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

Game Ideas

I want to create a game that will be beneficial to the student programs I coordinate and teach at work.  Some of the ideas I have is launching rockets, phases of the moon, creating life that could survive on Mars.  Whatever topic I choose, I want to incorporate math. 

DEJ #5

“The traditional kindergarten approach to learning is well matched to the needs of the current society, and should be extended to learners of all ages.”

After kindergarten, many subjects tend to leave behind creative thinking.  Create thinking will not only help students achieve higher scores on standardized testing, but will also them succeed in all aspects of life.  When I first started reading this, I was surprised that the author thought that all grades should model after methods used in the kindergarten classroom, but then quickly agreed after finding out that creative thinking is supported in kindergarten and should be used in all subject areas.

“One reason, I believe, is a lack of appreciation for the importance of helping young people develop as creative thinkers. Another reason has to do with the availability of appropriate media and technologies.”

Students not only enjoy using media and technology in the classroom, but use it everyday outside of school.  Studies have shown that using technology can help teachers teach creative and critical thinking skills.  School systems want students to excel on standardized testing, where the underlying principle on all subject areas on the test requires students to use critical thinking skills.  Hopefully, school systems will recognize that technology is important to today’s generation and try to gain as much technology as they can for the schools. 

“But, with a few notable exceptions, such as the Sim series games and Shaffer’s “epistemic games” [18], currently-available video games do not support kindergarten-style learning. Even games that engage children in strategic thinking and problem solving provide few opportunities for children to design and create a key ingredient in the kindergarten approach to learning.”

I agree that more games should be created that involve the kindergarten approach to learning.  After reading this statement, along with the other statements about the LEGO NXT robot kits, I disagree with the author.  I am not sure when the article was published, but LEGO has created WeDo robotics, primarily for students in grades K-4.  This robotic kit in particular allows students to create animals, people, transportation, etc. The students can build whatever they chose, create a story using whatever they build, and program it to tell their story.  This allows for more creative thinking compared to the LEGO Mindstorm series.  However, the mindstorm series, students can come up with several robot designs and determine how their robot can be used to help a real-life process. 

Resnick, M. (n.d.). All i really need to know (about creative thinking)i learned (by studying how children learn) in kindergarten. Retrieved from http://web.media.mit.edu/~mres/papers/kindergarten-learning-approach.pdf

Gayle's Preschool Rainbow - Activity Central

This website organizes kindergarten activities by themes and promotes creative thinking on all levels.  Teachers are able to share ideas and even post their favorite activities. 

Jacobs, G. (1999). Gayle's preschool rainbow - activity central. Retrieved from http://www.preschoolrainbow.org/

DEJ #4

“For whenever one plays a game, and whatever game one plays, learning happens constantly, whether the players want it to, and are aware of it, or not. 

Learning without knowing, may be one of the best methods to teach a new concept.  When students hear that they will be learning something new or difficult, they will sometimes give up before they try and/ or complain they don’t want to learn it.  So if students are doing something they like, such as playing a game, they will be learning without even realizing it.

“And the more a game’s content “simulates” anything in the real world, the more one learns about how to do things in that world.”

As teachers, we have learned that if a student learns a concept that connects to a real-life situation, it will make the learning more relevant to them; they will be able to better apply and retain that knowledge.  Students will be able to understand that they may use the concept they are learning about everyday day or at some point in their life. 

“Players learn through their games to handle cultural relativity, and to deal with different people and roles.”

Some games introduce people and/or creatures that are different from them.  The player has to learn about the other people/ creatures in order to succeed.  This skill is similar to students learning about each others’ differences and backgrounds.  I believe this skill will also lead to students making good moral decisions in the game and in the real world.

Prensky, M. (2002). What kid's learn that is positive from playing video games. Retrieved from https://online.fairmontstate.edu/webct/urw/lc15057011.tp0/cobaltMainFrame.dowebct

Media Awareness Network

This website lists good aspects of video games that parents should be looking for when they are purchasing video games for their kids.  This website also lists other articles, blogs, and educational games. 

Media awareness network. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/parents/video_games/choosing_videogames.cfm