CHILD HALL OF JUSTICE
A MYSPACE TRAIN
AN EVENT
YOU are specially chosen to come aboard these trains to search form my
child worldwide. Since we all have our internat personalities on I
have designed Games to evoke a gamut of emotions not only in the
hearts of you as avid players but also in minds of games analysts,
designers, today's military strategy planners, and whoever else that
belong to this breed, creating a need to reunify and negotiate the
return of my child from the clutches of Australian kidnappers.
There is no consensus about the definition of a game as Chris Crawford
(1982) puts it "We don't really know what a game is...." However,
many game designers have drawn up a list of essential elements that
constitute a 'good' game, such as representation, interaction,
conflict and safety (Crawford, 1982). Prensky (2001) enlists rules,
goals and objectives, outcomes and feedback, conflict
(competition/challenge/opposition), interaction and representation or
story as
the six structural factors of games.
Similarly, there are widely differing perspectives of games. The
categories of games, according to Chris Crawford (1982), include board
games, card games, athletic games, children's games and computer
games. Today, there are eight recognized genres such as action,
adventure, fighting, puzzle, role-playing, simulations, sports, and
strategy, which often overlap (Prensky, 2001). Prensky reports that
computer games can fall into any one of these categories and when
coupled with learning content, can be referred to as digital-game based
learning. To this list, Bates adds casual games, god games, online
games, and educational games. Moreover, hybrids Educational Games:
Learners as Creators
are possible combining elements from different genres (Bates, 2001).
Microworlds are basically computer-based simulations involving students
in active ways in events, problems and contemporary issues. Some
microworlds make use of the database capabilities of computers and a
'movement-simulator' based on the adventure game model (Gredler,
1994). Educational games with the dual purpose of teaching and
entertainment are often referred to as Edutainment.
LEARNING AUSTRALIA AND AUSTRALIAN TO SCAN AND DETECT WHERE NARA IS
CONCEALED
In one example used as a strategy, for evaluation as against
traditional methods, students of a History of Psychology course had to
create a game for a particular subject area (Berrenberg & Prosser,
1991). The technique actively engaged students in the review and
organization of course material. It resulted in the presentation of
games in creative and innovative ways. The games -
board games, word games, and trivia games included rules, game board,
game pieces and whatever was needed to play the game. Student response
was tremendous; they went out of their way to create classy designs and
materials, for example, one student sculpted and fired ceramic game
pieces; another hand-printed two hundred question cards in beautiful
calligraphy and yet another copied and pasted pictures of psychological
memorabilia.
Ritchie & Dodge (1991) describe the tool used on Mac computers,
"Cabrillo" (actually a HyperStack), an authoring system that
allowed the students to create adventure games without getting hassled
by the knowledge of programming. In essence a template was developed
and provided to the students. It enabled the creation of environments
for exploration grounded in historical reality and cultural relevance.
It enabled easy navigation such as clicking on a compass, (directions
that are not open were grayed out), and clicking on the template to
move
Educational Games: Learners as Creators from scene to scene. Maps and
a reference manual were available by clicking on their icons. Sound and
graphics could be incorporated. (Ritchie & Dodge, 1991)
Logo Programming seems to be the most popular in the development of
simulated microworlds and games by children as authors. Samuel Papert
and his team at MIT first immortalized programming in Logo in the
1970's. Logo programming has come a long way then, from the early,
difficult, text-based medium to the considerably easy, digitized
format. Kafai et al (1997) describe the Microworlds=99 Logo programming
used by her fifth and grade subjects. This Logo version included
support for modern computer features like multimedia, sprite animation,
sounds, movies and paint tools. It enabled multiple processes that
facilitated multi-threaded program flow. So children could use more
turtles with different behaviors. Kafai et al (1997) gave an
introductory training program one week before the design projects.
Students were taught the Logo commands, their categories and functions,
code generation with syntax, programming logic, turtle animation and
perspective taking. I have his signed books.
Howland et al used KidSim, a prototype tool kit developed by Apple
Computer to
explore new forms of human-computer interaction. Also called Cocoa, it
is intended as an introduction to programming for young children. Kids
can create their own characters and with the help of transitions can
define their movements across the screen. (Apple has recently
introduced a Cocoa plug-in for Netscape and also maintains a website
that allows kids to publish their projects to a much wider audience and
participate in a best game contest). Howland et al
(2000, p7) report that the children were able to develop complex
simulations with original characters and rules to guide them.
"Microworlds enable the child to play out views of the dynamic
systems they observe or have learned about in the physical world."
The tools and objects that are provided consists of a game board
divided into grids, a ticking clock, one or more objects, a copy box
that can be used to create new objects, and a rule editor where rules
are defined and modified. The rules form an important part of the
simulations and can be considered as 'if-then' statements. Children
create rules by using what is termed as 'programming by
demonstration' - that is by drawing the before and after conditions
on the game board space.
