Why Skatekids Online^TM Works!

"Develop an infallible technique, and then lay yourself at the mercy of inspiration."
--Anonymous

"Education is not the filling of the pail, but the lighting of a fire."
--William Butler Yeats

Ten years ago, the Director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) at the National Institute of Health convened a national panel to assess the efficacy of the various approaches to teaching children literacy. By April 13, 2000, the National Reading Panel (NRP) had submitted its recommendations entitled "The Report of the National Reading Panel: Teaching Children to Read." Skatekids Online^TM was designed to support the recommendations of the NRP in a unique and effective way. Through the use of digital gaming, learners are highly motivated to reach automaticity in the literacy skills that teachers and the NRP endorse: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. Because skill acquisition is attained through entertaining game play, quality time on task is ensured and teachers are supported in their objectives to further a high functioning literate classroom. Meeting the demands of high stakes testing has never been so easy or fun.

Children often say that they dislike school. Yet, in a comprehensive effort to examine children's attitudes about learning, National Geographic Kids magazine in cooperation with NFO WorldGroup surveyed a large sample of 1,300 students nationwide between the ages of 6-14. Their findings may surprise some: over 80% of children reported that they think learning is fun. Further, the children listed parents, teachers, Bill Gates, and J.K. Rowling as top role models. Additionally, 93% of students reported learning from experiences outside the classroom. These findings apply to literacy in an important way. Reading is a cultural activity. Our communities are rich in our orthography and children apply what they learn in school to billboards, magazines, department store signs, and other community areas where reading material is available. The child is the consumer of education products, yet we too infrequently ask for the child's input.

Skatekids Online^TM was built in careful collaboration with the end user. Our development team worked alongside the learner, interviewing and assisting the child in game play. Our data was carefully analyzed and adjustments were made using the child's feedback. This was critical in building a very deep software product that ensures plenty of time on task and enthusiastic engagement with the product.

Parents, grandparents, teachers, and other concerned adults readily observe the enthusiasm of young scholars as they pretend to read. We oblige them by reading their favorite book to them for the 100th time. Only later do many children abandon this necessary and rewarding behavior after a series of confusing and confidence crushing experiences. The good news is that psychology can lay claim to a true success story: we know how to ensure that nearly everyone learns how to read. We only need to develop the products that the children desire. Skatekids Online^TM fills an important need in a culturally relevant way. Serious gaming is proving to academics, parents, and forward thinking instructors that learning can be accelerated through carefully designed, cognitive enhancing games.

It is not enough to replace the traditional worksheet and text book with a computer screen. Games must be dynamic. They must be designed with the full knowledge of the gamers' behaviors, sensibilities, and familiarity with the preferred platform. Games must provide more than a question and answer environment. Purpose and meaning within the gaming world must carry the day. It must be easy to use, provide multiple reading levels, multiple formats for practice and skill development, and most importantly, conform to the National Reading Panel guidelines. Skatekids Online^TM fulfills all of the objectives listed above.

Let us dismiss the myth that electronic gaming is a lonely, introverted activity. Children love to share in the gaming experience with others. They are frequently observed actively participating with others even when the controller is in the hands of others. Skatekids Online^TM features a chat environment that offers a simplistic method of communicating between home and school users who have an available Internet connection. This chat area is integrated into the existing Skatekids product suite. Children satisfy their curiosity about the progress made by their peers by viewing the assets acquired by their fellow students, e.g., earned levels and points, types of houses and cars owned by her friends and acquaintances, etc. Children of all abilities practice written expression and social skills in the chat rooms and may invite peers to play along with them. There are also ranking boards that inspire healthy competition and encouragement between fellow learners. This social interaction is a strong motivation tool to inspire repeated visits to the Skatekids world. These games are short in duration in order to safeguard against monopolizing the learners playing time at the expense of reading/cognitive skill acquisition.

Learners must earn points in the form of money in order to purchase playing time in recreational activities. Children practice base ten The Mall offers furnishings for the character's home so that they may customize their character's domicile. math skills by planning purchases in the Skatekids Mall. Additional characters can be purchased and outfitted with a variety of clothing styles, hairstyles, and accessories. A trophy room is included in each home and can be furnished in creative and stylish ways. No two houses will look the same. Learners enjoy visiting the homes of fellow gamers and proudly display the trophies they have earned through their accomplishments in the Reading Acceleration games. These features have proved a strong incentive for repeated time on task, as well as, qualitative enhancements in attention and resiliency in the cognitively demanding games.

Other areas of interest bring children to the Skatekids Mall for repeated visits. An arcade exists where learners can spend hard earned cash on novel video games. These features function as more than just mere motivational devices. The scientific literature has shown that distributed practice is superior to singular drilling in the promotion of transfer of learning to other tasks. In other words, it is better to take periodic breaks when learning a new skill. If a skill is practiced too frequently in one domain without sufficient time for reflection, the learned skill tends to be demonstrated in the domain in which it is practiced. Skatekids Online^TM has been carefully thought out and guided by the scientific methods on how children best learn to become skillful self-directed students. Skills are acquired in a developmentally appropriate sequence. The learners enjoy freedom within limitations and are not allowed to move to higher levels until prerequisite skills are mastered.