G'A'M'E'S' Great Applications for Multimedia Engagement of Students

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G.A.M.E.S.Great Applications for Multimedia
Engagement of Students

• Sue Summerford
• MACUL Conference, Grand Rapids, MI
• March 5 7, 2008

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Todays Agenda

• Session Objectives Participants will
• Discuss Game-Based Learning (GBL), its
  application to higher level learning, and the
  direction of educational technology in the early
  21st century
• Create simple video games by exploring powerful,
  user-friendly game design applications
• Create a video game to save and take home
• Experience the hands-on constructivist learning
  that engages todays students
• Gain knowledge of gaming resources online,
  adaptable curriculum, and affordable gaming
  solutions for the classroom
• Take back ideas to incorporate gaming into the
  classroom

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Todays Agenda

• Getting Started Video-Gaming Basics
  (vocabulary, interactive quiz, game design
  curriculum, storyboarding, If/Then statements)
• GameMaker Tools
• Create Ball Game using GameMaker resource
  files, test run
• Review learning
• Break
• Create Maze Game with variations, test run
• Discuss Game-Based Learning (GBL), its
  application to higher level learning, and the
  direction of educational technology in the early
  21st century
• Lunch
• Introduction to The Games Factory 2 (59), create
  Chocobreak game using tutorial
• Explore other gaming applications (Scratch,
  Stagecast Creator)
• Break
• Explore gaming resources online
• Discussion Additional applications of gaming in
  the curriculum
• How might you use this in your classroom?
• Wrap up evaluation

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Who are we?

• Audience
• K-5 Classroom Teachers?
• 6-12 Classroom Teachers?
• K-12 Computer Teachers?
• ISD or District Tech Coordinators?
• Administrators?
• Students or Student Teachers?
• Computer Science Instructors?
• Programmers?

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Who Are We Teaching?

• Todays students are no longer the people our
  educational system was designed to teach.
• Marc Prensky, Author
• (Dont Bother Me Mom . . . Im Learning,
  and Digital Game-Based Learning)

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Todays College FreshmanA Fish in Water
Technology Immersion
Online Coursework
Text Messages (IM, SMS)
Wireless web (Sidekick, Blackberry)
Email
Video Games (Xbox 360, Wii, Playstation)
iPod (podcasts, music, video)
Virtual Worlds (World of Warcraft, Rune,
Neverwinter Nights, Second Life, Active Worlds)
Social Networking (Facebook, MySpace)
Skype
Concept from Dont Be Overwhelmed by
TechnologyGet a Grip, Readers Digest, January
2008, quote by Griffin Kiritsy, University of New
Hampshire freshman, http//www.rd.com/content/dont
-be-overwhelmed-by-technology-get-a-grip/?taxoLink

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What is Literacy?

• The illiterate of the 21st century will not be
  those who cannot read or write, but those who
  cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.
• Alvin Toffler

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Education in the Industrial Age
The way we were taught
If there were any people of color, they were made
out to be strange, foreign different
NMSU Matrix Project
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Classrooms Yesterday and Today
NMSU Matrix Project
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Students today
NMSU Matrix Project
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The Way the World is
NMSU Matrix Project
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Think About This . . .

• What does it mean when our children are doing
  things that we have never experienced?
• What is the echo of the baby boom ?
• How is technology affecting it?
• What was your experience with games when you were
  growing up?

NMSU Matrix Project
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What do we know about engaged learning?
How we learn something can be more important than
what we learn.
Learning is a social and cultural activity
NMSU Matrix Project
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Good Things Come in Threes

• Universal Design
• for Learning (UDL)
• Presentation
• Engagement
• Expression

• Differentiated Instruction
• Content
• Process
• Product

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Teaching for Engaged Learning-Six suggestions
from the Research

• Provide multiple ways for students to learn and
  demonstrate learning including (UDL - Universal
  Design for Learning)
• Support student-focused learning
• Consider errors as opportunities to understand
  student thinking

NMSU Matrix Project
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Teaching for Engaged Learning-Six suggestions
from the Research

• Encourage student thinking metacognition
• Plan opportunities for knowledge construction by
  inquiry learning
• Follow the Nintendo Principle Ensure there is
  enough feedback that students always know how
  they are doing

NMSU Matrix Project
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Big ideas

• Kids are different today / we should teach them
  differently
• Research says games are good for kids
• Games are not a silver bullet (but in the future?)

