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Best Educational Videogames

11/5/2017

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Currently, no one can be surprised by the use of "video games" and "educational" in the same sentence and proposals based directly or indirectly on these digital leisure products are becoming more frequent. Numerous studies gather the fact that, used according to pedagogical criteria, videogames can bring interesting benefits to the educational world , which allow complementing (and sometimes even replacing) more "traditional" resources.

From the practical point of view, we can choose a videogame that in its conception was not designed with a clear educational objective and adapt our didactic proposal to make use of it, or choose a video game specifically designed to be used as an educational tool, taking into account It counts the needs of its recipients and offers a complete didactic proposal (contents, didactic objectives, monitoring of the progress of the students and even a didactic guide for its use in the classroom). Below we present a series of varied proposals and through which you can get an idea of the potential of these tools for the educational field.

1. Minecraft : Minecraft is an example of video game that, in principle, was not intended to be used in education, but whose characteristics allow multiple uses. A group of programmers and educators have decided to create a version to be used in classrooms around the world . Along with this version, a lot of exercises and activities are also offered to take advantage of the full potential of this videogame.

2. Hakitzu : Perhaps it may be strange to include a fight videogame in an article on educational videogames, but Hakitzu proposes a robot fight tournament in which it will be necessary to learn to program in order to win. Through increasingly sophisticated scripts we will be able to proclaim ourselves champions of the tournament, an entertaining and motivating way to learn to program . At the moment, it is only available for iOS, although they promise an Android version in a short time.

3. Kokori Project: This videogame puts players at the controls of a small ship, a "nanobot" capable of entering a cell to study it, as well as identifying and solving problems that may be encountered. Biology in the first person divided into several short missions with different levels of complexity that allow to work with contents related to the area of biology.

4. Dragon Box : This video game is designed to work with mathematical contents (algebra, more specifically) in a different way than we are used to. For this, in the first steps of the game the problems are represented by objects, and thus the player can start learning the basic rules. Little by little, the objects are replaced by variables and numbers so that, at the end of the game, we will be able to solve complex equations without much effort.

5. Cap Odyssey : A game developed by the French company KTM Advance for the French Ministry of Agriculture. Players discover the principles of the agricultural economy, the evolution of prices, how to improve production or face climatic risks, sustainability, etc. This videogame proposes us to enter the agricultural world and learn content related to a field that, unfortunately, has lost the interest of the youngest.

6. SimCity Edu : SimCity is a well-known simulation game in which players must create and manage a city. Electronic Arts, the company responsible for the game, together with Glass Lab, specialized in educational games, have opened an online community that surely teachers and educators will find very interesting. It provides a large number of educational proposals to take advantage of the educational value of this game to work on topics such as science, technology, engineering, mathematics, citizenship, politics, conflict resolution and economics.

7. Simple Machines : This simple game has been designed by the Museum of Science and Industry of Chicago and presents a nice robot to which we will have to lend a hand to collect the necessary parts to build a machine. During the tour in search of these pieces, we will be presented with certain challenges that we will have to solve by putting basic notions of physics into practice . As we overcome the challenges, the game will offer us theoretical notions that will help us better understand applied physics.

8. Naraba World : This videogame proposes a trip to Naraba, a fantasy world, in which, mysteriously, a series of islands have appeared. With an "open world" dynamic, the user will be able to explore these islands and solve the mysteries and riddles that are presented to him by practicing his knowledge . The game has been designed taking into account the curricular contents referring to the infant and primary stages (5-12 years).

9. Immune Atack : The objective of 'Immune Attack' is to save the life of a patient suffering from a serious bacteriological infection. To do this, the players are introduced into their body by a tiny ship to try to find all the foci of the infection and return the patient's health . Along the way, players access and put into practice knowledge about the biological processes that allow macrophages and neutrophils (white blood cells) to detect and fight infections.

10. Discover Babylon : Discover Babylon will pose a series of challenges and mysteries that can only be solved by developing an understanding of Mesopotamian society, business practices and transactions. For this, the game presents realistic environments to move to Mesopotamia (located in present-day Iraq) and discover the traces of this ancient civilization . It is a videogame aimed at players from 8 to 14 years old. What do you think? Have you tried any of them? Do you have any other example that you would like to share?

Thanks Trucos de Videojuegos

Netflix for Education

9/6/2017

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When we talk about "Education", there are always different approaches to address it. In our country, we have seen how in the last time matters such as training and working conditions of teachers, inequality and selection in access, vulnerability of some students, among other aspects that are part of the national debate daily.

