Funbrain

Similar to the previous entry, this ICT tool was created a lot of years ago, exactly in 1997. However, this does not mean that is it a bad tool or antiquated. Quite the opposite, this tool counts with recent updates and with several very positive opinions from teachers and parents.

The name of this application is "Fun brain", and it has been the leader in free educational games for kids since 1997. I have selected this tool because it offers a lot of different resources like games, books, comics, and videos in order to develop skills in math, reading, problem-solving and literacy.

So, today we are going to work on reading and math, which I consider key elements in the learning process of our students. Moreover, with today's entrance I have already to work all the linguistic skills. Therefore, I want to work in another field in education, like math. 

I have to admit, too, that I have found it very difficult to search a tool that works in different fields of the learning process. I consider that working transversally with students in our class could lead to a lot of advantages for our children's learning process. For that reason, I chose "Fun brain".

Therefore, we are going to do the next activity in our class in order to work on reading, speaking, writing and math, and also establish a relation between the four of them.

Class

We are working with a fifth grade in primary group, which has 16 students.

Material

Laptops, whiteboard, projector and papers.

Activity 1 hour

Introduction 10 minutes

In this part, we are going to introduce the activity that we are going to do to all students. Therefore, the teacher is going to show with the projector all the different steps that our students have to do in the tool. So, we are going to show them that they have to write "Fun brain" in google and we must be sure that our students enter in the correct link. 

Math part 15 minutes

Firstly, we are going to explain that they have to select their grade out of the different options which appear down to the phrase "Browse by Grade". Once they have selected their grade, we are going to divide our class into pairs. Moreover, we are going to provide each pair with a game related to math or problem-solving.

To sum up, in this part, they only have to play the game that we have previously selected for the class. It is important that the games we select work math and are adapted to our students input.

Reading part 15 minutes

Secondly, we are going to work on reading, so we have to explain to our pupils how they enter the reading part. It is an easy process like the previous one because they only have to select the menu that is at the top and, afer that, the reading part.

At the moment they are inside the reading part, they are going to enter the games selected by the teacher in order to play them and extract different knowledge about reading.

Conclusion

These two activities are thought to put the student at the center of the learning process. I mean to focus on the student. Because of that, the teacher's role is to guide the students through the activity, but they have to play the different games themselves in pairs. 

I consider this part important because it works on autonomy and the active participation of the student and is going to keep hooking the student in the class. Once we reach this characteris, our learning process will probably change from the one we had previously. 

Moreover, we can still give students more importance by letting them select the games that they are going to play. But, we have to explain to them that they have to choose the games related to their age and grade, paying attention to the numbers that appear on the cover of the games.

Writing and speaking part 20 minutes

In this final part, our students are going to be divided into four groups, so we are going to mix two of the pairs we have done previously. They are going to do two different tasks. The first one is to decide which game they like the most in the group, or if they can not think of one, to design one related to the games they have played. 

So, to make this process easier for our students, we are going to give them paper, and they are going to write on it the most important ideas they thought. 

Finally, they are going to explain to the rest of the class what they have selected, and their classmates are going to give them a mark. If the teacher sees some problems, he will help the students who are in trouble.

References

Funbrain. (1997). Funbrain. Extract from: Funbrain