, and how to add and subtract decimals. Fabulous!
[...] ocean graphic on the left would have been fantastic when I used Endless Ocean, the Wii game with my students. They were fascinated by size and depth of creatures and it could have turn [...]