So are you trying to write a new curriculum? I'd suggest starting a Wiki and allowing people to help collaborate on writing one. But the starting point you're offering (and goals) are pretty vague. Are there not already alternative teaching methods established which help make learning more engaging? It seems like you'd be re-inventing the wheel unless you reviewed the already researched different teaching methods which are available.

It's a noble idea to want to improve the education that students are getting, however there's not really a specific product or service being offered or suggested....other than help to come up with some games/ideas.

I hate being schooled by 11 yr olds in the world of online gaming. I've been an avid gamer all my life and somehow these kids rise through the massively multiplayer ranks quicker than I could ever hope to!

Anyone who says that kids just enjoy hacking and slashing hasn't seen the new generation of games which require knowledge of the market to buy and sell equipment, math and logic to create new artifacts, etc. etc.

This is why I am a big fan of Serious Games:

http://www.seriousgames.org/

Unfortunately, it looks as if they're serious about games from the 1990s.

I believe the success story would come from an educational MMORPG (MMOEDU?) which allows students to log in and create their online persona, and require the students to perform certain tasks in order to level up -- in this case, graduate to the next level.

The only risk would be the accelerated rate of education we would see in these students when taught in an environment that caters to them.

There are companies out there who release their code to the open source community after the game is no longer in use -- namely, ID Software. A good start might be to contact Blizzard or the folks behind Second Life to see if they'd be interested in supporting an Educational Initiative.

Just don't call Rockstar Games. That'd be the end of America as we know it.

Thank you for your comments so far.
1. Yes, I would like to write a curriculum motivating students and teaching them about Green technology. I don't know anything about Wiki's. And yes, I would like to have help from others. If there was a way that I could build the topics of the curriculum, and then have others place lessons under the topic that they find relevant, that would be useful.
2. Last year, I created different terms that made the classroom a true Game. There was a stopwatch involved. WOHP stood for Waste Of Human Potential. every time a child did something like curse in the classroom, they got WOHPped. Meaning they lost a point. But it was hard to monitor without the proper technology. They also moved on a Game board with 50 spaces. Wherever they were at the end of the quarter, I doubled it to get their percent. But I needed a better way than Excel to monitor that, I was looking for a visual computer model to express where they were at any given time. I hope that makes sense.
3. I will check out Serious Games and see what kind of things that are out there.

There are a bunch of free wikis on the market, many of which give special benefits to educators. Here's a couple links to get you started:

Wetpaint.com - Create a free wiki. Many looks. No code required.

PmWiki.com - PmWiki is a wiki-based system for collaborative creation and maintenance of websites.

PBwiki.com - Free Collaborative Editing & Publishing.

Wikia.com - Discover and share your passions.

Thanks for those links. From what I see, I can use a Wiki to have others help me develop a green Curriculum.
I am also interested in a Widget that I can use on my desktop to keep track of those WOHP points for my students. Any suggestions. In other words, one of those Firefox add ons.

goodluck!

Mr Jenks,

Check out Moodle: ttp://moodle.org/ Where there is plenty of sharing going on. Also, there are also tons of free software out there to help teachers motivate students. Try typing "algebra software free" into google. Not sure that you actually have to start anything here on your own as there is already many people out there doing it now. Also check out major university sites such as http://mathforum.org...bra/k12.algebra.html

google this...there's a plenty my dear.

anything that will get students motivated to learn is a good idea to me.
best of luck MrJenks.

voxgirl

I like the motivation behind this, but as far as I understand it it doesn't exist as an IDEA yet. Yes, there are problems with motivating pupils under the current education system and yes, technology can be part of the solution... but how? How are you going to solve the problem, and what technology product are you going to come up with that makes teachers' lives easier and not harder?

I'm also a teacher, and I totally agree that students need to be motivated. Mine are especially motivated on "Game Day" I like your thought, but it seems as though you're looking to re-write a curriculum rather than a product idea.

I'm sure there are ways you can take what you want to do and make something out of it, but how, I'm not sure.