Atmosphir

A couple of months ago I heard about a new game that was in development called Atmosphir. This game is a first person shooter game similar to Mario Bros. What sets it apart from other games is that all the levels in the game are created by the users. When I heard about this I thought it might have some potential for education so I signed up to be a beta tester. This week, after having completely forgot about signing up, I received an email from the developers of this game accepting my invite.

Now, for a few years now some commercial games have come on the market that allow users to make their own mods. What is different about Atmosphir is the whole game is a mod. When you download and install the game you are asked to go to their website and create a user account. When you load the game it asks you to login with your username and password. You are then presented with a few options. You can play, create, or modify your character. When you choose the play option you are presented with a display that looks kind of like YouTube where you can choose from among other user created versions of the game sorted by ratings, most played, etc.

When you choose create you are brought to an editor screen with a blank grid. You can choose among many different objects to build your level. My 4 year old and I spent a good afternoon engaged in this world building and game play. The game engine itself is nice. You get a rich 3D environment, smooth graphics, and complex movement. The biggest downfall I can see is there are no options for users to build or import their own objects. If there were such an option I could see this program being ideal for building educational games. For my purposes this limitation is a huge downfall. However, this project is in private beta and possibly this kind of feedback could make it into later edits of the game.



In its current version it is still a nice constructivist toy. You can build much in the same way you can build with legos. There are quite a few user created levels that exhibit high ammount of creativity. It could also be used to teach about game theory to an extent.

My hopes with this program were that it might have the same potential for engaging students in programming and game creation that Scratch or GameMaker have. While my hopes have been slightly let down at the moment I will continue to watch the development of this game and how it influences other game developers.

A new version of Scratch that works in Second Life came out over the summer. I have yet to play around with it but it looks promising. However, Second Life is not free and presents some unique challenges for use in K-12. I also intend on taking a look at later this fall as it also looks like it might have some potential for education.

Do you know of any other free programs for game creation or free games that allow users to make mods of their game?

Wii Can Play

I got a bit of great news today. One of our physical education teachers received a grant to start the Wii Can Play program in our school from CVS Pharmacy.

What is Wii Can Play?

Last fall I blogged a short article about webcams in the classroom. That post, and the playing around with the technology I did surrounding it, led to our elementary physical education and adaptive phy ed teacher using Game Star software with her adaptive phy ed students. Wii Can Play sort of evolved as an idea from there. We have spent a lot of time this year investigating how interactive video games and game platforms like Game Star, Dance Dance Revolution, and the Nintendo Wii can be used to promote wellness and keep students physically active.


Wii Can Play is a program we conceived that integrates the Nintendo Wii into various school functions. First and foremost it is meant to help include students with limited mobility and physical impairments in mainstream physical education classes. Second, it fits into our district wellness initiative by providing physical activity for students of all ages during their lunch hour. Third, Wii Can Play will be implemented in Community Ed. by offering video game mediated physical activities for seniors.


The grant money is just a drop in the bucket in the grand scheme of things but it is enough to get our idea off the ground. We will continue to look for further support as this program grows. I will also make sure to blog about our progress in implementing this project.

Crayon Physics

Crayon Physics

TIES 2007 - Brock Dubbels: Teaching Literacy and Composition Using Video Games, Six Traits and Collins Writing - notes

Brock Dubbels website
https://wiki.ties.k12.mn.us/Brock+Dubbels
Brock's Slideshare
Video Games as Learning Tools Ning
Video Games as Learning Tools Wiki

Started with yoga exercises. -followed complex instructions

game theory comes out of a combination of literary theory and math

use machinima to tell stories

Worksheet culture - teacher gives students a worksheet, students know they will have 15 minutes to do whatever they want because there are 4 students in the room who will do it and let them copy while the teacher surfs the web, possibly for their nest job.

Established reading Friday - one day a week devoted to reading whatever they want.
-assessment -10 pts if you bring a book, 5 pts if you read one of mine, points for other things as well
-walked around the room and discussed the books with students giving students a rating on a fluency scale (not for a grade, students know this is about identifying performance, scale could be different for different books for different students, a ph.d. could get a low score depending on what they are reading).

Comprehension can be achieved even by those with low fluency depending on their prior experience. Inversely, a high fluency student can have poor comprehension.

Many of the same literary elements are present in games that are present in literature and film.

Structural organization and format - micro level: decoding text, translating, etc macro level: genre, themes, ideas, communication

Games have storyboards

comprehension comes from making sense of the world, talking about it with others...reading is not just decoding

Games are built upon the idea of assessment because each move is evaluated.

A game offers a complexity that a novel cant.

You know playing a game that it is built so that you can win it.

Replicate
You are a virus and your job is to go into the body and replicate. To do so you have to learn about the human body.

Global Conflicts Pallestine
You are a journalist in the mideast.

"You don't understand. It's just like the Odyssey. Sonic has to find his way home just like Odysseus."