Although the reality usually surpasses the fiction, through a film we can also learn and see things from different perspectives, feeding our neurons of reflections and ideas while we have a good time eating popcorn. Remember you have Netflix for free using the free trial.

Here are 5 Netflix movies that directly or transversally address different aspects of Education:

1. Good Will Hunting (1997) This film is about Will Hunting, a mathematical genius and with photographic memory, who works as a concierge at MIT. Soon a teacher and a therapist notice their exceptional abilities and try to help him, but in principle Will closes and continues in a vicious circle of self-sabotage. A very good film, where we see that sometimes oneself is their worst enemy, leaving behind opportunities for insecurities or lack of projection, and sometimes only a vote of confidence from a third party to find a way in life.

2. Breakfast Club (1985)
In this cult film, five very different students are punished and forced to spend "eight hours with fifty-four minutes" in the school library writing an essay about themselves. There, little by little they will get to know each other and share their stories between jokes and pranks. While this comedy is light blood and shows the classic stereotypes of gringo student, we can also extract from it some lessons, such as the wealth that exists in diversity, and that in the end, knowing us, we are not so different.

3. Precious (2009) This drama ( the real drama ) tells the story of effort and overcoming Claireece " Precious " Jones, a young single mother, obese and illiterate, who has been a victim of domestic abuse since she was very young. Here, in addition to a history of self-improvement, we see how a vocational pedagogical team can fulfill an important role when it is able to see beyond the obvious ( notes and behavior), worrying the student as a person.
You can use the Netflix Free trial for 30 day free.

4. With Honors (1994) Montgomery 'Monty' Kessler makes a thesis that would guarantee a summa cum laude graduation at Harvard, until his hard drive burns and loses the original file, and his only printed copy falls into the hands of a beggar who blackmails him, leaf in exchange for favors. In addition to being a good reminder of the importance of supporting the thesis in more than one medium (hdd, pendrive, cloud, mail, print ... even on cassette if necessary), this film teaches us that many times great truths do not are in the theoretical treatises, but in the everyday, and what really matters is " graduating from life with honors ."

5. Forbidden Education (2012) Here we made a bit of a trap, because in reality it is a documentary film and not fiction unlike the rest, but if we talk about education, this realization is an excellent starting point to learn about the improving educational reality in Latin America and Spain . The documentary explores ideas from different teaching models, and develops a proposal for change in the way of understanding and living education.

If you want more, u can go to best documentaries on Netflix.

Windows XP

9/3/2017

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Windows XP is an operating system developed by the US company Microsoft . It is a set of programs that allow you to manage the resources of a computer and manage the hardware from the most basic levels.

Windows XP is a version of Windows, released in October 2001 . Its codename during the development phase was Whistler, while its official name comes from the English term eXPerience . This operating system, which happened to Windows 2000 and is the predecessor of Windows Vista , managed to become the most used in the world. It has adaptations for various environments, such as home computers, laptops and mini-laptops.

It is important to know that since its appearance, Microsoft has been launching a whole series of packages, so-called service packs, with which it has been improving some of the features of the operating system. In 2002, in 2004 and 2008 was when he introduced those who introduced new features such as a new interface for what was the firewall, improvements in the security system of what was the Windows Media Player or the capacity that the e-mail program (Outlook) could block attachments that it believes may be dangerous.

At the technical level, its main innovation is the fact that it is based on the architecture and core of Windows NT , being Microsoft's first consumer-oriented operating system that has this feature. The fact that it offers the possibility to proceed to install drivers or different applications without having to carry out the whole procedure of the system restart or that gives the opportunity to be able to use the remote desktop are other characteristics that made Windows XP would become a real benchmark within the computer industry. Here you can get a Windows XP ISO for free.

Users have congratulated the graphical interface of Windows XP, which promotes a more simplified use compared to other operating systems. On the other hand, the most frequent criticisms are its security vulnerabilities and the integration of the Internet Explorer browser and the Windows Media Player (which may be considered as an abuse of Microsoft's dominant position in the market and an attack against the free competition).

Another novelty of Windows XP is the inclusion of the Windows Genuine Advantage system , which is responsible for verifying whether the copy is original or counterfeit. When the program does not pass the validation process, the user encounters a warning. In the next year 2014, concretely the 8 of April, is when it is anticipated that Windows XP stops having a support.

What it will mean is that from that moment users who have in their computers the mentioned operating system can not have more security updates, nor corrections to what are system errors or patches of various kinds. A fact that what will basically mean is that the equipment that has installed that one is unprotected and more exposed to vulnerabilities. Thanks to alternative news emagtrends for the info.