Thursday, November 15, 2012
Freerice was developed by the World Food Programme. Its main objective is to fight against hunger, while providing free education online. They have raised enough rice to feed millions of people. For every correct question answered on Freerice, 10 grains of rice are donated to the United Nations World Food Program. Participants are warned: “This game may make you smarter. It may improve your speaking, writing, thinking, grades, job performance...”
The website can be used for middle school students and high school students, as the level goes from one to sixty. If a student answers a question correctly, they get a harder question. If they get it wrong, they get an easier question. So the student’s level is basically targeted at the beginning to make the learning appropriate for that student. The subjects included are: humanities, math, language learning, English, chemistry, geography, science and test preparation. Teachers can create a group for a class and register each of student so that they have a login username and password. Up to 40 students can be registered if you register them as under 14 years of age). Give them the link to your group, and let them "Join".
When you are signed up as a player on Freerice you can:
- track your totals permanently,
- join and create groups,
- share your results on Facebook and Twitter,
- find and follow friends,
- see your results in the ranking table
- track your totals permanently,
- join and create groups,
- share your results on Facebook and Twitter,
- find and follow friends,
- see your results in the ranking table
-let others see and be inspired by your totals.
WBI Scoring
Instructional Aspects
• Objectives clearly stated: 4
• Objectives appropriately sequenced: 5
• Instructional strategies appropriate for the objectives: 4
• Instructional activities / process clearly described: 5
• Tasks adequate/significant for achieving objectives: 5
• Resources adequate/significant for achieving objectives: 5
• Learning achievement adequately evaluated: 5
• Evaluation criteria clearly expressed: 3
Motivational Aspects
• Gaining and maintaining learners' attention: 5
• Relating to learners' interest and goals: 5
• Building on learners' prior knowledge and foreshadowing what lesson is about: 4
• Providing positive feedback and feeling of accomplishment: 5
• Motivational strategies serve for objectives: 5
Web Design Aspects
• Navigation clear and easy to access: 5
• Authorship and date clearly stated: 5
• Text follows rules of grammar, spelling and literary composition: 5
• Using of multimedia visually appealing: 5
• Mechanical aspects: 5
• Web design appropriate for objectives: 5
• Web design appropriate for learner characteristics: 5
• Objectives clearly stated: 4
• Objectives appropriately sequenced: 5
• Instructional strategies appropriate for the objectives: 4
• Instructional activities / process clearly described: 5
• Tasks adequate/significant for achieving objectives: 5
• Resources adequate/significant for achieving objectives: 5
• Learning achievement adequately evaluated: 5
• Evaluation criteria clearly expressed: 3
Motivational Aspects
• Gaining and maintaining learners' attention: 5
• Relating to learners' interest and goals: 5
• Building on learners' prior knowledge and foreshadowing what lesson is about: 4
• Providing positive feedback and feeling of accomplishment: 5
• Motivational strategies serve for objectives: 5
Web Design Aspects
• Navigation clear and easy to access: 5
• Authorship and date clearly stated: 5
• Text follows rules of grammar, spelling and literary composition: 5
• Using of multimedia visually appealing: 5
• Mechanical aspects: 5
• Web design appropriate for objectives: 5
• Web design appropriate for learner characteristics: 5
Total 95 /100
In my opinion, Freerice is a good website to use. At my school, we have an unusually high number of basic and below basic students, who can really benefit from the English vocabulary and grammar. I can use the website to incorporate literacy into my classroom. The bowl of rice is a GREAT motivator for the students, as they compete to donate more rice than their classmates. In the process, they are learning, as they receive immediate feedback. If they give an incorrect answer, they are given the correct answer and the opportunity to answer that question correctly, as the question will be asked again until the student gets it right. This is not a sophisticated website, but it would be practical and beneficial for my purposes.
I like the concept behind the FreeRice site. There's not much use of multimedia or interaction, except for Q and A, but the idea of feeding the hungry by answering questions correctly is a motivator. In fact, I answered questions longer than I had planned as my bowl filled with rice! I can see this being a motivator for students.
ReplyDeleteI can also see this website as being part of a cross-curricular, project-based learning experience around humanitarianism and geography. There are several sites that allow teachers to connect with classrooms all over the world such as ePals that could be incorporated into a PBL experience.
YEah, its very simple use of Q and A but somehow it kept my attention for much lnger than I thought it would. I think the rice bowl is a nice touch since it gives the user a sense of accomplishment.
DeleteService learning is a hot topic in education right now...this would connect with that nicely.
ReplyDeleteI want to look up their sponsors and see if there might be additional ways to connect school projects to this tool.
Bookmarking for more perusal later! :)
Very true! Even though this site does not use too much multimedia, the bowl of rice os motivating enough for me to keep answering questions. It is a little confusing to me when my set of multiplication questions jumped to vocabulary directly, however.
ReplyDeleteThere is a database behind the test questions, and there might be calculation there to send the questions adaptively. So, it is still interactive, even though it does not use much media on the page.
My school media specialist always has free rice up on her SMART Board, so as students come into the library, they can play and contribute to the bowl of rice. I have actually witnessed one student trying and then the rest of the students in the library "helping out" by giving answers or making suggestions. While the site is simple, students really love it and find it fun and motivating, while actually learning new vocabulary. Students, then, access the website on their own and play during "down time" in class.
ReplyDeleteNeat idea, Anna! I can see that being something I might do when I get in a library someday...well, when I am not using the SMART board for presentation of lessons etc! :)
DeleteFreerice is light and nimble. As I go through a few pages, I'm reminded of some of the things I could do better: simplify pages so they load faster and make it easier for the viewer. I overload pages. I'm aware of it, but I still struggle with with trimming content.
ReplyDeleteI like that it is a simple concept, but that it still keeps your attention and motivates you to keep answering questions. I thought the subjects were great. I loved the art history sectiona dn that they did basic foriegn language vocab. The only thing I did not like was that some of the questions repeated themselves a bit, even if I was answering correctly.
ReplyDelete