talents. This project allowed students
to be creative in making their own
3D animation games or stories. Students also used science, language arts,
math, and social studies content in the
presentation of their projects. They
were able to avoid anxiety about their
own learning and instead focus on
how they could create a game to help
younger students understand basic
reading and math.
Just as basketball players have solid
fundamentals that allow them to become great athletes, middle school
students are better able to understand
the fundamentals of reading and math
so that they can continue to become
great students and teachers themselves. As the saying goes, there’s no
better way to learn something than
to teach it. This project’s goal was to
follow Randy Pausch’s motto of teaching something difficult while having
fun. Although the Alice program was
intended for college and high school
use, these middle school students
went far above expectations to create
projects that will be remembered for
years to come.
—T. J. Wolfe is a PhD student and technology
coach at North Carolina State University. He
taught at Morehead City Middle School in Morehead City, North Carolina, USA, where he was
voted Teacher of the Year. Visit
www.thecatch-
system.com for more information.
