Category Archives: Gaming in the Classroom

Living the Manual to Understand the Instructions

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I found this passage from a recent blog post from James Paul Gee fascinating, and harkens to discussions I am having in my classroom right now as we dive into video game design. It has to do with manuals to play games, and whether gamers read them or just jump in. Gee notes that, as cold reading, manuals make almost no sense. You have to experience the world first before the instructions can be helpful. This is so different from other kinds of reading, right?

Check out Gee‘s thoughts:

”

If you try to read a video game manual before you have ever played a game, you can, at best, associate definitions and paraphrases with the words in the text.  The manual is boring and close to useless, when it is not simply inexplicable.  If, however, you play the game for hours—you do not have to play at all well—then when you pick up the manual again everything will be clear.

Now you will be able to associate images, actions, experiences, goals, and dialogue from the game with each of the words in the text.  You will have lived in the world the manual is about and will know how the words of the text apply to that world to describe it and allow you to solve problems in it.

The same thing is true for any text, for example, for a middle school science text.  If you have lived in (mucked around in) the world it is about and applies to, you have situated understandings for the words in the text and can use the text to facilitate problem solving.  If you have not had such experiences, then all you have, at best, are verbal meanings.   These may be fine for passing skill-and-drill paper-and-pencil tests, but they are not fine for deep understanding or problem solving.” — James Paul Gee, at http://www.jamespaulgee.com/node/64

Peace (in the thinking of reading),
Kevin

 

Ten Things I Notice When Playing My Students’ Video Games

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(If you have been following my blog lately, you know we are towards the end of our video game design unit. I’ve been playing — assessing — games over the holiday break. I’ve seen some pretty amazing games, and played some pretty poorly-designed games, and everything in-between. Here are some things that come to mind — in a sort of stream-of-consciousness way. I don’t mean for them to be negative, but I have found myself being critical of the projects. That comes through with this list, I think.)

Ten Things I Notice When Playing My Students’ Video Games

1. It’s evident that more than a few of my students have designed games for an audience of one — themselves. They didn’t quite remember that games are developed for others, too. That’s the real joy of a designer.

2. Where’s the story? The narrative arc? All that planning, all those discussions, storyboarding … and still, some of these games are lacking it so much I wonder if it has been worth the time to teach gaming. (It has, but still …)

3. Every now and then, I get completely blown away by the skills of a student as designer. Some just … get it. More than I ever did, or ever will. In those moments, I realize that what we are doing in school with this game design unit means something to those kids. And more often than not, the students who rise to the surface during game design are not the ones who rise to the surface in other academic units. That’s a fact.

4. I’m spending too much screen time, playing their games. Have they spent too much screen time building their games? I worry about this. A lot.

5. I can’t get past this first level on a few games. If I can’t get past this first level, how can I see what they have done in the next five levels. If I can’t play the next five levels, how can I assess their work? Ack. Buckle down and play. It’s me against the game. I intend to win!

6. I teach game design here. But I am not a gamer. So, is what I consider to be a good game what they consider to be a good game? Sure, I have laid out criteria on paper and talked about the expectations. But sometimes, I wonder about gaming sensibilities of an adult (me) and children (them).

7. I should issue a challenge: make the best game you can without a single gun or shooting avatar. Make it a puzzle challenge. A logic game. A peaceful endeavor. I need to do that. No guns.

8. How is it that this particularly student thinks it is fun for a player to be stuck inside a blocked room, with 100 enemies dancing around, and the clock set at 7 minutes? I can’t move on until that time has expired and I have survived. Boring. That’s seven minutes I will never get back. Please, at least make the challenge worth my time. Here, I am just avoiding enemies, or shooting them, for no reason or rationale that I can tell.

9. Hey, remember spelling? It’s important. We even talked about it. A lot.

10. No. Not again! Fail, fail, fail. Not you. Me! But I refuse to give up. I will win this game, even if I have to come back tomorrow and keep playing. I am nothing if not resilient. (But could you give me a clue, please?)

In balance, I’d like to share out a game from a student that I really liked (although the first level is a bit tricky).

