Nineteen Interesting Ways* to use a Nintendo DS in the Classroom

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Nineteen Interesting Ways to use a Nintendo DS
in the Classroom

• and tips

This work is licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution Noncommercial Share Alike 3.0
License.
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1 - Use the picto chat facility for
collaborative writing!
Ask children to log into room A or room B - give
them a sentence start e.g. I opened the door and
saw.... ask children to write what happened next.
You can then see all responses by moving from
room to room, children can then comment on each
others and add to - extending vocbaulary at same
time!
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2 - Cross-curricular game
Use Professor Layton and the Curious Village
to solve puzzles create own puzzles write
character descriptions make up new characters
that live in village Use GE where would you film
Professor Layton map work - draw a map of
village Stop the game - write what happens
next! children create their own curious village
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3- Use to improve MFL skills
Either using Picto chat - teacher call out word
in language e.g Hola children write English
version and vice versa   Or games such as My
first French Coach - to listen to accents, play
games for vocabulary.  These get harder as
progress through game.
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4 - Writing and designing games
Ask children to 'write' their own maths based
games for the console -  what puzzles would they
include? what graphics? How would you
progress? Get children to evaluate each others
designs!
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5 - Cooking with Mama!
Children can play game and write instructions
for recipes Find countries using GE use web
based app eg Ikea to design mama's
kitchen Design recipes for kitchen Use GE to
work out where ingredients have travelled from
design pictures and slide for own favourite
recipe  
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6 - Class Competitions

• Brain Training or Maths Training!

  You can load up a game and invite pupils to
play.  Brain Training allows up to 16 players to
compete against each other.   Ideal for mental
maths practice, engaging pupils of lower ability
and adding a competitive edge to the class. Why
not start a league?  
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•  7 - WALT and WILF
•  
• Using the Pictochat facility 
• to focus  on Learning Intention while children
  identify Success Criteria based on same within
  the chat rooms.
•  as a plenary exercise to reflect on what was
  learned/achieved during lesson/game

  WALT
WILF
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8 - Challenge Children to..

• document  how to play the various acivities/games
•  
• develop strategies to improve their score 
•  
• create short podcast for Principal to convince
  her/him of the benefits of using handheld
  technology such as the DS, Wii  and mobile phone
  to enhance learning.

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9 Brainstorm a story continuing from start

• Read the opening page of a story
•  
• Pupils in pairs think about the characters,
  places, what happens next ideas 
•  
• Teacher asks them to use Pictochat to send up the
  information, but carefully watching so they dont
  duplicate others ideas
• Ideas collated very quickly
• on whiteboard

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10 Create a flipbook animation or story

• Use Pictochat to draw a picture
• The next pupils can pull down the image and
  adjust slightly, using the erase and draw tools
• Pass the image on
• View the animation by scrolling
• to the first image using the
• LEFT button on top of the DS,
• then holding down the RIGHT
• button.

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11 Change the personal message

• In the DS settings, change the personal message
  of the console to contain a fact
• In Pictochat, you can view everyones personal
  message by clicking on their name or square
  colour at the top of the window.
• You could choose a person from history and the
  others in the class have to guess who you are
  based on your personal message.

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12  Using confidence scales

• In Pictochat, ask the class to draw a line across
  the screen
• Ask them to mark on the line at the start of a
  lesson, how confident they feel about the topic.
• At the end ask them to now
• mark on how confident they
• feel.
• Did it change?
• What should we do to move
• the marker up?

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13  Plus, minus, interesting

• In Pictochat, after a discussion or community of
  enquiry, you can pull it together using plus,
  minus and interesting.
• What did you think was a positive idea?
• What did you think was a negative idea?
• What would you like to know more about that you
  found interesting?

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14  Mind my French

• In Pictochat, the teacher sends a message with a
  deliberate mistake in it.
• The pupils correct it by either writing the
  correction or pullin down the original and
  adjusting it.

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15  Create your own DS game

• Create your own version of a game, for example,
  Professor Layton and the curious village
• Use graphics software, greenscreen or Photobooth
  on the Mac to put yourself into the game.

Good day, sir! Are you Inspector Chemley? We hear
the famous Mona Lott painting has been stolen. Is
this true?
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16  Change the language

• Many games have the option to choose the language
  at the start.
• Select another language and play a familiar game,
  but practising you language skills too.

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17  Maths training races

• The Maths training allows up to 16 players to
  share one cartridge.
• They can compete to complete 10, 30 or 100
  questions based on the four rules of number.

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18  Nintendo DSi cameras

• The cameras on the DSi can take photos and stores
  them linked to the calendar.
• Pupils could take photos of their DT projects, as
  they progress.
• Teachers could record snapshots of the pupils
  work for assessment either DT models or of
  their writing in books
• Pupils could record photos to create a How to
  guide to making their model.

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19  Nintendo DSi sound

• The new sound software on the DSi allows the
  pupils to record their voices and change them.
• Emotions can they change the pitch of their
  voice to sound happy, sad, excited?
• The sounds can be played backwards listening
  skills - create a secret message, reverse it and
  then get others to try and guess what you are
  saying.

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• If you would like to 
• Contribute your ideas and tips to the
  presentation.
• Let me know how you have used the resource.
• Get in touch. You can email me or DM me on
  Twitter I am tombarrett 

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tweet about it the link so more people can
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Thanks for helpingTom Barrett