DEJ # 11

“Throughout social and behavioral science discourse on social and cognitive development, game play is regarded as an important arena for the development and formation of thinking, identities, values and norms (Cole, 1996; Piaget, 1951; Rogoff, 1990).”

Several studies have shown that game play can enhance critical thinking skills and provide the player with an identity.  Maybe school systems will begin to realize that good games can help in areas that the school systems want to improve.  Hopefully in the future, game play will be embedded into all subjects. 

“From such a perspective, the computer game is not treated as a thing in its own right, but rather, as something whose meanings, functions and effects are shaped by how we use them and talk about them in different contexts (Hutchby, 2001; Heath & Luff, 2000).”

The popularity of video games increases when players communicate strategies about the game and what they like/dislike about the game.  I believe if we show students good educational games in the classroom, then maybe students will play these games at home and discuss these games with their friends.  The educational games will become more popular and more liked.

“Games also seem to offer something which is acknowledged as increasingly important in research on learning: collaboration and sharing of ideas and strategies (Crook, 1998; Kumpalainen & Mutanen, 2000; Tudge & Rogoff, 1989)”

Research has showed the positive and negative effects on collaboration.  When students play video games, they do not realize they are collaborating with other when they share strategies, success, and failure.  There are many games where students can connect with their friends while playing.  Hopefully soon, more educational games will be created that will have a way for students to connect with their classmates at their school and maybe across the country. 

Arnseth, H. (2006). Learning to play or playing to learn - a critical account of the models of communication informing educational research on computer gameplay. The international journal of computer game research, 6(1), retrieved from https://online.fairmontstate.edu/webct/urw/lc15057011.tp0/cobaltMainFrame.dowebct

Angry Birds Space: NASA Announcement

Angry Birds is a very popular game.  I would guess there is only a small percentage of students with smart phones or devices that doesn’t play it.  So what a better way to teach physics principles to your students!  This video shows an astronaut on the ISS explaining the new Angry Birds in Space game and how it relates to understanding the laws of motion in order to understand how to play the game. 

Angry birds space: nasa announcement [Web]. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxI1L1RiSJQ

Week 12 Final Draft of Scratch Game

I wanted to create a game that I could use at work.  We needed to add more content to our model rocketry workshop, so that is why I chose to focus my game on learning Newton’s Laws of Motion.  This game gives you the definition and you have to choose the correct corresponding law.    

The process I used to create this game was trial and error.  I would come up with an idea then try to program it.  I had to do this several times and examine other projects that were similar to mine so that I could get other ideas of how to ask the questions and provide feedback for each of the answers.  Creating this game was challenging for me, but I learned patience and persistence. I also learned that there are several ways to program a basic concept. 

I really liked that I was the science teacher in this game.  It shows the current and future generations that anyone can be a “scientist,” even a female scientist!  If I could change anything in my game, I would want to add more questions.  I want to continue creating games that I can use in my workshops and in my future classroom.   

Scratch Game Revisions

The revisions I made to my game were adding a more colorful/scientific background and adding music.  I was more pleased with my game after I changed these two things.  Someone else commented that they got all of the answers right and were surprised.  This happened because at the time, the law would say correct no matter if it was the right answer or not.  I am currently working on correcting this.  I want the players to chose any law and the answer show correct of incorrect.  This project has really sharpened my thinking skills!

Story Board and Rough Draft

My game is called Newton Knows Best.  Students learn Newton's Laws of Motion by matching the laws to their definitions.  I am still working on the game.  I plan to work on changing the other law sprites by having them say incorrect when they are clicked after the question is asked.


Here is my story board.

Here is my rough draft.

Scratch Game Ideas

I learned so much from the three tutorials.  I had some problems with downloading the attachments for the maze, but I got the general idea of how to create one.  Like I have said before, I would like to create a game that I can use at work for my student workshops.  But I think I could use a pac-man type of game and incorporate math problems and science concepts to move on to different levels.  

DEJ #7

Why should programming be part of school curriculum?

"In addition, there is also a high volume of projects being
created over the summer months (especially in June and July of 2006) in
the absence of extensive mentoring support. We interpret this as an indication
of the extended and prolonged impact that mentoring support can have
on a programming culture beyond (or at least temporarily beyond) the
weekly visits of the mentors."
　
Many school systems are worried that students lose the content they learned in the previous school year over their summer break. This proves that using different technologies in the classroom can increase interest in content and retention of content, even over the summer months. Today's generations spend a large amount of time playing video games, so if teachers use them in the classroom, the students can still be learning while having fun outside of the classroom.

What are the barriers to implementing programming in schools?

"Researchers like Rogers (1995) have distinguished different phases from
adoption which describes the selection of a technology to diffusion that refers
to more wide-spread use and, finally, integration that illustrates acceptance
in the community of practice."
　
Some older generations fear the implementation of technology. This is one of many barriers that school systems face when implementing technology, especially implementing programming into the classroom. The school system needs the approval of the community. Other factors that effect implementation of programming is money to fund the program and to pay certifiied technology teachers, which are limited.

How can barriers to implementing programming in schools be overcome?

"Realizing that simply providing access to programming
software would be insufficient, we created opportunities for
Clubhouse members to interact with adult mentors who were learning to
program as well."

One of the barriers that school systems have to face to implement programming is finding teachers that have experience with programming. Hopefully, school systems can utilize college interns to mentor young students. Not only have these mentors grown up in a technologically savoy society, but they are at an age that the students will relate to.

DEJ #6

“By introducing media arts practices, we are trying to broaden our view of literacy practices to describe the ways in which individuals use literacy and learn to be literate within the specific context of new media.”

We know that today’s students use a variety of technology in their everyday lives.  If we can teach literacy in a way that is relevant to them, I think they will better understand the concept.  Our previous article mentioned incorporating more creative thinking skills into the curriculum, so by introducing media arts practices we can achieve this. 

“Programming in this context is less about code and more about creativity or personal expression.”

I believe a lot of students shy away from computer programming careers because of learning to code.  It is complex and hard to understand for most people.  We need to show our students the creative side to programming.  I was afraid of computer programming until I learned about scratch.  Scratch allowed me to be able to be creative in an easier way. 

“Brandy’s case illustrates that computation can be used as a way to tell stories or to create personally meaningful artwork in the case of the birthday card.  Computation is also a learned skill that becomes useful as youth, even those like Brandy that are unable to read, can use for creative production.”

There are a lot of students like Brandy that teachers have to deal with everyday.  They may or may not come from a troubled home and have learning problems on top of that.  I think these troubled students would be more willing to try when they can be creative and show others how to do something.  They feel smart and important. 

Peppler, K., & Kafai, Y. (n.d.). Collaboration, computation, and creativity: media arts practices in urban youth culture. (University of California in Los Angeles)Retrieved from https://online.fairmontstate.edu/webct/urw/lc15057011.tp0/cobaltMainFrame.dowebct

http://www.meadahs.org/about/mission.jsp

Media Arts and Entertainment Design Academy High School in Los Angeles is a school that prepares all students for entrance into and graduation from a four-year college or university and provides a rigorous and personalized, standards-based curriculum in a supportive environment that nurtures students professional interests while building their character for success in an ever evolving and challenging global community.  This school has high expectations for all students and believes that all students can produce high quality work. 

Media arts and entertainment design academy high school . (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.meadahs.org/about/mission.jsp