The classroom usually is not the place that you will find people playing games, however there is now one exception to that rule: GOLO. The game is being used at all levels of education, from junior high to college.   Physical Education Teacher Pete Brown from Wilson C. Riles Middle School in Roseville California uses the game to teach his beginning golf class.  "GOLO is a perfect way to introduce the kids to the basic rules of golf.   It's fast, simple, and most importantly fun."  

Last winter, Paul Stephenson, the Chair of the Department of Statistics at Grand Valley State University in Allendale Michigan, purchased GOLO because he was intrigued with the game. "As a golfer who lives in Michigan, the winter months provide many occasions to daydream about golf, but few chances to actually play.  GOLO represented an opportunity to play golf, even though two feet of snow blanketed my favorite golf course. From the first game, I was hooked."

Stephenson was curious about the potential of using GOLO to teach probability in his classes.  He first introduced the game to two of his colleagues, John Gabrosek and Mary Richardson. The three of them immediately started brainstorming about how they could leverage the enjoyment of playing GOLO to engage their students in probabilistic reasoning.  Since that time they have utilized GOLO in both their courses and classrooms.  Stephenson added, "GOLO is easy to explain to our students, and more importantly it quickly stimulates their enthusiasm. Further, GOLO provides an outstanding setting to illustrate probability and statistics."

They recently gave two presentations on how GOLO could be utilized in the classroom at the annual Joint Statistical Meetings of the American Statistical Association.  The published paper that accompanied their presentation at the can be found HERE.

Would you like to use GOLO in your classroom and receive the "Educator's Discount" on games and/or a copy of the course syllabus at Grand Valley State University? We will list both your Academic Institution, Professor, along with any probabity findings you would like to publish on our site. Click HERE and tell us how you like to use GOLO in your classroom.

Total Golf Adventures Atlanta is an on-campus, after-school golf program for ages 5 - 12. TGA of Atlanta has had over 600 kids in our golf program in 2006. We provide all the equipment and a 5 level curriculum & skill based program. The kids always look forward to see who's going to be this week's GOLO champion. GOLO has been an excellent component of our golf educational program.