Is the constructivist approach to educational games possible?

First of all, let’s talk about the constructivist approach to learning. The basic premise is that we gather our knowledge through our experiences. There are several pathways to learn the same thing so the traditional “I talk and you listen” approach is not applicable here. In a constructivist classroom, the students may come up with their own questions and thus it may alter the direction of curriculum learned. Learning is messy and complex, less emphasis is placed on formal evaluations and more on self-evaluation. The constructivist approach is learner centered. So the question is, “can this constructivist approach be applied to computer games”?

In one way I say yes, computer games generally do follow this approach, but from another aspect I think it’s a pretty tricky accomplishment. Let me explain. The “yes” part of me thinks the act of playing computer games conforms to the constructivist approach. You become engaged in a game, providing you with an actual experience. We often play such games by choice; they internally motivate us and can provide immediate feedback which leads to self analysis. Constructivists encourage group work, that can easily be accomplished there are plenty multi-player games out there.

Now, on the other hand, can the game itself possess the constructivist qualities? This is a little tougher, although not impossible. The hard part is creating a game with the flexibility to let the player steer. This means the game must have a lot of possibilities even for a much focused topic. I would almost consider this on the way to Artificial Intelligence (AI). Where the game learns about the player and does stuff accordingly.

Fu-Hsing Tsai, Kuang-Chao Yu and Hsien-Sheng Hsiao wrote a paper and have proposed a game based learning model for designing a constructivist learning environment in online games. Their model appears valid and the explanations make sense but I feel they've missed the breadth and depth that the game maker would need to implement in order to fully follow the constructive approach. The game would have to build on the learners experiences and consider the learners point of view for subsequent levels. It is possible, but the game becomes so much more complex.

Photo courtesy of http://www.etc.edu.cn/eet/articles/learntheory/start.htm

Want to learn Cree?

Cree is a language spoken by the Cree First Nation. This is the largest First Nation in Canada; wikipedia says there are over 200,000 members. Unfortunately many of the native languages of Aboriginal people are dying. In an effort to keep these languages alive a friend of mine is currently developing software to teach Cree. It is a work in progress, so the capacity is limited, but the focus is definitely there. If you’re interested in trying out the software all you have to do is download it to your computer, extract the zip files, and run it. It does run on a Java platform though, so you will need Java installed first.

The program is called Nikamo, it is open source software, so it is free for anyone to use. Although the catch is because it’s free, there is not a very big budget to work with. The original intent of the software was to be a Cree language teaching program, but it can be built to suit, and will eventually expand to include other Aboriginal languages.

The way it works is when you run the program you have 2 choices. You can “click and hear” or “drag and drop”. The click and hear option shows you a picture and a phrase, for example you will see a picture of rain, then the English phrase “It is raining”, then when you click on the picture you will hear the correct pronunciation of the phrase in the Cree language as well as see the correct spelling “kimowan”.

The drag and drop option has pictures on the side, and when you drag the picture over to the scene, the translated object is heard. For example you’ll see a farm background and when you drag the cow over you will hear the correct pronunciation for cow “mʌsdus”.

The software is unique, I found no other programs like this. I especially like the pronunciation feature of it. You actually hear a Cree person saying the word, so the accent is authentic. Another thing I should note is the Cree language has some special symbols that aren’t in our alphabet, so the pronunciation can get tricky.

Top photo courtesy of www.greatcanadianlakes.com

How do YOU create a computer game?

There are various different routes to take if you want to develop your own computer game. The most effective route with the most control would be to create a game from scratch. Well I am going to be honest with you. This is a rather complex process. Computer games are created with a computer programming language. So first of all, you must learn a programming language, preferably an object-orientated one. Some good examples would be C++, Java or Python.

Consider a very simple Java applet that has a bouncing ball. Check out the lines of code needed to create such an applet. There's quite a bit, isn't there? Now don’t get me wrong, I actually am a computer programmer, it is extremely rewarding, but it is also very time consuming. You need a logical brain and plenty of patience.

