The Rice Bowl Challenge: Jan. 20 — Feb. 5, 2014

Free Rice is the kind of online game that I encourage anyone to play. It encourages learning (vocabulary, in this case), it’s fun, and playing it has a purpose beyond just entertainment. The United Nations World Food Programme owns and supports freerice.com, which encourages people to learn and seeks to increase awareness of world hunger issues. Each time you answer a question correct, ten grains of rice are donated to people in need.

Right now, there’s a challenge going on, the AFC v. NFC. The Maine Learning Technology Initiative, the Digital Learning Day, and FreeRice are challenging people to team up for a kind of bowl game this January and February, making it a digital kind of Super Bowl for people to compete in while also helping to reduce world hunger. To sign up to join the challenge, go here.

While I’m not a football fan, this challenge is a nice way to encourage participation and create a sense of belonging, of being critical to the outcome. If *I* can play a bit today and help my team get a few extra points, I’ve contributed towards the eventual outcome and success. *I* have a stake in what happens. This kind of thinking and emotional connection with an event can be very positive, for the participant’s pleasure in participating and for increasing the positive outcome of increased vocabulary learning.

What other educational games do you enjoy?

I’d love to hear about other such initiatives, so please let me know if you hear of others!