Week 8 - Gaming and Programming

Question: How might video games enhance my students' learning? 

 I have used a few games in the past in class but this has mostly been limited to single function or skill/drill apps and flash games that help reinforce skills.  When I taught 3rd grade I used a game called Timez Attacks, which was the first educational game I'd seen that had a very realistic commercial feel to it.  It mimicked games like MineCraft (which wasn't out at the time, but that I am now familiar with) in that the player had to navigate their avatar through a series of passageways.  At any point they might find a wall that could become an entry to another level.  When they reached it, a times problem would appear, but the player could use any number of strategies (very manipulative-like) to solve the problem.  If they tried too many times a troll would appear - it wouldn't kill the player, but it would bring down a club toward the avatar.  If that happened the player didn't "die", but would have to stay on that level and try some more.  It was also much like the commercial games in that a player could strategize a little if they chose to by saving up manipulatives or "ammunition" (things like goo balls, etc) so that they would have an easier time solving the problems.  They would also gain "powers" such as leaping, grabbing, etc. to help improve their chances at getting over obstacles more quickly.

The 3rd graders loved this and most of them learned their 0-12 times tables by this method.  Two students never mastered it, but did learn through their 5's pretty well. 

A few years ago I introduced Scratch to my middle school students.  Scratch is a platform developed by MIT in which you can use Lego-like building blocks (command, action, function, appearance, etc) to program with Logo.  Students learned to create games and simulations, and a few actually went on to use the program to create some fairly sophisticated working and looking games. 

When I first used Scratch, what really got me interested was not so much the program, but the process the students learned it with.  I started them out the first day by taking them through some of the very basic functions to orient them to the platform.  After that, I mostly observed, directing students to ask others for help, or encouraging them to try something else.  When certain students would learn something new, they were quick to announce it to everyone else.  Very soon, the room was abuzz - students were seeking out each others' help, offering help to others, and moving around occasionally to look at other screens without me even telling them too.  The class developed a very natural work flow that was the result of not just being engaged, but focusing on something, thinking critically about their work, and problem solving with others about an authentic problem.  Feedback on their efforts was instant from the program.  If they tried something, it either "worked" or it didn't. Feedback from classmates was also instant, and usually very helpful.  Students would often have suggestions for different strategies to use. 

I have used Scratch ever since with middle school, and this year, for my high school programming class, we started out with a review of Scratch (many of my students had already experienced it in middle school).  For those brand new to programming, Scratch was a "friendly" introduction to our first section of the course, which was Microworlds.  

I've used much the same approach with my high school programming class as I have with my Scratch units for middle schoolers. I get them started with some basics, some orientation, and provide them with help resources they can access any time.  I start them with a series of required lessons they must go through to learn how Microworlds functions.  After that there are a series of projects they work to create.  When they have completed that, they work either individually or in groups to plan their own projects.  They clear them through me - the main input I offer is usually with regards to levels of difficulty - I want to make sure they are working on creating something that is somewhat challenging.  However, so far that has not been an issue.  Usually the students get so deep into their work that they really become perfectionists and really spend time paying attention to detail regarding the look and feel of their programs.  

At ASTE, I was introduced to an app creator (for iOS and Android apps) similar to Scratch called Game Salad. I was really interested in having my programming kids use this, but unfortunately it only runs on OS X Lion, which our student computers don't have.  A person I follow in my Twitter PLN had tweeted about another similar program called Stencyl.  Although not quite as nice as Game Salad, it works pretty well, and my students started using it a couple of weeks ago.  It is a lot like Scratch, and many of them were actually very happy to get back to that and away from the text based programming.  

As a teacher, one of the things I love about students programming is how many of the ISTE NETs standards it meets - and easily! I find that it nicely fits the following NETSs standards:


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1. Creativity and Innovation:

Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology. 

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3. Research and Information Fluency:

Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information. 

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4. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making:

Students use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve problems, and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources.

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6. Technology Operations and Concepts:

Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology concepts, systems, and operations.