So, if you don't have the time to master a programming language there are other options. There is software out there that allows you to create computer games without any programming skills at all. I looked at one called Yoyo games. It is software you download to your computer, it has a graphical user interface and it’s free. I even found an instructional YouTube video on how to use it (I don't know about you, but I hate reading instructions). It seems relatively easy, but you don’t have any control comparable to using a programming language. There are other programs like this out there, but none would give you the control of creating from scratch. Look here for a list of others.

Now, if you are looking to create educational games or activities you can use in the classroom there’s software to do that too. Check out EdCreate,you can create your own quiz games, flash cards word searches etc. There are others like classtools.net as well, again, they are quick, easy to use, but you are working with a very limited amount of control.

Top photo courtesty of OC Watchdog.

Ayiti: The Cost of Life

Global Kids is a group of youth and educators based in New York City. The youth consist of a racially diverse group, mostly coming from schools who have poor attendance and poor graduation rates. The group is educated in leadership skills and important world issues. So why am I interested in this group? Well they are involved with a program called Playing for Keeps (P4K), a program which supports computer games as a medium to educate other youth.

P4K includes a partnership with GameLab so that Global Kids are creating high quality games to spread the word while at the same time they are building skills in game design and development.

One game they created is called Ayiti: The Cost of Life. I found it on the Unicef website. It's free to play and it helps illustrate the cost of life. In the game you are responsible for a family of 5 in Haiti. You have to consider things like health, happiness, education, and money. The game is very professional, it's very current with world issues and I think it's an excellent way to get our youth enlightened about the world we live in. Heck never mind our youth, it enlightened me.

PS. Ayiti is the Haitian Creole pronunciation of Haiti.

Youth photo courtesy of www.globalkids.org

Alice: Using software to teach software

There is this program called Alice, which is not exactly a game, but its game like and it is used to teach computer programming concepts to beginning programming students. It has a 3D environment in which students interact with and can create stories, games or videos. The original intent of the software was to help encourage more females to participate as computer programming majors, but it has since been adapted in many schools to encourage an overall boost in participation (Alice.org).

At SIIT where I teach, we implemented Alice in our programming stream starting this past year. So far it has been successful. The students enjoyed the 3D environment and I do believe it prepared them for their first true programming class. Coming into their first programming class they had knowledge of objects and loops and conditions, all computer programming essentials. I have also read about students as young as grade six being introduced to the software. So it does have a really wide audience.

I’ve included some samples of what Alice is capable of creating. The end results are pretty cool, although judging by the comments on YouTube, the last one must have taken quite a bit of time to create. If you've seen the Saw movie, check out the middle one, it's pretty funny.

Christmas Song



Lego Saw



Dragon

Second Life

We can’t have a blog about educational computer games and not talk about Second Life. Second Life has been a huge buzz within the academic community for a couple of years now. What is it you ask? Well, Second Life is a virtual world in which you create and control an avatar. Your avatar can explore the virtual world socializing, learning, communicating with other avatars etc. The possibilities are limited only by the imagination of others contributing to the virtual world. There is currency which allows you to purchase things. You can buy land and create structures and buildings. Many schools have developed a virtual campus mimicking the physical space you see in real life. The U of S even has a virtual campus in Second Life.

Some professors offer entire classes in second life. So instead of physically going to class, you all meet in Second Life where an instructor can teach by lecturing and showing presentations much like a real world environment. Or the instructor can get creative and take the class on field trips or even back in time within the virtual world. There has been great debate over the effectiveness of the Second Life environment. Does the learning curve outweigh the advantages? If the class is meeting in a virtual space just to listen to the instructor lecture and show PowerPoint’s is that any more effective then actually going to class? For a list of pro’s read this encouraging list of How and Why to use Second Life.

