Summer is almost over and the excitement for the new school year has begun! Each semester, my preservice teachers ask me for games and simulations in their own secondary content areas.  This summer was my time to curate resources for each of my STEM groups. Below is the list I created for AgEd, and I have to be honest with you, most of these were new to me! It was a great experience to just sit down and search. Below you will see a variety of games, including board games, digital games, and even VR games. 

It seems like summer just begun, but I am already getting ready (and excited) for the next academic year. Every semester my students ask me for examples of games or simulations in their own content areas. Since I teach 13 different content areas, it is quite a challenge to stay on top of 'the best of the best'. I set a goal this summer to tackle this request for the STEM areas I teach: science, math, agriculture education, and family and consumer science. Here is the first Symbaloo list, mathematics games and simulations! Am I missing an important resource? Let me know!

We are very excited to see you at SITE 2018 in Washington, DC. Here are some important items for review:

• Our SIG meeting will be held on Tuesday during lunch, from 12:45pm to 1:45pm.
• Have you been participating in the development of our Game-based Learning Syllabus? It's not to late to share your favorite topics and readings: https://www.researchgate.net/project/Game-based-Learning-Syllabus
• Want to join the SIG leadership team? It is a rewarding activity where you will get to connect with your peers, guide the games and simulations presentations for SITE 2019/2020, and choose special projects for the SIG. We will be holding an election for co-chair, a 2-year position. Send Larysa Nadolny (lnadolny@iastate.edu) or Jana Willis (willis@uhcl.edu) a paragraph about yourself, your experience with SITE, your current position and your reason for wanting to be a co-chair. We will collect the nominations and have a digital vote during the SIG meeting.

Every semester I teach a course for future teachers introducing the ideas of technology integration. And each semester, we cover the same ideas of appropriate and effective use of technology. What does that look like? What resources are out there?  What digital expectations can we have for middle school students?

Let take the example of teaching volume in a middle school math classroom.  In the common core math standards, students are asked to first calculate volume (6th grade) and then solve real world problems using volume (7th and 8th grade). Theses students should also use computational thinking, justify their reasoning, and construct models with mathematics. 

Appropriate: For those of you familiar with the TPACK framework, you know how the teaching pedagogy (PK), content knowledge (CK), and technical skills (TK) should be a good match. For the example of volume, terms like hands-on, collaborative, manipulative, and problem-solving, fit into those three categories.

Effective: In technology integration, effective indicates that some uses of technology can be more meaningful to student learning than others. Think of this in terms of the lower order thinking skills and higher order thinking skills from Bloom's Taxonomy. Research using technology in education has shown over and over again higher order applications of tech (for example creating, problem solving, debating, etc.)  make significant differences in learning gains. 

The technology tools below are excellent options for teaching volume that are both appropriate and effective. But don't stop there! Consider good teaching practices like scaffolding, effective questioning, reflection, and cognitive load to take these technologies from good technology choices to a great technology integrated lesson.