Teaching Thinking Skills Through Game Authoring - Caspian Learning
Bullying was something that had affected every pupil, either directly or indirectly, and was also a topic that lent itself well to the one-on-one relationship within a game. The pupils developed mind maps on bullying and transition, looking at the issues that needed to be addressed in the game. There were certain topics that the children specifically wanted to cover in the game, such as what is acceptable and unacceptable behaviour, how bullying affects teachers, victims, victim’s friends and the bully themselves, and how every action has a consequence. These mind maps formed the basis of the specific elements that were required for each individual task in the game. The tasks were then ordered to devise a route for the character travelling through the game. To test out how their tasks behaved within an application, the pupils ‘hacked’ their tasks into existing Caspian games such as The French Revolution and Respiration. When the task was up and running, it was tested by the group. Tasks were judged on clarity of instruction, learning goal suitability, clarity of information and the ‘feel’ of the task. It was interesting to see the students being engaged at this stage. The groups needed to analyse and explore the way they think and learn, as well as how a potential user would react to the task. The process of setting a learning goal – what the character needed to know by the end of the game and deciding how best to pass this information on to the user in the game also engaged the children in a sophisticated level of learning. The final – and for many of the children the most exciting – stage was to choose the 3D environment that would be most suited to the overall theme of the game, as well as the motivation and playability of the title. The children looked through the extensive Thinking Worlds library of environments and selected suitable environments and characters. In this case a school and labs, with a school student avatar. Once this was complete, the application was coded and compiled into a finished product. It was then trialled by over 250 Year 10 pupils from our school who fed back their comments and experiences. The development group gained really positive feedback from their peers on game play as well as educational content and implemented many of their suggestions. Speaking about A New Beginning, Corey Grant a pupil from St. Roberts school said: “We wanted to develop a game that would help other children through a stressful period. We have received really positive feedback from younger students that have played A New Beginning, each of them saying that they felt more equipped to deal with bullying and the move to secondary school. We all hope that other students in similar positions will be able to learn from the game and develop the skills that they need to cope with the difficulties that school life throws at you.” Thinking Worlds is free for anyone to download and use to develop their own games from the Thinking Worlds website. A New Beginning has been added to Thinking Worlds, so those interested in the game can play, edit, and share it globally. A New Beginning is an example of where the use of learning-based games in education is heading. The future is in the development of highly personalised and specific video games. By giving students and teachers the tools to actually develop their own games that are wholly relevant to the curriculum, we are set to see a step-change in the use of educational games in the classroom over the coming years and a shift in the opinion that is currently surrounding the use of games in education.
|
