I’ve been meaning to write a post about a game for a week or so, however in my free time I’ve been playing it instead.

The game? iAssociate (iTunes store link) by Fredrik Wahrman (iPod Touch or iPhone OS 2.2.1 or later)

Before I get into the gameplay, or even why it appeals to me, I just wanted to affirm that games can indeed help keep you mentally limber.

It makes me think, and I think I like that.

So, the gameplay?  Essentially, this is a very simple word association game, where you start with one word at the center of a web of several words.  Based on that word (and the theme of the level), you fill in the letters of the connected words.

Easy,  right?

Well, not so fast. There are some challenging connections, first of all, and if you play the game the way it is intended (more on that in a moment), it can be downright tricky (think: numbers, special characters, umlauts?).

Because this is not an action game, it is perfect for the few minutes (or hours) you have to wait at life’s little rest stops (Dr. appointments, picking up kids from events, human waste recycling, you get the point, right?).  Plus, did I mention that it makes you think?  I did?  Sorry.

So, what do I mean about playing the game as intended?  You see, it is possible to use brute force to grab the first few letters of a word in order to give yourself a few clues.  This is accomplished by clicking on either a blank word, or the word to which that blank word is attached, and one-by-one entering the letters of the alphabet until you stumble across the first letter (hence the brute force), as the game will give you partial credit for partial correct entries.

Do I do this?  Sadly, yes, I’ve been reduced to using this technique when I have ABSOLUTELY NO CLUE as to what the word is.  However, after a letter or two, I generally have an educated guess, and feel much better about myself.

One other interesting aspect of the game is that you are continually ranked as a player of the game based on the levels you’ve completed (as of this writing, I am 1669 of 29428, although I don’t really know what that means).

This game has also caused me to rethink my position on Apple’s fairly recent decision to allow in-game purchases (i.e., once you’ve purchased an application from the iTunes App Store, you can purchase new levels, characters, etc.).  I would absolutely purchase new levels for this game, as long as the developer kept creating them.  Although, it might be interesting to have user submitted levels added, especially if you could use a tool like Webspiration to construct your word associations.

Finally, if you have an iPhone, or iPod touch, you can always download the lite version of the game, or the number of free standalones to try it out before spending $1.99 for the full version.

If this type of game just isn’t your thing, I still urge you to find something like this to stimulate your brain during your downtime.  Read a book, do Sudoku, wear a bucket on your head, whatever!

One of the assignments that I give to my graduate student in an educational technology course is as follows: they are asked to blog about how they think teaching will change in the future as technology continues to advance.

Most of them quickly reassure themselves that teachers will always be needed, and that technology (read: computers) will not replace them in the classroom. After reading an article in a recent eSchool News (click here for a PDF of the issue – the article is Frontiers of Brain Research) I still agree with them, but I think that their role in the classroom will change more than they realize.

Two items discussed in the article revolve around the teaching of fundamental reading and math skills.  While specific hardware/software tools were discussed (see here and here), I would like to take a step back to look at this from the perspective of the classroom teacher.

Could I be replaced by a computer?  For some of the basic, repetitive (rote?) learning that takes place in the classroom, I believe the answer could be, and possibly should be, yes.  Software can bring those boring-when-delivered-by-the-teacher tasks to life with graphics, animations, sounds, etc.  Plus, droning on about the same math facts over and over leads to fatigue on the job, right?

So, what should the role of the classroom teacher be in a technological future (present)?

Well obviously, the teacher would still facilitate the connection between the student and the hardware/software to ensure that each student is indeed progressing through the material appropriately, but if some of the direct instruction work was removed from the teacher’s workload, wouldn’t they then be able to truly embrace a more constructivist approach to their teaching practice?

Expand this beyond foundational reading and math info.  Instead of lecturing on battle dates and general’s names, wouldn’t it be more interesting to hold a class discussion on causes of conflict through the various wars – with an emphasis on searching for patterns to better understand the root cause of conflict between nations?

I think that regardless of the level of technology, people will still teach other people.  I just think that as technology improves, and newer teachers embrace what technology can bring to their practice, we will continue to see innovative strategies for mastering content.

Thoughts?