In one project called Playground Project, Goldstein et al (2001)
explores the
capabilities and benefits of using digital technology, inherent in a
modern variant of Logo program called Imagine. This 32-bit version of
Logo makes available direct manipulation of tools and is
object-oriented. Like Cocoa, children can either use the objects
present or create their own objects and customize their own events,
such as moving objects by clicking or pressing a joystick button. It
enables parallel processing and interaction of the different objects
and events. A speech engine can be installed that facilitates the
conversion of speech to text and vice versa. The mouth icon or say
command can be used in this respect. The engine analyzes the voice
input, uses the user-defined voice menu to transform it into logo
instructions and runs it.
Similarly, to realize the voice output the above icon / command can be
used. Again, like Cocoa, conditional statements are used to create
rules. The design of Pathways is intended to model natural language. It
requires the use of an iconic language using a grammar.
To illustrate, the use of conditionals (when statements) and actions
(do statements) are helped with stones of differing colors and shapes.
Also the syntax of these statements follow rules, for example, a when
stone
must be followed by a do stone. If a mouth tool is picked up and then
placed on an object, the object can state its rule in the first person.
Thus the mouth tool provides a means for children to model the language
they use on that used by the system (Goldstein et al, 2001).
CHILDREN FINDING A KIDNAPPED CHILD
Besides the enhanced features of computer games design, the programs
have inherent cognitive tools and thus serve as a vehicle for learning.
While designing computer games, children imbibe fundamental concepts
such as logic and probability, and pursue their interests in new
domains in very meaningful ways. Ideas arise profusely and are
transformed with new experiences. Goldstein et al (2001) opine that
ideas of the children are not only important to them but also to their
teachers and researchers. Children feel that the work belongs to them,
teachers are happy about the motivation that the ownership issue
stimulates and researchers are in any case, concerned with ideas as
children create games. Children's ideas and fantasies that are
dominant in the beginning of the project are constrained by their
limited experience and by the computer and what they can achieve using
the program tools. As time progresses, the computer becomes more
dominating. Learning is not a simple linear process. A transition then
is
expected from the narrative ideas in the children's heads to the
iconic language used in rules and events of the game (Goldstein et al,
2001). However, once mastery is achieved, the creators feel a great
sense of accomplishment and pride in their creation.
Ken Jones (1998) debates the importance of ideas versus aims in
simulation authorship issues. He feels that it is not necessary that
aims should come first as this may be unrealistic and inefficient.
Ideas are more important. Jones reports that during the workshop on
simulation designing (non-computer-based), the participants came up
with a variety of ideas for the issues in the design of simulations:
the problem or issue or situation, the roles and duties of characters
and the materials that can be used. These ideas can be devised in a
non-linear manner but should be written in the stipulated order (Jones
1998).
The study by Howland et al (2000, p20) contends, "The children were
empowered by translating their own ideas into characters whose actions
could be created and changed. They desired to produce, to extend their
power beyond that of a user and, in the end, came to see themselves as
proficient generators of computer programs." Kafai et al (1997) sums
up the situation by stating that students, in designing their own
applications, reformulate their knowledge by creating and implementing
external representations in their software. Besides
knowledge reformulation, personal expression of ideas is an important
feature of software design.
WORLD WIDE MOTIVATION TO LOCATE NARA AND CHILD FOR A CHILD SUPPORT
SYSTEMS
There can be no debate about the tremendous force of motivation
operating in games. Malone and Lepper's (1983) threshold work on the
taxonomy of intrinsic motivation and the concept of flow experience
(Csikszentmihalyi, 1990) in educational games are unparalleled.
Numerous studies have been done in this area either directly or
indirectly, but the focus has mostly been on motivation acting on
'players' of games. What is the impact of motivational forces
acting on 'designers' of games?
Motivation is the driving force right from the planning to the
evaluation phase in the design of educational games. The selection of
genres, setting and environments, materials and artifacts (non-digital
games), interfaces, characters and events, and navigational measures
are drawn upon the interests of the designers and operating on the
basis of their active preferences.
Moreover, the translation of ideas into characters and events, and
devising rules that govern them add to the meaningfulness of the entire
pursuit of designing games.
MULTITHREAD AND MULTICORE MATRIX BY THE WORLD TO MAKE AUSTRALIAN KIDNAP
PRODUCE NARA.
Factors of motivation such as challenge, curiosity and fantasy operate
in differing and sometimes overlapping ways. Collaborating and
cooperative methods of designing are motivating experiences in
themselves, since they are social-dialogical processes and enable the
exchange of ideas. Construction of computational features, problem
solving, and overcoming technological hurdles are challenges that the
designers face and overcome. They show amazing
coping strategies, sometimes helped by scaffolding features. Fantasy is
very apparent in the creative ideas and simulations produced by the
designers. Curiosity is enhanced by goals and uncertain outcomes,
depicted in the questions that arise in the minds of the designers.
