Video Games in School Infographic

Earlier this week, a wonderfully informative and interesting infographic was brought to my attention. It is from bestmastersineducation.com and this post is simply going to be dedicated to the infographic (it's a pretty long one). And as ever, if you have anything relevant like this to share, please do so in the comments section or email us at pfinfo@pixelfountain.co.uk



Source: Video Games in School

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10 Serious Games with Serious Messages

I wrote an article back in 2012 called “11 Educational Games for Social Good”.  Since then, more serious games with serious messages have been made.  This list of ten includes games to teach about financial management, the environment, social issues and so on.  The games are all aimed at different ages but many could easily be used in schools.

1. Marine Missions - A game designed by the National Geographic Society to teach children about ocean animals and the importance of water.
2. Budget Hero - This game puts the player in charge of government spending and aims to teach about financial management and decision making.  There is also information specifically for teachers wanting to use the game in class: http://www.teachbudgethero.org/.
3. HeartSaver: An Experimental News Game - The aim of the game is to “Save as many heart attack victims as possible by getting them to the best emergency room in time”.
4. Plan it Green Live - A city builder game to teach about being environmentally friendly and making people aware of the latest ‘green’ technologies.
5. Dafur is Dying - The game “provides a window into the experience of the 2.5 million refugees in the Darfur region of Sudan. Players must keep their refugee camp functioning in the face of possible attack by Janjaweed militias”.
6. Bite Club - The game aims to teach about saving for retirement, paying down debt and managing consumption as players manage a "day club" for vampires.
7. Gauging your Distraction - The game shows how external distractions (in this case, texting) affect drivers’ reaction times.
8. Half the Sky Movement - I play this game as a Facebook app and I love it.  It aims to educate people about women’s issues and oppression around the world.
9. Quandary - “Players aged 8-14 shape the future of a new society while learning how to recognize ethical issues and deal with challenging situations in their own lives”.
10. Financial Football - This is a fast-paced game that engages students while teaching them money management skills.  Teams compete by answering financial questions to win their (American) football game.

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Part 5: Case Study - Code Club

Code Club is a U.K. network of free after-school clubs to teach children between the ages 9 and 11 to program.  It is volunteer-led and it provides groups with specially written projects to help them learn basic programming.  The projects teach children how to program by showing them how to make computer games, animations and websites.

Their mission is to give every child in the UK the chance to learn to code.  They aim to have Code Club in 25% of primary schools in the UK by the end of 2015.  So far they have 899 clubs across the UK.

Each term, children learn new skills.  Terms 1 & 2 use Scratch to teach programming basics.  Term 3 teaches the basics of web development using HTML and CSS.  Term 4 teaches Python and so on.  Volunteers go to their local club for an hour a week and teach one project per week.  Clubs are usually held in schools, but also can be held in libraries, community centres etc.

Their philosophy: “Code Club is about fun, creativity and learning through exploring. It’s important that the children enjoy their time at Code Club and that it doesn’t feel like another school lesson. They should understand that they’re in charge of the computer, and can (and should) make it do what they want, not the other way around.”

They have also launched Code Club World and already have some clubs in other countries.  The mission of CodeClubWorld.org is to give every child in the world the chance to learn to code by providing project materials and a volunteering framework that supports the running of after-school coding clubs.  So far, they have materials in English, Brazilian Portuguese, Dutch, German, Norwegian and Ukranian.  They also welcome any offers to translate the materials into your native language.

If you want to learn more, support Code Club or even start your own visit: codeclub.org.uk or for Code Club World: codeclubworld.org.

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Games Based School

PlayMaker is a school that has been designed and developed by the GameDesk Institute funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and launched in partnership with New Roads Schools.  So what is so special about this school?  The school’s philosophy is that children learn best by playing, making, discovering and enquiring.  They aim to transform the learning process and bring the education system into the 21st century.  Rather than simply talking at children and telling them what to learn, the children are empowered to customise their own path and develop meaningful relationships with subject material.

Image courtesy of PlayMaker School

The school aims to give children hands-on, play-based experiences that engage learners and give them a deeper understanding of the subject matter.  They have re-worked learning spaces, grade levels, traditional subject areas and so on, to create a highly engaging, exciting and 21st century school.  Four main principles guide the school:

1. Learning through play
2. Learning through making
3. Learning through discovery and enquiry
4. Learning through interest-driven curriculum

How does this work at a student level?
Students are in control of their own learning.  They have an ‘Adventure Map’ which is essentially their curriculum but one which they can interact with, personalise and reflect upon.  The Map is made up of curriculum units, which explore a certain subject area in a cross-curricula and project based way (see '10 Benefits of Project Based Learning’).  For example, the roller coaster unit teaches students about friction, speed and distance, kinetic and potential energy, measurement and digital film-making through various exercises including building a physical roller coaster, creating a digital roller coaster and making a short film.  The modules are made up of elements that are great for different types of learners (see ‘Games Based Learning Supports Multiple Learning Styles’).  Once students have completed a module, they ‘unlock’ new areas of the curriculum.

Image courtesy of PlayMaker School

On completing their Adventure Maps, students can see connections between modules and reflect upon their learning (their choices, their progress, standards they have covered etc.).  It also acts as a self-assessment tool for the student as they can see gaps in their knowledge.  This can also be seen and analysed by parents and teachers.  This is added to by a Character Sheet, which records the development of student skills and knowledge.  This feedback encourages students to further develop their self-regulating learning skills.  

The curriculum maps to U.S. standards but also focused on competencies that the PlayMaker school deems important such as systems thinking, problem solving, social-emotional learning, critical thinking, collaboration and other life and career skills (see ‘21st Century Skills and Games Based Learning’).  The school is open source so that the community of teachers and schools can learn from the school (its successes and mistakes).  I imagine that we will start to see more and more schools like this in the near future and hopefully some of them will crop up in the U.K..

Visit the school’s site for more information: http://www.playmaker.org/

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