Education and Gaming

I wanted to both share some games I have used, and some rabbit trails I have followed.

One of the most common uses of computer games is simply that of glorified flashcards. I realize that this is not considered a high level use of computers, and would not be very interesting to students for long periods of time. However, when basic facts need to be memorized, as in learning multiplication tables, they can be useful. Some programs I have used for multiplication memorization include: the CD that comes with the School Zone workbooks (ages ago!), BigBrainz (online), and Mt. Multiplis (ipad app). I particularly like Big Brainz as it adapts the questions to put an emphasis on what the students has been struggling with. It also has great graphics which my kids appreciate. What one of my kids didn’t like was that the themes were more “boyish” and the pressure of the questions being timed. The same student likes Multiplis, which is nice in that it demonstrates how multiplication works and is less pressured. However, it doesn’t look like a program which will ensure mastery of multiplication facts, just exposure. Currently, I have an eight year old working on Mt. Multiplus and I may switch her to Big Brainz when she is done.

When researching this topic, I came across a teacher, Ananth Pai , who has used computer based programs extensively with his third grade class. Again, I realize this is considered a “lower level” use of games, but it has clearly been a way to make sure those basics get done. He has an extensive website of the games he uses, which I thought might be helpful for others. I also noticed he uses Big Brainz, as I do and games from BBC’s bite size site. BBC has a huge number of educational games which are worth checking out.

In her video, “Games in Education”, Sylvia Martinez, mentioned that a higher use of games is to teach students how to create them. My two older children have done this with Scratch, and it has been a wonderful experience. For this blog, I also looked over Gamestar Mechanic, which focuses on teaching game design without requiring programming. After looking over the teacher materials and reading reviews, I think while this might be a fun application to use, it wouldn't be educationally worth my time to have my students spend their time working on this instead of Scratch. (It sounds like some teachers like to use Gamestar Mechanic before Scratch. My only concern with this is that Gamestar Mechanic looks so flashy, and easy to use that I don’t know if that would demotivate students from learning something more difficult and less flashy). As it is, I am trying to get my two older students to spread their wings a bit beyond Scratch and learn professional programming skills. They have been working a bit on C++ with my husband, and I just ordered them "Beginning C++ Through Game Programming" by Michael Dawson (2014) , as an encouragement. It is a big jump from Scratch to another language, but fortunately they have a mentor available.

For my eight year old, Scratch may be a little too advanced. She can create pictures, sprites, stamps, and make patterns. She hasn’t figured out how to go beyond this. She has played a bit with Scratch Junior, Daisy the Dinosaur, and Cargo Bot (all ipad apps). Scratch Junior has not really interested her. Daisy the Dinosaur was fun, but she worked through it quickly. There was no room for growth. Cargo Bot is actually an interesting little app. You have to program the crane to move boxes, and there is some logic involved. I was thinking about what scaffolding would be necessary to get her more fully ready to engage in Scratch and I found a lovely set of resources at code.org. They have lesson plans starting at the Kindergartener level and looking them over I think they are very age appropriate. The only down side is that they will require the time of a mentor. It’s not something you can set the kid down at a computer and let them loose. In my case, I presented the material to my 12 year old and explained that for each lesson he helped his little sister on, they could both have a computer turn to do what they want afterwards. He’s interested.

Back to Gamestar Mechanic, they have a good point that there is more to video game creation than programming. When looking, I found a variety of (mainly) free resources, which would be helpful to a teen or adult wanting to learn more about game creation an/or gamification:

http://education-portal.com/articles/8_Free_Game_Design_and_Development_Courses_and_Resources_Online.html

https://www.coursera.org/course/gamification
http://www.lynda.com/Education-Higher-Education-tutorials/Gamification-Learning/173211-2.html

Resources

"8 Free Game Design and Development Courses and Resources Online" [web page]. Retrieved from: http://education-portal.com/articles/8_Free_Game_Design_and_Development_Courses_and_Resources_Online.html

BBC Bite Size [web site]. Retrieved from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/education

Big Brainz [web site]. Retrieved from: http://www.bigbrainz.com/

Cargo Bot [web page]. Retrieved from: http://twolivesleft.com/CargoBot/

Code [web site]. Retrieved from: http://code.org/

Coursera Gamification Course [web page]. Retrieved from: https://www.coursera.org/course/gamification

Dawson, Michael (2014). Beginning C++ Through Game Programming. Boston, MA: Cenage Learning PTR

Games in Ed Resources [web site]. Retrieved from: http://gamesinedresources.wikispaces.com/home

Gamestar Mechanic [web site]. Retrieved from: https://gamestarmechanic.com/

Lynda Gamification of Learning [web page]. Retrieved from: http://www.lynda.com/Education-Higher-Education-tutorials/Gamification-Learning/173211-2.html

Mind Leap [web site]. Retrieved from: http://www.mindleaptech.com/apps/daisy-the-dinosaur/

"School Teacher Ananth Pai Brings Video Games to the Classroom" [video]. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6KCgZY-7HU&app=desktop

Scratch [web site]. Retrieved from: 

http://scratch.mit.edu/

Scratch Junior [web site]. Retrieved from: http://www.scratchjr.org/

School Zone Workbooks [web site]. Retrieved from: https://www.schoolzone.com/best-kids/workbooks

Teachly [web site]. Retrieved from: http://www.teachley.com/mt-multiplis-app.html

Team Drill Head [web site]. Retrieved from: https://sites.google.com/site/teamdrillhead/home