 

Peace (in the reflection),
Kevin

 

Considering Student Perspectives: Video Game Design Unit

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Gaming Survey Results
We neared the end of our video game design unit with a survey, and one of the questions I asked was simple: did you enjoy our inquiry into game design and the development of a video game project? Almost every single one of my students check off “yes.” But one single student didn’t. I did not ask them to put their names on the survey so I can’t say who that student was or what their thinking is.

But I feel sorry for them, even if they never complained to me about it. I suppose not every student is going to enjoy every single unit of instruction, but I do always hope that an innovative project like video game design will engage everyone — creatively, intellectually, academically. And there is a lot more to what we do around game design than design games – we explore science, symbolism, technology, digital media, and more.

I was pleased to see that in my second question, asking what part of the unit they liked the most, the category of “designing the game” received the most clicks. Remember that one of my goals is to show them how to shift from consumer of information (games) into creator of content, so that is quite satisfying to see. They weren’t so hot on the idea of using a science idea in their own games, I see, but that is not surprising. For them, it may have handcuffed some ideas. For me, though, it was a way to legitimize game design in the classroom, and helped them to have a better grasp on difficult vocabulary and concepts.

And they may never look at a video game in the same again, knowing now a bit about what it takes to create a simple game with a narrative arc.
science games 2012

Peace (in the data),
Kevin

 

Inside Student Video Games: The Music Mix

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As part of the end of our video game design project, I took some screenshots of student games (as I was playing them) and popped them into this animoto video mix. It’s a little inside look at what they were up to for the past three weeks as they designed science-based video games in Gamestar Mechanic:

Peace (in the game),
Kevin

What Students Think: Does Video Gaming Belong In Schools?

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We’re nearing the end of our video game design unit, and along the way, students have been writing to reflect on the experience. (Although next year, I want to give them a separate game developer’s log in order to make that reflection more consistent). The other day, as part of a series of questions and after reading two argumentative pieces (for and against video gaming), I asked them: Does video gaming belong in the classroom?

Here are some of their replies:

“I would say yes because it could inspire kids to make their own games. It may also give kids an opportunity to make a good choice, if they like games or don’t like games. But they can also be a distraction.” — C.B.

“Video games should be used in school. It would help kids with their coordination and keep their brains active while still having fun. They could also be used as a reward to kids who finish classwork. That would get kids to try a lot harder in classes. Kids need something fun to do in school, so why not video games? — K.J.

“No (video games should not be in school) because not many games are oriented towards education so it would be kind of useless.” — N.P.

“I think video games should be used in schools for many different reasons. Reason one is that students would be excited to go to cl;ass and they would get used to using technology.” — B.P.

“Yes, and no. Video games can be educational and a great way to connect with the technology of today. On the other hand, kids play tons of video games at home and maybe it would be a bad idea to add to that time (on the screen).” — A.B.

“Yes. It can help you learn and teach you many things. It also helps you learn how to use technology.” — D.D.

“I think video games should be used in schools. I believe this because kids will get a lot of knowledge and experience about problem-solving and having fun. Also, you can learn how to fail in video games because it can be so challenging.” — A.C.

“No, because some kids would be thinking about playing them 24/7 and some would not pay attention in class.” — G.T.

“Certain video games should be used in school because they teach kids how to lose and how to be patient. They might also make kids enjoy school because some kids don’t like school.” — A.N.

“I think it depends on what game it is. Games that are appropriate should be used because kids want to play games and it would be easy to get kids to learn if it were in games. But if the games aren’t appropriate, then they shouldn’t be in school.” — N.T.

“I totally think video games should be in school because writing with a boring, old, useless pencil is plain junk, but when you add technology and video games into the learning, it makes classtime much more fun and for the people who don’t like the video games, they could just bring their own pencil.” — K.R.

“Yes, I think video games should be used in school, but only ones that help learning and teach things, of course. Video games can inspire people to do things in life.” — H.M.

“No. Video games can be bad for you, and are addictive.” — S.M.