Wiebe
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Big ideas

• Students are different now / we should be
  teaching differently
• Gaming is supported with research
• Gaming is good for kids
• Using games in the classroom entails risk
• More questions than answers

Wiebe
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What is a game?

• Whats your definition?

Wiebe
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What is a game?

• A series of meaningful choices
• One or more linked challenges in a simulated
  environment
• Exceptionally tasty patterns of reality
• What is a video game?

Wiebe
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Can we agree?

• Difficult meaningful choices in a simulated
  reality

Wiebe
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• Kids are different today than they were 30 years
  ago?

Wiebe
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30 years does make a difference! (Wiebe)

• Long hair
• Rolling Stones
• Pay phone
• Pop tops
• Baby boomers

• Longing for hair
• Kidney stones
• Cell phone
• Laptops
• iKids

Wiebe
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Pong / 1975
Wiebe
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Galaga 1985
Wiebe
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Rise of Nations / 2005
Wiebe
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Solve the problem

• Games havent gotten simpler over time Theyve
  gotten more complex
• Why?
• Because the brain demands it

Wiebe
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Who are the iKids?

• Center of their world is the Internet
• Dont know a world without cell phones, CDs,
  computers, or on-demand music
• Second generation technology users (Digital
  Natives)
• 95 of teenagers access the Web every day
• 75 use the Internet rather than library
• 80 instant message at least once a week
• 8 million new blogs in the last year / many
  created by students

Wiebe
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Who are the iKids?

• 650 freshmen at MIT
• 88 played games before age 10
• 60 spend at least an hour a week gaming- Kurt
  Squire
• 82 minutes a day on social networks
• i.e. MySpace, Flickr, Facebook- Kaiser Family
  Foundation

Wiebe
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Who are the iKids?

• Wired differently
• They count with their thumbs
• More abstract / emotional / right brained
• Multi-taskers

Wiebe
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Wiebe
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So what?

• Our students are different / they require
  different instruction that includes gaming
• We should be using their tools
• Gen X Baby Boomers vs. iKids

Wiebe
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Games in the Real World

• CIA spies will learn craft via game
• USA Today June 16, 2005
• Video game key to Edwards Nascar victory
• Washington Post June 13, 2005
• 3Dsolve delivers virtual training to U.S. Army
• Triangle Business Journal November 28, 2005

Wiebe
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What are some gaming myths?

• Scientific evidence links violence and video
  games
• Its mostly kids
• Its mostly boys
• Games are not a true form of artistic expression

See Notes
Wiebe
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What are some gaming myths?

• Gaming creates isolated loners
• I cant cover all of the content!
• Its really not that big of a deal
• Others?

www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolution/impact/myths.
html
Wiebe
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Gaming myths?
2005 Reuters
reuter..secondlife.com
Wiebe
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Linden Dollar 2008 (Second Life)
2/26/2008 Reuters
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Why do games work?

• Why do people play video games?
• The brain searches for patterns
• It chunks those patterns into icons
• Games provide structured, recognizable patterns
• Icons of reality and so impact the brain long
  term
• No messy details to filter out
• Reality without the danger

Wiebe
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Why do games work?

• Why do people dream?
• What gets fired is longer wired
• The brain dreams to practice what it learned
  during the day by re-firing neurons
• Keep whats important / lose whats not
• Whats important?
• Whatever provides the most input
• Game provide tons of input!

Wiebe
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Why do games work?

• What role does emotion play in thinking?
• almost every thought, no matter how bland, is
  accompanied by an emotion, no matter how subtle.
  (Restack 1995)
• Emotional chemicals literally modify synapses to
  increase cognitive activity and improve problem
  solving skills
• Video games are great for emotional arousal

Wiebe
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Why do games work?

