Week 6: Programming and Simulation contd & Learning through Gaming

In this session we continued to look at software programs which allow children to explore programming, and began to look a little further into how gaming and creating your own computer game, can enrich or enhance learning.


Gaming Software 


Microsoft Kodu Gamelab

http://www.kodugamelab.com


In this great piece of software you create your own world and character and design a puzzle like game or activity for them to complete through programming them.

The interface is very user-friendly with a great colourful and simple aesthetic. We had a go creating our own game using a template as a base. Though a little baffling at first, once I had an understanding of the controls and how to control my 'Kodu', I really enjoyed using the software. 

I can imagine that children, once given clear instrcutions as to how the software works, would have lots of fun creating their own game. I think it would be more suitable for a KS2 class. I also had some issues with the fact that you can get your character to 'shoot' at other things. Though the shooting didn't have violent outcomes within the game, I don't  think it's something I'd necessarily want to encourage in the classroom.

But the idea of children being able to create their own game is a really exciting one. It can imagine it would bring the children a great sense of achievement and pride, and it's a great way of engaging  them in computer programming wihtout it feeling something too abstract and irrelevent a skill; it becomes a skill which is meaningful.


Also children are no longer the passive consumers of games, they become the game makers themselves. This enables them to become more discerning consumers, more critical and engaged with how games are designed effectively and what the possibilities for gaming are.


Dance to Advance

http://www.easilearn.com/global/browse2.aspx?selectedId=31659

This brilliant software useful for both teachers and children enables you to set up questions which are answered through performing certain dance moves on an interactive dance mat. Much like the ones you see in arcades, you can step forwards, backwards, left, right and diagonally. The software is really easy to use; you can choose your own avatar and music. It has different levels already designed which correlate to certain ages of children so you can make sure they are appropriate.

Teacher or  pupil are able to make their own questions and  put multiple choice questions that correspond to a step to be answered. I really enjoyed using this software, and can see it being used effectively in the classroom. It would be a great starter or plenary activity, to see how much children have understood from previous lessons, or picked up in the lesson that day.


I also think children would enjoying designign their own ones for their friends, and again would allow a teacher to see how a topic is understood through which questions and answers the child poses.

Other useful Resources


We also briefly looked at some useful websites the children could use to enrich their learning in the classroom.


Voki

http://www.voki.com

This website lets you create an Avatar of your choice and choose a background for them so it looks like a little postcard. You can record a message onto the postcard through a microphone or type, which your avatar then recounts. This avatar can be accessed anywhere remotely, and be sent to friends and family. 


I thought this would be lovely to use for a Geography project, where children send a postcard message home about what they have seen on their travels, or for English, to retell a story they had been looking at in the classroom. There are also lessons plans included on the site, to help give teachers ideas as to how they could use Voki in their lessons.


Wordle

http://www.wordle.net

ICT in Primary Education


This website allows you to create your own colourful word map which can customise. The visuals are really aethetic, it would be a great thing to use to make word banks for the children, or key words for a topic sheet, or for the children to use to write up key words of a certain topic they have been studying.





Is there a place for Gaming in the Classroom?


After trying these different programs I began to think about what place gaming has in learning and the classroom? Is the use of gaming effective?


I think gaming, if used in a focused way for a particular reason, could be effective in the classroom. I can see children looking forward to me getting out the Dance to Advance mat to see what I would be trying to catch them out on this time. I also think things like game lab do help children develop their skills in perception and dimension and spatial awareness, as well as logic, strategy and forward- thinking. If used in the right way, gaming can have great educational value as a means of enriching learning.

Gaming can also inspire other kinds of work across the curriculum. During our seminar we watched a video about a game which a teacher had used as inspiration for poetry - the children had to write about their games, and in doing so were developing their skills in building narratives and using adjectives and rhyme. 






M-Learning


We concluded the seminar by looking briefly at the idea of M-Learning. 
M-Learning is "Mobile Learning". It is considered more prevalent than e-Learning now. M-Learning refers to the way in which resources are now accessible from a wide range of mobile resources - from smart phones to iPads - learning resources can be accessed from anywhere now. We looked at how a school was faciliating this kind of learning through asking children to research a project on the Tudors via the use of iPods. It made me aware of the possibility that this kind of learning could be happening more in the future.