You can see the wide array of ideas here, which I think are reflective of personal choices, experiences and the two pieces that we read about the pros and cons of gaming.

Peace (in the sharing),
Kevin

 

Gaming Theory and Vocabulary Study

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WW Game Challenge

 

We’re trying an experiment today with our students to try to use game theory to encourage them with their vocabulary study work. As some of you know, we are in the midst (and nearing the end of) a unit around video game design, in which students are designing and publishing video games with a science/geology twist. But we’ve been talking and writing about game design and gaming from any number of angles — from hacking, to rewriting rules, to prototyping, and more.

My co-teacher (he’s a man of big ideas) wondered if we could design a classroom game challenge to make vocabulary a little more exciting this week, particularly as we near holiday vacation. Traditionally, tomorrow is the second Friday of our vocabulary unit, and they would be taking a comprehension quiz. But tomorrow is also our last day to work on gaming projects before the break, and it is the deadline, so we want to skip the quiz and allow game design time.

So, we have designed a classroom challenge, in hopes that it will allow them to show understanding and allow us to excuse them from the quiz. Here’s how it will work:

  • The class will be divided into four groups (each group will have four to five students)
  • Each group will be given three of the 15 words from the week
  • Individually, they need to first use their group of three words in a good, comprehensive sentence (we work on this a lot)
  • As a group, collaboratively, they need to choose the best sentence for each word
  • On our whiteboard, I will pull up a video game that I made in Gamestar Mechanic (see screenshot) that will ‘randomly’ draw words as our hero runs into elves and fairies, and each group shares out their sentence from the word that gets “released”
  • The teacher gives the sentence a 1 or a 0, based on quality of sentence, and if a 0, then the other groups in the classroom have a chance to add to the sentence to make it better (this is not a competition against each other, so helping each other is part of the fabric of the game)
  • The game keeps getting played as more words get released (screenshot again) until all 12 words have been shared in sentences
  • If the class gets the full 12 points (every sentence earning 1 point), then: no quiz tomorrow. If less than 12, quiz. (I think we call that the motivating factor in game play).

Oh yeah, and we’re gaming the system as teachers, too, since our aim is to get the class to 12 as much as to give them more fun experiences to use the words from this lesson as much as to avoid the quiz on the last Friday before holiday. Now all we need is a snazzy name for the game …

Peace (in the gamification of a lesson),
Kevin

 

What We Built: The Holiday Video Game

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Holiday1

My 8 year son and I created this video game over the weekend, working a holiday/winter theme into a game experience. I’m sharing it here but also, I am creating a game challenge for my students to see who can created the most inventive holiday-themed video game (with my son, as the judge).

Here is the link to the game.

Peace (in the holidays),
Kevin

Student Story Frames of Video Games

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Whats_Your_Story

Yesterday, I had my sixth graders blogging about the “story frames” of the science-based video games they are developing. I’ve been pushing the narrative element as a way to keep their games coherent and focused, even as they work the concept of geology into their games. Each day, I have tried to make the metaphorical connection for them – that their video game is really a short story, and that the player is really the reader, and how as writers/designers, they are bringing someone else into their story.

Check out some of the descriptions of the stories underpinning their games:

My game project is about the layers of the earth. You have to start out in the inner core and make your way out of the earth to the crust before you reach your DOOM! You need to find your way through each level without dying. You go through the inner and outer core the lower and upper mantle and the crust. CAN YOU SURVIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! — Ally

You’re out gathering berries for supper when suddenly the ground is shaking! The supercontinent you live on, Pangaea, is breaking up! Continental drift is cracking up the world as you know it! What you don’t realize is that your family is on one side of the breaking line and you’re on the other! Get back to them before it’s too late and you’re separated forever! The earth is stirring, and Mother Earth’s monsters are out to get you! Watch out for volcanos, tsunamis, and whatever else is lying in wait! Hurry! — Rebecca

Your master, Alfred Wegner, has just sent you into the earth to rescue his daughter, Laila, from the core. This game has 6 levels, and you must reach the goal block on every level. You may not survive!!! Bwaa-ha-ha!!! — Sarah