• Why do we laugh?
• The brain is social, creating community and
  finding ways to belong to groups
• Games can encourage / support group and
  collaborative learning

Wiebe
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Why do games work?

• Basic idea?
• Quality games create high levels of learning
• High levels of learning result in high levels of
  pleasure brain chemicals
• People like high levels of pleasure

Wiebe
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Why Games Engage Us (Prensky)

• Fun
• Play
• Rules
• Goals
• Interactive
• Outcomes Feedback
• Adaptive
• Win states
• Conflict, competition
• Problem solving
• Interaction with people
• Representation Story

• Enjoyment and Pleasure
• Intense involvement
• Structure
• Motivation
• Doing
• Learning
• Flow
• Ego Gratification
• Adrenaline
• Creativity
• Social Groups
• Emotion

http//www.marcprensky.com
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Why We Learn From Games (Prensky) (from James
Paul Gee What Video Games Have to Teach Us About
Learning and Literacy)
1. Doing and reflecting 2. Appreciating good
design 3. Seeing interrelationships 4. Mastering
game language 5 Relating the game world to other
worlds 6. Taking risks with reduced
consequences 7. Putting out effort because they
care 8. Combining multiple identities 9. Watching
their own behavior 10.Getting more out than what
they put in 11.Being rewarded for
achievement 12.Being encouraged to
practice 13.Having to master new skills at each
level 14.Tasks being neither too easy nor too
hard. 15.Doing, thinking and strategizing 16.Getti
ng to do things their own way 17.Discovering
meaning 18.Reading in context
19.   Relating information 20.   Meshing
information from multiple media 21.  
Understanding how knowledge is stored 22.  
Thinking intuitively 23.   Practicing in a
simplified setting 24.   Being led from easy
problems to harder ones 25.   Mastering upfront
things needed later 26.   Repeating basic skills
in many games 27.   Receiving information just
when it is needed 28.   Trying rather than
following instructions 29.   Applying learning
from problems to later ones 30.   Thinking about
the game and the real world 31.   Thinking about
the game and how they learn 32.   Thinking about
the games and their culture 33.   Finding meaning
in all parts of the game 34.   Sharing with
other players 35.   Being part of the gaming
world 36.   Helping others and modifying games,
in addition to just playing.
http//www.marcprensky.com
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What We Learn from Games (Prensky) Areas various
researchers claim are improved
by playing
Video games
visual selective attention multiple task
processing rule understanding strategy morality e
thics identity flow traditional literacy
digital literacy new media literacy
concentration social skills
stress relief scientific thinking intellectual
development affective development social
development transfer comprehension skills
academic skills strategies procedures use of
symbols problem solving sequence
learning deductive reasoning
http//www.marcprensky.com
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Five Things We Learn from Games (Prenksy/simplifie
d)

• How (to do things)
• What (Rules)
• Why (Strategies)
• Where (Environment)
• When / Whether (Ethics)

http//www.marcprensky.com
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So . . . use games because they

• Teach how problems can be approached from
  multiple points of view
• Build key life-long skills
• Decision making, problem solving, team building
  and information sharing
• Encourage students to use their initiative and
  creativity
• Especially writing skills and multimedia

Wiebe
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Not To Be Overlooked . . .

• Mobile games
• Potential for more students to have access
• Growing body of choices

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So . . . use games because they

• Require old-fashioned research skills
• Are adaptable to specific, desired educational
  objectives
• Support engagement with the content due to their
  competitive nature
• Encourage use of the three story intellect (p. xx)

Wiebe
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Credits

• Marc Prensky, www.marcprensky.com
• Glenn Wiebe, socialstudiescentral.com
• The New Mexico State University Matrix Project,
  Karin Wiburg, Rocio Benedicto, Harry Schulte,
  Barbara Chamberlin, NMSU Mobile Games Summit,
  http//cahe.nmsu.edu/academics/ipod/documents/mobi
  le_games_summit.ppt