Transcript Game programming, the Computer Game Design, Programming, Multimedia and Mathematics Cluster Tony Forster ASISTM Computer Game Design, Programming, Multimedia and Mathematics Cluster.

Game programming, the
Computer Game Design,
Programming, Multimedia and
Mathematics Cluster
Tony Forster
ASISTM Computer Game Design, Programming,
Multimedia and Mathematics Cluster.
"The mind is not a vessel to be
filled but a fire to be kindled."
Plutarch (46 - 127)
Beginnings
• The computer games project had its genesis
around 2002 when a number of teachers
independently recognised the power of the
freeware programming language
Gamemaker www.gamemaker.nl
2003 Gamemaker projects
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Woodville High,
Newtown High,
Newman College,
Glenelg School and
Haileybury College
Forums
• 2004
• http://lyris.education.tas.gov.au:8080/read/?
forum=gamemaker
• 2005
• http://www.groups.edna.edu.au/course/view.
php?id=81
ASISTM funding 2005
• With the granting of Commonwealth
Australian School Innovation in Science,
Technology and Mathematics (ASISTM)
funding in 2005, the cluster formally came
into existence. The Cluster is a
geographically dispersed cluster of 6
schools and 2 other organisations in 3 states
of Australia.
Partner organisations
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Australian Centre for the Moving Image
Cedar College (Greenacres) SA
Forster Engineering Services Pty Ltd
Glenelg Primary School (Glenelg East)SA
Kardinia International College (Geelong)VIC
New Town High School (New Town)TAS
Westall Secondary College (Clayton South)VIC
Woodville High School (Woodville)SA
Award Winning Teachers
• Margaret Meijers Microsoft Innovative
Teacher Award, and National Awards for
Quality Schooling Best National
Achievement by a Teacher.
• Al Upton is South Australian Computer
Educator of the Year
• Roland Gesthuizen, ICTEV Computer
Educator of the Year 1996
Activities
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Web resources
Conferences & Professional Development
Game Programming Competition
Research
Web resources
• http://beam.to/billkerr
• http://www.mindtools.tased.edu.au/gamemaker
• http://alupton.wordpress.com/learning/gamemaker/
• http://www.freewebs.com/schoolgamemaker/
http://beam.to/billkerr
http://www.mindtools.tased.edu.au/gamemaker
http://alupton.wordpress.com/learning/game-maker/
http://alupton.wordpress.com/learning/game-maker/
http://www.freewebs.com/schoolgamemaker/
Conferences & Professional
Development
• The inaugural Australian Game
Programming in Schools Conference was
held on Friday Sep 9, 2005
• Marc Prensky 28 Feb 2006
• James Gee 20 August 2006
• Numerous PD in Victoria, the Northern
Territory, South Australia, Victoria and
Queensland.
Game Programming Competition
• ScreenIt 2005 primary
• ScreenIt 2006 primary & secondary
• http://www.acmi.net.au/screenit.htm
Research
• The cluster has engaged Dr. Bernard
Holkner of Monash University to produce a
research report on the work of the cluster.
WHY
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The Changes in Educational Needs of
Children
• Google now indexes 24,000,000,000 pages
• today’s children will be adults in a world
where computers may be 1,000,000,000
times more powerful than today
• less need to teach facts and lower order
skills
• more need for higher order cognitive and
metacognitive skills
Prensky (2005)
A pedagogy with pedigree
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Plutarch
Dewey
Piaget
Vygotsky
Papert
Crawford
"The mind is not a vessel to be
filled but a fire to be kindled."
Plutarch (46 - 127)
John Dewey (1933/1998)
• Education depended
on action. Knowledge
and ideas emerged
from experiences that
have meaning and
importance to learners.
John Dewey (1933/1998)
• Learning occurs
where students join
in manipulating
materials, creating a
community of
learners who build
their knowledge
together.
Jean Piaget (1896-1980)
• ‘To understand is to discover, or reconstruct
by rediscovery, and such conditions must be
complied with if in the future individuals
are to be formed who are capable of
production and creativity and not simply
repetition’ (Piaget, 1973)
Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934)
• Learning is most
effective in a zone
of proximal
development
where the child can
function with just a
little assistance.
Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934)
• Learning is a social
process, teachers
provide a scaffolding
process to provide
non-intrusive
intervention.
Constructivism / Constructionism:
learners construct new ideas or
concepts based upon their
current/past knowledge. The learner
selects and transforms information,
constructs hypotheses, and makes
decisions, relying on a cognitive
structure to do so
http://www.papert.org/articles/SituatingConstructionism.html
• “Literature on school improvement is full of
exhortations to make the content of
instruction "relevant." …….. But if one
does belong to a culture in which video
games are important, transforming oneself
from a consumer to a producer of games
may well be an even more powerful way for
some children to find importance in what
they are doing.”
Situating Constructionism By Seymour Papert and Idit Harel, the first chapter in
Seymour Papert and Idit Harel's book Constructionism (Ablex Publishing
Corporation, 1991).
http://www.papert.org/articles/SituatingConstructionism.html
• "Games are thus the most
ancient and time-honored
vehicle for education. They
are the original educational
technology, the natural one,
having received the seal of
approval of natural selection.
We don't see mother lions
lecturing cubs at the
chalkboard; we don't see
senior lions writing their
memoirs for posterity
The Art of Computer Game Design by Chris Crawford
1982
http://www.vancouver.wsu.edu/fac/peabody/gamebook/Coverpage.html
I believe:
• children learn by processing information through
their own cognitive structures
• engagement is the key
• tasks have to be relevant and meaningful
• publishing of student work is important
• rote learning of content is less important than
developing higher order cognitive skills
• learners should engage with the wider community
• it is not just publishing that is important, it is the
interactive ongoing conversation in a wider
environment than just the school / educational
community
Kerr Manifesto
http://learningevolves.wikispaces.com/game+making+manifesto
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Game making is motivating and an excellent introduction to programming
Game making programs now exist which make it easier than it was before
Programming is a HOT (higher order thinking) activity
Programming is hard and perhaps not everyone can do it or would want to do it
Everyone ought to receive an invitation to be taught programming, which they can experience
(toe in water), accept or reject
We need good teachers of programming, teachers who understand both programming, learning
theory and learners
Teachers of programming need to develop (design, program, refactor, test, publish) their own
programs / games. Eat your own dogfood.
It is even better if the programming is linked to significant social justice issues, eg. africaGame
Blogs and wikis ought to be incorporated into the development process to enhance
communication and collaboration
Blogs and wikis aren't enough on their own. We need to study and / or develop design and
communication tools that represent this whole process and enable it to be better discussed and
communicated, eg. UML diagrams, design patterns
Learning theory continues to evolve dynamically, that needs to be integrated into this whole
process
Justification of games programming
Games programming can be justified on three
grounds:
• transferable cognitive skills,
• metacogitive skills and
• affective benefits:
transferable cognitive skills
• The idea behind transferable cognitive skills
is that students are learning skills in areas
such as mathematics and literacy while
programming games and that these skills
will transfer to the more traditional areas
with measurable outcomes.
Metacognitive skills
• Metacognitive skills are the self
management skills we employ when we are
learning.
Affective benefits
• Affective benefits refers to our attitudes to
school, teachers and classrooms. If students
enjoy going to school, they will learn better.
transferable cognitive skills
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Cartesian coordinates
Negative number
Position, speed, acceleration
Algebraic variables
Relative & absolute value
Estimation
Chance
A programming language similar to Visual Basic
New unidentified skills for a digital age?
Cross curriculum
• Game programming could be a framework
within which team skills, music, art, drama,
maths, history, geography or almost
anything could be learned. The important
feature of the game is its power to motivate.
Motivation leads to learning.
• ‘The computer is a medium of human
expression and if it has not yet had its
Shakespeares, its Michelangelos or its
Einsteins, it will. …. We have scarcely
begun to grasp its human and social
implications.’(Papert 1990)
TWO WAY WEB
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webpage
Wiki,
blog,
podcast,
videocast,
Skypecast,
Teamspeak,
Ventrilo
Flickr
Google Video/Youtube
Two way web because
• learners benefit from publication of their
endeavours
• learning is a social process, it thrives in a
community
• teachers learn from their peers
• schools should engage with their
communities