[Yr7-10it] games

[Russell Edwards]

On 10/12/2007, at 5:05 PM, victor rajewski wrote:

>  But where are the immersive 3D educational
> environments? I want a a Quake where a student has to solve a logic
> problem, or paint a picture, or write something, or analyse a piece of
> text or something before they can get to the next stage... Is there
> anything like this? Is anyone working on this?


Not exactly what you're asking for but "Typing of the Dead" fits some  
of those criteria. I decided against using it because it sounds too  
violent and scary for the classroom.

I'm hoping to find time these holidays to work on my own multiplayer  
network typing competition. It won't be first-person 3D; to me, first- 
person shooter games are something different, a kind of virtual  
reality simulation of combat. Take away the combat realism by  
replacing the controls with the solving of puzzles and you've lost  
that VR realism, and may as well lose the first person-3D perspective  
too. That's no great loss--being able to compete against classmates  
(probably with some kind of handicap levelling system) is where the  
real potential for engagement lies. Yeah yeah, that doesn't fit with  
the "collaborate, don't compete" fashion of the moment but that's the  
way kids are--I find they create their own competition if it's not  
structured in to the activities!

Personally though I think the learning potential is greater if kids  
are making their own games, rather than just playing someone else's  
"educational" game. It's more involved, and more involving. It's  
multifaceted creativity, it needs deep thought, it demands persistence  
and rewards this handsomly, and so on. (Have a look through the list  
archives, a number of members have blogs and the likes extolling the  
many benefits of teaching programming.) On the other hand it does has  
more of an engagement hurdle to begin with and some students just  
don't seem to be able to "get it".

cheers

Russell Edwards
Whittlesea Secondary College