I was part of a seminar in Second Life, so I created an avatar, and had a couple weeks of demonstration in it. It wasn’t hard to learn how to do things, but the Second Life world is so big, it’s very easy to get lost. Within the couple weeks I spent in SL I feel I only scratched the surface of things I could do. I can see people spending a whole lot of time in the virtual world just exploring and figuring things out.

I would love to conduct a class in Second Life, but who has the time. It would take a lot of work to set up my own virtual space. I’m pretty sure I could use an already existing space, but I would still need to understand the environment well enough to teach it to my students. If it were going to be an ongoing class offered in SL, then it may be worth it, but otherwise, time is money. Oh yeah, and speaking of money, the cost of a basic account is free, you can create an avatar and explore with this account. The prices of course go up from there. For example a premium account which comes with a small chunk of land costs about $10/month. If you want to buy a larger area and set up a community it can cost from $100 to over $2,000.

Side Note: Your supposed to be 18 years old to play Second Life, but there is a teen version also available.

The Adult Years

I wanted to structure my blog to cover all sorts of games, from preschool age to adult. This is an introduction into my venture of the more adult focused games. Now when I say adult, don't get too excited, I am still referring to educational games, its just the content may be intellectually more challenging. Some of the stuff may still be applicable for a younger audience, it depends on the game itself.

I want to share with you some of the games I use in class with my adult learners. I use small games sometimes to enforce particular topics. I use logic games in my math class to help exercise the left hand side of the brain. I think of it like training for football. You don't always practice football itself, sometimes you do push ups or run lines or strength train. So in order to be better at math, I find these logic games 'strengthen' the logical part of your brain. This site, School Time Games, has lots of different logic games to choose from. There’s checkers, Sudoku, and one called A Little Mess. You’re supposed to untangle the line segments so the lines no longer cross, it's quite a challenge. All the games require some sort of problem solving or strategic planning. Another good site, Brain Bashers, has a plethora of games dedicated to such logical brain training.

In addition to math I teach various computer science classes and we look at a lot of algorithms. I like to teach the algorithm on the board and then if available, I like to use a computer game to have the students practice the algorithm. A great example of this is the Towers of Hanoi game. This is a perfect illustration of recursion. The text book I use in class, Introduction to Java Programming, uses the Towers of Hanoi as a game to create via Java. It’s nice for the students to play an already working version of the game to get a full understanding of how it is supposed to work.


The great correlation between the computer programming classes I teach and educational computer games is that my students are learning how to create applications. Such application could be games. I would love to teach a class on designing educational computer games. This could combine my love for education and educational design with computer programming and writing code. The best of both worlds. Maybe I could even teach the class online, adding a third element of things that I’m learning. Who knows what the future holds.

Experiment Results

Do you remember the experiment I was doing with my 3 year old daughter? I was teaching her to read the names of colors via computer game and the names of numbers via chalk and chalkboard.

Last night I did my post test. I compared the results of the color words vs. the number words. The results indicated ....drum roll please...no significant difference! On the color test (which was the computer one), she got 8\10 and on the number test (chalk board) she got 7\10. What does this mean? Well, I think it means that she learned equally well using both methods. Prior to my experiment she didn't know any of the words. I used both methods of teaching for equal time intervals, a total of 40 mins each. As I stated in a previous post I think the chalk board method had some advantages, and that was that I could provide feedback such as prompting her to sound the words out. There are computer games that are capable of that as well, but the one I picked was very basic, match the words to the colors they spell.

Although the results sound unsatisfying on the contrary indeed. The result of this experiment proved to me that my daughter did in fact learn something from the computer game she was playing. She didn’t just learn it either, she learned is as well as she learned a very similar thing from me. Now I’m not going to interpret this as she doesn’t need me to teach her things, rather I’m going to interpret this as playing computer games can in fact educate. She enjoys playing them, and now I know they are not a waste of time. Of course I will still limit the amount of time she spends on the computer...yadda yadda yadda.