Your are trying to get to the sun to stop your enemy from blowing the sun up. You start with Pluto and planet after planet you get to the sun. Once you get to the sun you will defeat your enemy. There will be 13 levels in the game. — David

My video game idea is about the layers of the earth. The world is ending and monsters are climbing from the core to the crust and they are wreaking havoc. To stop them you must travel to the center of the earth to stop the world from ending. — Anthony

You are a scientist trying to be the first person to the center of the earth. You must travel through each layer of the earth so you can collect the proof that you made it to the center of the earth. You need to collect the Ultimate artifact that is only in the center of the earth. It will give you the power….you will find out in the game what it is. Then you must fight through enemies to reach the surface. — John

My game is made around the layers of the earth. it will have at least 6 levels some are hard and some are easy. you will travel through the earth or out of the earth to save yourself or someone else. If you don’t get down there fast enough and save the person a bomb placed by the evil fruit king will blow up you and everyone on the earth will die. So what are you waiting for ? Go save the world! — Rebecca

My project is that you are on a cruise and your ship sinks.You need to get home. You are forced to conquer the plates while they are moving around. Mazes and jumping puzzles will slow you down. — Jacob

My game is based on the layers of the earth. what your trying to do is to play as wacky weggy and get to the middle of the earth to get the proof saying that the earth was once whole. But you must hurry because there is a time limit on a couple of levels and you have to collect all the gems and defeat the monster’s. Don’t lose all your health or game over. — Tattie

My game design is about Pangaea and the large ocean around it. The large ocean is called the Panthalassic ocean. When what today we call North America and Africa come together you were smooshed and shot through the different layers of the Earth, the crust, mantle and core. Now that you are on the other side of the Earth you will have to face many challenges to get back to Pangaea!! — Tyler

 

I’m looking forward to the emergence of these stories as games … and games as stories.

Peace (inside the game),
Kevin

 

 

Graphic Book Review: Super Scratch Programming Adventure

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Some people learn by diving in. Some people learn by reading the manual. Super Scratch Programming Adventure is a little bit of both as it is both a graphic novel of sorts and a tutorial for Scratch animation software. It’s also a bit dated, as a newer version of MIT’s free Scratch software is already out. But I like the way this book sets out to engage learners with a little bit of story told as comics and graphic novels, and then a series of ever-increasing-in-complexity activities.

Everything from simple commands, to maze games, to more complex animation is covered in this graphic manual. The colorful visuals are key, as the reader/creator can follow along pretty easily enough with the tutorials. I’ve used Scratch a little as a way to show students the underpinning of programming. I never found it robust enough or easy enough for many kids to use regularly. But the visual element of how programming works – how systems work, really, as one piece influences another — makes Scratch worthy of consideration for basic animation and programming work.

The graphic story that weaves together the tutorials is a computer science student named Mitch who encounters Scratchy, a cyberspace cat, and a team of Cosmic Defenders — Gobo, Fabu and Pete — who help Mitch and Scratchy solve problems while holding off the Dark Wizard and Dark Minions who want to destroy space and time. Programming skills save the day!

This book is worth a look if you are venturing into Scratch, but keep in mind the updates to Scratch, so not every activity might still be replicable as represented in the book. Still, there are plenty of tutorials online and resources for using Scratch in the classroom, including the ScratchEd site.

Peace (in the scritchy scratch),
Kevin

 

Student Storyboarding and Game Design Considerations

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My students have been working on storyboarding their science-based video game projects this week as they continue to learn more about elements of game design and then construct their own in Gamestar Mechanic. Today, I shared this list with them as a way to talk about some important considerations:

Considerations of Game Design
(I adapted this from this youtube video: 10 Simple Rues for Good Game Design)

And here are a few of the storyboards, which they do as a draft stage of game design to get main ideas down. I like how it shows some visual thinking and provides me with a talking point with students about their concepts and ideas.
storyboard1

storyboard2

storyboard3a
Peace (in the game),
Kevin