Football-based learning games: now schools can play against each other
Harness children's interest in the World Cup by organising football-based competitions between classes using the popular and free Footee. With 50,000 users and numbers doubling every six months, Footee builds on football’s appeal to young people 6 to 12 and their love of games, competition and social networking to make learning maths, language, science, geography and history effective and fun.
Coinciding with the World Cup is a new feature, enabling children to pool the reward points earned playing games and a class can then run their own Footee team and take on other teams in the same or different countries. Users only see their own language which means, for example, that an English school class can take on a Spanish one and each sees it in their own language. This motivates the children to try harder so the whole class / team can benefit.
European Schoolnet has been working with UEFA and the developers of Footee, MotivatED, to ensure activities appeal to young football fans across Europe and to ensure a good fit between national curricula, key competences and the 300 games, many of which are designed for use on interactive whiteboards. Do science topics like Forces and motion, Materials and their properties and Physical processes sound dull? Maybe not Beach Dodger, Floodlight Failure and Hit the Target though, and children learn while playing these games. The site includes lesson plans, activities, advice and background articles for parents and teachers. Activities help learning mathematics, language, science, sport, geography and history as well as support cross-curricular subjects and the development of competences like citizenship, health, technology, problem-solving, learning to learn, teamwork, and digital literacy.
Every time children use Footee, they complete wide-ranging curriculum-based activities, thereby acquiring and consolidating curriculum-related skills and knowledge in a playful way, and earn reward points. They can design their own avatars, explore the Footee Town – with its café, stadium, gym and marketplace – or ‘buy’ players for their teams with their points.
Parents have the option to become a monthly paying subscriber, and receive regular reports on their child’s activities and performance, with suggestions for more challenging games.