Unfortunately there does not seem to be a large amount of actual research done in this area. I have encounted only limited articles discussing their success. Of course all the websites promoting their games make an educational claim, but we can't necessarily take that at much more than face value. What seems to be lacking is proven results done in experimental form. Much like the experiment I did with my daughter, but on a much larger scale. Maybe this should be the basis for my thesis or project.

Self Esteem Games

Self Esteem games are computer games that are created to help improve ones self esteem. There is a set of 3 games created by Mind Habits, that claim they can “boost self confidence and reduce stress” by playing their games for 5 minutes a day. Does it work? A team from McGill University in Quebec, Canada tested these games and have labeled them a success! The games train your brain to focus on positive feedback, rather than negative feedback. There is a free 60 minute version available here, try it for yourself and see.

The series consists of 3 separate games.

1. Grow you Chi - you click on your name and smiling faces.
2. Eye Spy the Matrix - you are given a block of 16 faces, and you have to find the one that is smiling.
3. Wham! Self Esteem Conditioning - creates links between yourself and social acceptance.

I wouldn't say these games are particularly fun. They call them games, yes, but to me they are more like drill practice math worksheets. They get the job done, but I don't know many people that would do them strictly for the fun of it.

On the plus side though, if you are someone who is depressed or has a negative self image, this could possibly be the easiest cure I've ever heard of. Okay, I probably shouldn't use the word 'cure', but really, if these games do improve your self esteem, who wouldn't try it. There's no drugs, no chemicals, no therapy or counseling, what do you have to loose, 5 minutes a day of playing a monotonous computer game. Heck I spend more time chewing my finger nails a day. I should point out the website does not claim that it will replace the need for medication or counseling, it simply states that it can “boost self confidence and reduce stress”.

I went to a computer gaming conference 2 years ago and saw a presentation on serious games. I forgot all about that until something sparked my interest in 'self esteem games', while I was doing my research for my blog these games looked familiar and I realized I saw them before under a different name. So you may also see these game referred to as 'serious games'.

One last thing to add on this note is that there are a LOT of articles about these very 3 games on the internet. When I Google 'self esteem games' or anything of that nature this seems to be the majority of the results that I get. So, that could mean 2 things. Either there are very few other so called self esteem games out there, or, these games are really just that good that everybody is raving about them.

Girl Power

Computer games or video games in general have always been more of a boy thing. More and more however girls are getting interested as well. Are computer games now being developed for a wider audience, including more female interests?

I am a girl, and speaking from experience, I have never really been that into computer games or any type of video games. I do remember playing Mario Brothers on the Super Nintendo with my brother way back when Super Nintendo was cool. I would have never asked for the system myself, but since we had it (because of my brother) I played it, and enjoyed it. If there would have been more girlie games then would’ve I played more? Maybe, there’s a real life computer game about shopping, called the internet, and I like to play that game :)

This article, Why are boy so attracted to video games, states that computer games are more of a ‘boy thing’ because of content, marketing, learning styles and social styles. Interesting point on the social styles; the article compares a mother wanting a heart to heart with their daughter, may sit down on the daughter’s bed and start talking. A father however, wanting to have a meaningful conversation with a son might do so while shooting hoops. Boys often get close while interacting while playing games.

There are entire websites of games dedicated specifically to the female audience. They are considered ‘girl games’ because they contain female characters like Barbie or Miley Cyrus, or they are centered around more girlie activities like shopping and babysitting. This one site, made for girls, Go girls only, has a variety of games and activities. Most of the games were actually kind of boring, they are based on recycling and sun safety, but it did have one neat activity. The activity is called Uniquely Me, you create a collage of things that define you. Your favourite color, what you’re good at, things you’re thankful for. I found it very encouraging. Here's my collage.

Another site, called Pimp My Computer , (I’m not a big fan of the name) is dedicated to games in which you play dress up. Now, the clothes are beginning to get a little scantily clad here but maybe this is our nemesis, just as is violence in boy’s games.