March+13th+Assignment




 * __Review Rubric__**


 * __Overview of the App/Game__**


 * App/Game Title:** The Part of Speech Game: Save the Kooshies!


 * App/Game Publisher/Developer:** Room 108


 * Version:** n/a


 * Link:** []


 * __Curriculum Compliance__**

This activity falls under, B3-5: Grammar and Usage: Apply grammatical conventions and rules of usage. The parts of speech that are includes are, nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, prepositions, and conjunctions.
 * **Is it relevant to the KUSD Standards framework?**

I was not able to locate if prepositions are covered in the 5th grade. That part of speech is the only one that I think could be potentially too difficult for the students.
 * **Please add any additional comments regarding your implementation.**


 * __Operational__**


 * 1) **Is navigation easy? For ex: index, contents, menus, clear icons.** Yes
 * 2) **Is on-screen help and/or tutorial available?** No
 * 3) **Does it have multiple ability levels?** No
 * 4) **How does it respond to errors? For example, incorrect spelling.** Yes, incorrect answers receive a “buzz” to indicate that the answer is wrong.
 * 5) **Are there audio/video options with controls?** No
 * 6) **Can selected material be tagged, copied, pasted, saved, and printed?** No
 * 7) **Does it keep a history of the user's work over a period of time?** No
 * 8) **Are there features that address special needs? For example, physical, aural, visual, ESL.** No.
 * 9) **What support materials are included? For example, online resources, booklet, lesson plans, student worksheets?** No.


 * __Pedagogy__**


 * 1) **Does the material accommodate the diverse ways that students learn?** No
 * 2) **Is it developmentally and age appropriate?** Yes
 * 3) **Does it provide an opportunity to increase students' understanding?** Yes
 * 4) **Does it provide an opportunity for higher order thinking?** Yes
 * 5) **Does it provide an opportunity for engagement and interaction?** Yes
 * 6) **Does it provide and opportunity for collaborative practice and sharing of ideas?** No
 * 7) **Does it promote creativity and imagination?** Yes
 * 8) **Does it provide an opportunity for problem solving?** Yes
 * 9) **Does it provide feedback and assessment?** Yes

__**User’s Manual**__

This game is entitled “Save the Kooshies,” but a more appropriate name would be “Robot on a Rampage.” This game does not include very advanced options and only begins with a “play” button. There are no levels or different options in terms of difficulty.

The premise of the game is that Verbatron, feared robot of the galaxy, is going around capturing little Kooshies from their six home planets of Saboof, Toocan, Windella, Swiff, Smink, and the main planet, Kooshla. These names seem to have no real meaning or purpose, so do not let the students get hung up on them or distracted by them. The player’s mission is to defeat Verbatron and save the Kooshies.

The student selecting the correct word when prompted to find the noun, verb, etc defeats Verbatron. Every time the student responds correctly, Verbatron’s “health” decreases.

Once the “health bar” is emptied on one planet, he moves on to the next one. It takes three correct responses to deplete the health bar fully. Each planet has a different part of speech that needs to be mastered in order to drive Verbatron off of that planet. The parts of speech are nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, prepositions, and conjunctions.

The game is very straightforward, and that might be to its detriment, as student will play and then advance on quickly, potentially. If the student plays multiple times, the options are mixed and new options are presented for the first two or three times, but beyond that the options become repetitive if you play the game again. For the first three planets, the student has three options to select the correct answer from, but the subsequent planets give four options to select from.

Other interesting aspects of this game are that the student has unlimited time (the ten second clock is just on a loop that restarts when it hits zero) and is no penalized for incorrect answers. Additionally, the game attempts to provide encouragement (see graphic) after multiple incorrect responses or when a lot of time has elapsed.