Secret++Builders





Secret Builders is a free site for participants but they also have a super builder plan for 29.95 per year.

Secret Builders is a safe virtual space for student 6-14. Students can inhabit virtual worlds play educational game both on their own and with other students who are online. Each student is given an avatar to design and dress. Everyone has his or her own furnished tree house. Students play games and win gold coins to purchases additional clothing or items for their house. There are also many mobile apps for you iphone. This site let students see famous art work and play art related games. Secret Builders school offers math science and social studies skills in a game format. Players can take care of pets and explore and play with pets. There are many contests with both virtual and real rewards. Picasso lets players re-paint famous art works. The site also has a place to earn money for your school.
 * Strengths **

When you are taking part in the quests the game stops every few seconds to load. Videos that you can watch a video for extra gold coins but when I tried the video got stuck and I never got the coins. There is only one video from Air New Zeeland. The books you can read only have a few pages or a chapter, and then you are prompted to buy the book.
 * Weaknesses **

=** How can this media tool be used in the classroom? **= This site does offer quests that allow for some inquiry this along with the fiction and non-fiction elements allows for some limited inquiry. Crooked Pencil Magazine allows children to write things that have the opportunities to be published. Students are able to explore many areas of history, art, math and language arts. The overall look of the game looks exciting however, when you play the quests it continually loads and seems slow the quest that I did was boring it showed a sandy beach and the quest consisted of walking in four directions searching for items. the site is easy to navigate and understand. This site does have a communication feature and allows gamers to chat while playing the game. When I logged in using my Facebook account the other avatars in the game had my friends and families names when I clicked on them it said so and so is not a member but you can invite them to join you. This is where Secret Builders shines it allows participants to create an avatar with many choices of looks. They offer new outfits at every stop on the map. There are also fashion shows as part of the experience. Participants are given their own tree house to decorate and furnish. This game has many choices to create your virtual world. Participants are also able to express themselves though creative games and art.
 * Inquiry **
 * Construction **
 * Communication **
 * Expression **



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This site has received many awards.