Mouse Mischief

Here is a fun and intersting technology tool to use in the classroom ~~Mouse Mischief.

This nifty idea comes from Microsoft. This is a gadget that is added to PowerPoint and allows the teacher to create interactive slides for the students.  In my classroom, I have ten wireless mice that I hook up to my computer.  Then as I am lecturing or utilizing PowerPoint I can have interactive slides where the students can answer true/false questions or multiple choice questions this is great for formative assessments as we are moving through the material.  Students can also use the mouse to 'draw' right on the slide.  It keeps the students engaged because the activity puts the learning in their own hands.  The students love the competition that this brings to the activity and I make sure that each student has a turn with a mouse.  I can turn their mice off at my computer so the students can only use them when it is time -- this is a great feature as students don't want to take their hands off of the mice.  But once I put a few rules in place - like asking them to move the mouse to the right hand corner of their desk until it was time to use them --- the lesson moves along great.

As you can see - each mouse is represented by a different graphic, that way the students know which one is theirs.  The teachers mouse is the big orange arrow.  Once all of the students chose an answer a box pops up showing the results and which mouse answered the correct answer fasted.  FUN!

There are a few drawbacks to this application.  When you create a PowerPoint presentation with Mouse Mischief it will not allow you to use all of the fun transitions.  And the multiple choice is 1,2,3,4 not A,B,C,D - seems like a little thing but I would prefer the traditional testing language with my students.

The download from Microsoft is FREE!  Love that word!  Of course there is a bit of an investment for the extra mice and a Port ~ the port is used to plug in all of mice to your computer.  The mice can easily be shared between classes, that is what we do on my team, so the cost is minimal.  The website for Mouse Mischief has demos and lesson plans to help anyone get started using this technology tool.

I have only used it a couple of times this year and my students love it.  Looking forward to creating more 'mischief' next year!