PowerPoint Games

Many educators have not yet discovered the muscle and flexibility of Microsoft PowerPoint as an educational tool. This powerful software is at our fingertips and we can bring it into motion. With multiple clicks of a button, educators can make educational material sing and dance. There are different ways to integrate it into the curriculum.

1.   Simple Cause and Effect

One of the easiest uses of MS PowerPoint is setting up a slide presentation for a student to view by pressing a switch and/or the enter key.  Many educators use this method for students with significant disabilities.  It can be used to teach use of a single switch but remember to keep the activity motivating for the student.  We have designed a MS PowerPoint template with puzzle pieces covering a picture.  As the student presses the switch, the puzzle pieces disappear revealing a picture.  We have included instructions on adding your own picture to the template.  To make the activity personal and motivating, insert a picture of the student, a peer, family member or pet.  

2. Relaying Information to Students in a Multimedia Format

This is the most common use of MS PowerPoint and usually consists of a series of slides with connected information on each slide. It is a simple method with huge rewards. Each piece of information can include audio, graphics and even a video. With many different types of learners in one classroom, this approach can meet the diverse learning needs of many children.

3. Encouraging Student Interactivity to Reinforce Concepts

This approach takes a little more skill with PowerPoint and includes multimedia format with additional hyper linking for more information. But, like riding a bike, once you learn it, you can do it forever. After a slide is developed, the author can place a hyperlink to other audio, graphics, slide, or web page. Educators have used this technique with practicing for multiple-choice test by adding sounds to indicate if the student’s selection was correct or incorrect.

4. Student Authoring

Even though MS PowerPoint is easy to use, Tom Snyder Productions along with Scholastic has made it even easier. Scholastic Keys provides a kid friendly interface for PowerPoint that will allow students to create PowerPoint presentations with pictures, animations and movies. It has a built in recorder and a text-to-speech function that will read text to the user.