Quoted Text

Argument Wars (iCivics)


"Argument Wars" is a series of games made up of landmark Supreme Court cases, including Brown v. Board of Education and New Jersey v. T.L.O. In each game, you play a lawyer who represents one side in the case. First, you must determine your best argument and then you have to support that argument from a variety of possible statements. Choosing the best supporting statement helps your side advance, but you must be prepared to sometimes explain to the judge how your support relates to your main argument. But watch out! Your computer-generated opponent is clever and has some good arguments for winning the other side of the case.

Related BrainPOP Topics: Supreme Court; Bill of Rights; Trials
Also from iCivics: Branches of Power

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Battleship Numberline (PlayPower Foundation)

  
Estimating numbers on a number line can be a blast! This version of "Battleship Numberline" is specifically designed to help students quickly and confidently estimate the size of different fractions. Did you know that a student's accuracy in number line estimation correlates with their standardized achievement scores? We developed this game specifically for students to build a strong and robust number sense, which is the foundation for future success in math.

Related BrainPOP Topics: Decimals; Precision and Accuracy

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Blood Typing (Nobelprize.org®)


The "Blood Typing" educational game relates to the Nobel Prize-awarded discovery of human blood groups. Experiments with blood transfusions, the transfer of blood, or blood components into a person's blood stream have/had been carried out for hundreds of years without success and many patients died. It was not until 1901 it became possible to perform safe blood transfusions when the Austrian biologist and physician Karl Landsteiner discovered that humans belong to different blood groups.

Mixing blood from two individuals can lead to blood clumping or agglutination. The clumped red cells can crack and cause toxic reactions. This can have fatal consequences. Karl Landsteiner discovered that blood clumping was an immunological reaction which occurs when the receiver of a blood transfusion has antibodies against the donor blood cells. The blood group you belong to depends on what you have inherited from your parents.

Related BrainPOP Topics: Blood Types; Blood; Circulatory System  


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cell Command (Filament Games)


In "Cell Command," you helm the command center of your very own "cell ship," taking on exciting missions inside a human body and learning key concepts about cellular functions. As cellular crises emerge, you will operate "stations" that control your cell ship's critical functions. By completing missions, you will advance from lowly crew member to illustrious cell commander, capable of directing a full ship crew and multiple cellular functions simultaneously. As you advance, you will also earn credits that allow you to upgrade your cell ship, your skills as commander, and the skills of your crew. Do you have what it takes to be a cell commander?

Related BrainPOP Topics: Cell Structure; Cells; Cell Specialization

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dig It (NCTM Calculation Nation®)


Students use numbers to create fractions, and they collect dirt and jewels by identifying the fraction on a number line. Students need to understand improper and equivalent fractions to be successful at this game. For instance, it will be helpful to realize that 7/4 = 1.75, which occurs just to the left of 2 on the number line, and students must realize that 9/3 = 3/1 and that both occur at the same point.

Related BrainPOP Topics: Mixed Numbers; Reducing Fractions

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Life Preservers (Michigan State University Gel Lab)

Players learn about evolution, adaptation, and the history of life on earth as they try to protect fascinating creatures from the age of dinosaurs and the age of mammals from an invasion of alien species. The "Life Preservers" game acts as a good teacher, guiding learners to think about questions of evolution and adaptation in a carefully designed order. Far more is available to be learned than just the answer to the specific questions, but by following the guided train of thought, learners become accustomed to new ways of thinking about species and how they are adapted to their environment. Learners explore a carefully selected content domain (parts of the Tree of Life containing only selected critters). They answer questions in each round that guide them to think about key concepts in evolution, reinforced by narrated, animated cut scenes that reiterate key learning concepts.

Related BrainPOP Topics: Natural Selection; Geologic Time; Extinction

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Matter Sorter (Space Science Institute)

In this game, users employ their knowledge about the states of matter to sort increasingly faster falling objects into the proper category. The objects sometimes defy an easy categorization into solid, liquid, gas, or plasma, but mistakes are explained at the end of each level, and objects will appear multiple times through game play to reinforce correct descriptions.

Related BrainPOP Topics: States of Matter; Matter Changing States

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Microbes  (Generation Cures, Children's Hospital Boston)  


"Microbes," the first level of "Caduceus," a puzzle adventure game from Generation Cures at Children’s Hospital Boston that casts players in the role of young medical apprentices, challenges students to isolate a single microorganism and identify a disease marker that is causing a plague in mythical Alterica. The game screen shows a microscopic view of a slide teeming with dozens of colorful amoeba-like microbes that move randomly. Each single-cell microbe can be identified by four attributes: nucleus shape and color, cytoplasm pattern, and cell membrane color. The challenge is to click on matching pairs of microbes. Each click marks the microbe with a special dye. Matched pairs disappear until the disease marker is isolated. "Microbes" supports lessons on scientific inquiry and the life sciences. Additional levels of Caduceus invite players to identify "Patient Zero," search for how the plague initially spread, and create and share the cure throughout the land.

Related BrainPOP Topics: Scientific Method; Cells; Bacteria


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chronopticon (BrainPOP)


On a routine journey to the 19th century, Tim and Moby lose their time machine! Their only hope is the Chronopticon, a mysterious Victorian device that may allow its users to leap across time. To make the machine work and get our heroes home, players must demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the earth, moon, and sun system.

Through five levels of progressive difficulty, players will make inferences and test hypotheses about the workings of a complex system; use models to investigate the natural world; explore connections between the earth's movement and the passage of time; manipulate the movement of the earth and moon; predict moon phases and seasonal constellations; and compare the celestial sphere in the northern and southern hemispheres.

  

Related BrainPOP Topics: Seasons; Elapsed Time; Moon