Who Needs School when You Have Pokemon

Publisher: Pokémon USA, Inc.

Grade: 3-6

Age: 8-12

Pricing: $95/yr
Home (max 3 computers)

$145/yr
Classroom (max 15 computers)

$990/yr
School (per building)

$1.55/yr per student
District (min 1000 students)

FREE month

Free Trial of any membership level

System Requirements
Internet connection
Internet browser
Flash 8 Media Player

Summary
"Pokémon Learning League is an online series of standards-based, interactive animated lessons for grades 3-6. Guided by an experienced Advisory Board, the series leverages sound educational practices and Pokémon's sustaining popularity with children to help teach Science, Math, Language Arts and Life Skills topics in a uniquely appealing manner. Comprised of a narrative tutorial (watch), guided practice (try) and an interactive challenge (apply); each lesson delivers a supportive and scaffolded learning environment for students. Pokémon Learning League's engaging and flexible format offers educators an innovative supplemental resource to reinforce their teaching."

This is a truly incredible program in the making. It's young and undeveloped, but even in it's current state it stands out above most other educational websites. Along with the wide appeal of Pokemon, this program offers lessons in important, substantial subjects. Much of their content is typically known as difficult to present, but this program does so brilliantly. The lack of payment plans or monthly membership options is inconvenient and may deter some families from joining. Also, parents and teachers are unable to monitor their children's progress from the main account. That is a standard feature on educational sites and not offering it gives the site an unprofessional feel.

The website may be poorly designed, but one can assume it is because the designers put every resource they had into the product it presents. It shows. The episodic lessons are one of the best educational resources available for children this age range. I await new content as anxiously as my children each week. The product is well worth the cost, regardless of how undeveloped the website is or how many features haven't been released yet.

Visiting the Site
Simply listing the features of this site won't do it justice. To begin with, children are drawn to this website because it's Pokemon. Visiting the site, you see the same brightly colored, clearly defined style you would expect from Pokemon. Your eyes are instantly drawn to a list of subjects. This is clearly an educational site. Two lessons in each subject area are available to play without even registering. This is where you begin to suspect this site is something special. The lessons available are meatier and more difficult to teach concepts than most popular educational sites tackle.

Additionally, you'll notice a button that says "State Standards." Clicking on it will bring up a pop up window that allows you to search through your state's educational standards by grade and subject, and find Pokemon Learning League Lessons to teach them.

In the main "screen" you'll see what appear to be options to gain specific information for either Student, Teacher, or Parent/Guardian. If you click one of these choices it will take you to a very brief tutorial. It won't tell you anything you haven't already figured out. The site is that simple, but it's a little frustrating that a useless tutorial is given so much focus.

Playing a Lesson
Lessons are divided into three parts.

Watch
The lesson begins with a mini episode where well known Pokemon characters introduce students to the concept by discovering a problem and needing to understand the concept to overcome it.

Try
Next, the Pokemon characters and students work together to practice and understand the concept.

Apply
Finally, the students are given a chance to solve the original problem using the information they just learned.

The lessons are incredible. They are engaging and very thorough. They are exciting for children, captivating their attention and interest to teach them how to calculate the area of a circle, explain the ins and outs of the lunar cycle, explore possessive pronouns, and eat nutritiously. And if you think your children aren't ready for some of those concepts yet, you will be shocked by the depth of knowledge they retain from these lessons.

Points
At the end of each lesson, registered students gain points based on their performance in the Apply section. The point system isn't addressed anywhere on the site. Points per lesson can be as high as 100 with an additional 5 point "frequent player bonus." Parents and teachers have no way of knowing what their students received on a lesson unless they are looking over the student's shoulder. Perhaps, such a feature will be released in the future to help parents and teachers monitor their students' success.

Also, the points within each subject are cumulative. So, if a child receives 95 points for one math lesson and 35 for another math lesson, they would have a total of 130 points in math. I have no idea why they do this. There is no way for children to compete within the system, and there aren't any kind of point total awards available. They only receive points the first time they complete a lesson, no matter how drastically they may improve, so it isn't as a personal incentive either.

Registration
Registering with the site is as simple as everything else. You fill out a form that asks for minimal information about you and your school (for other than Home accounts). The form does not ask for any credit card or billing information. They immediately email you a confirmation. You click a link and you're a member. It takes less than five minutes, start to finish.

Membership
Once you register, you have access to all the lessons in every subject. Parents and teachers can "manage" their students. This means creating a username and password for each student. Either the student or parent/teacher can change the student's password at any time. Schools and districts can organize their teachers and students by classrooms. No one at any level has the ability to see what lessons their students have been working on, or what their lesson or subject point levels are. After creating teacher and student accounts, the membership screen is virtually useless.

Future Features
Throughout the site are references to several features. It is implied or stated that they already exist, though they don't. With the site still being under development, its fair to assume they should be coming available soon. Some such features are; a teacher's guide, classroom materials such as printable quizzes, an online store, and a message board.