IBM's "Power Up" Adds a New Hydroelectric Mission

We love to share innovative educational technology tools that are designed to help students learn. Gaming is one of those technologies that many once believed would sap our attention spans and remove us from the very outside world that now needs rescue. Last week we shared with you that Tabula Digita has released a 2.0 version of its DimensionM Multiplayer. This week, PowerUp adds a new hydroelectric mission to its free online science game.

We first introduced you to PowerUp last year. PowerUp, part of IBM's TryScience initiative, is perhaps the most sophisticated of these new video games. The game charges players with saving the imaginary planet Helios from ecological destruction by carrying out missions to supply solar, wind, and water power before severe storms wreak havoc. Students learn engineering and science principles by building solar towers or searching junkyards for parts to repair wind turbines.

One reason for PowerUp's success is that it draws on concepts that today's children already know and challenges them to build on that knowledge.

For more information, visit: www.powerupthegame.org/

FYI: Tabula Digita Bumps DimesionM Games to Version 2.0

Tabula Digita has launched a new version of its multiplayer, immersive educational video game, DimensionM Multiplayer 2.0. The latest release, introduced earlier this month, offers expanded curriculum content and offers instructional activities covering more than 200 math skills for students in grades 3 through 12.

Tabula's DimensionM incorporates algebra and pre-algebra lessons into a 3D environment in which players carry out missions (lessons) in multi-player tournament-style games. Players face mathematical obstacles, which, when solved, allow them to advance and score points. Tabula Digita said the new version 2.0 features "vastly expanded" content presented through "immersive, action-packed simulations." Some of the new features include:

• Support for student-created avatars;
• In-game reports on performance and mastery of concepts; and
• New communication and collaboration features.
• DimensionM Multiplayer 2.0 is is aligned with New York State standards and correlates with the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
  

All schools and students participating in the NYCDOE Citywide Initiative will still have access to the original Evolver Multiplayer game, but will now have this to more thoroughly integrate the immersive and engaging gaming approach into the classroom. The new software and one Curriculum Content Pack will be available to all schools that have purchased licenses for Evolver Multiplayer.

For more information on Tabula Digita's DimensionM gaves visit www.DimensionM.com. For more information on the NYCDOE's Tabula Digita Citywide Initiative visit NYCDOE Technical Learning Solutions.