Questions and hypotheses enable experimentation and exploration of
ideas, which in turn lead to
unexpected discoveries and excitement. Another strong motivating
factor is empowerment that designers feel at different stages in the
process. They know that they are in control and can create and modify
situations. Recognition is another tenet of motivation. According to
Malone and Lepper (1983), the appeal
of an activity can be increased if the learner's efforts receive
social recognition. "Endogenous recognition motivation may be
produced by activities that provide natural channels for students'
efforts to be appreciated by others." (Malone, 1983) Educational
Games: Learners as Creators. Active involvement and whole-hearted
participation are obvious and the outcomes of such designing projects
include better retention, clarity of concepts, and development of
positive
attitude towards learning of subjects, improved self-esteem and greater
confidence (Ritchie & Dodge, 1991; Kafai et al, 1997; Barta &
Schaelling, 1998; Howland et al, 2000; Goldstein et al, 2001). Thus,
motivation is seen to operate in all the domains of learning -
cognitive, affective and psychomotor.
RELFELCTION IS an essential component of any learning that helps to
make appropriate interconnections between new learning and prior
learning, testing and refining ideas, hypothesizing and questioning
one's growing understanding. Kolb includes reflective observation in
his experiential cycle of learning, leading to abstract
conceptualization or analysis, active experimentation and concrete
experience, which leads back to reflection. The programming kits should
support reflection in various ways. According to Howland et al (2000),
the reflective mode allows the thinker to consider various
alternatives, thus leading him to explore and discover. Their subjects
were stimulated by the learning environment in KidSim to be reflective,
to analyze problems, compare solutions, and develop new strategies.
Evaluation, an aspect of reflection, of the final design and product is
very important. The games that children design are usually evaluated by
peers, teachers and parents and more recently, by a worldwide audience,
as in the case of online games. Kafai et al note that children must be
taught how to
evaluate according to given criteria. They report that when the child
designers were eager to determine whether their peers found their games
fun, their peers would very often look for features such as spelling
errors!
WORLD COLLABORATION TO BYPASS AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BLOCKS AND
VIOLATIONS OF CHILD RIGHTS USING THE WWW TO FIND NARA.
Collaborative learning or cooperative learning is an instructional
strategy
that is gaining popularity in constructivist contexts. "The goal of
working in groups should be to share alternative viewpoints and
challenge as well as help develop each alternative points of view."
(Duffy & Cunningham, 2001) They go on to say that since learning is a
social-dialogical
process, the reason for using groups is to promote the dialogical
interchange and reflexivity. All the research projects outlined above
had subjects working in pairs or groups. According to Kafai et al
(1997, p118), "Creating multimedia applications is a complicated and
collaborative enterprise. In research and commercial contexts, groups
of professional designers, programmers
and content specialists work together for several months. Multimedia
software design therefore appears to be a good context for students to
learn about collaboration and project management."
The interaction between team members, the flow of ideas and loud
thinking encouraged the children to experiment and find alternative
ways for designing and solving problems. The team members learn about
division of labor and organizational strategies. For example, each of
them might work on different characters but then work together to
integrate all the characters and in debugging. The communication
between the team members also enabled the researchers to observe the
thought processes and problem-solving strategies of children as
creators.
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HELPERS AND GOOD SAMARITANS ON EVERYSITE TO EDUCATE AND HELP FIND NARA.
Simply put, scaffolding is the support given for learning. Scaffolding
is usually given at the initial stages and as the learner acquires the
necessary knowledge and skills, the support is gradually withdrawn,
leaving the learner in control. Scaffolding includes the support of
other individuals, artifacts in the environment that afford support,
within a particular socio-cultural context (Duffy & Cunningham, 2001).
Scaffolding strategies for the design of games may
include tools, interfaces, tasks and the individuals involved like
teachers or researchers. Educational Games: Learners as Creators
In the design of computer-based games (Goldstein et al, 2001), the
adoption of the role of programmer by the learner consists of moving
from the narrative (stating ideas) to the conditional (iconic
language). There are individual differences in making this transition,
ranging from those having a natural flair to deal with programming
language to those who find this task difficult. It was found that with
scaffolding, especially during the initial designing phase, reforging
of ideas does take place and the learner is able to make the transition
ultimately.
Howland et al (2000) supports this idea. Problem-solving opportunities
such as these give children the opportunity to hypothesize, consider
different possibilities and experiment to observe immediate results. In
some cases, however, children are faced with problems they cannot solve
due to their limited experience with programming. Strategic questions
placed by the researchers then, guide the children to find solutions.
GODWANNALAND AND CHILD RIGHTS FOR NARA!!
The idea that cognitive processes are situated or located in physical
and social contexts. Cognitive processes involve relations between a
person and a
situation and do not solely reside within the individual's mind. Such
person-situation interactions help in the development of beliefs and
knowledge (Schunk, 2000). In the Playground Project where the focus is
on building rules, Goldstein et al (2001) report that their main
theoretical construct is 'webbing', based on the concept of
situated leaning. Meaning is constructed by the learners based on
everyday experiences and with the help of strategies and resources
available.
This would involve forging and reforging of internal connections, and
reinforced with some amount of reflection, this would help in the
understanding of the attributes of tools.
Representational systems constitute knowledge construction (Goldstein
et al, 2001). Kafai et al also reiterate the importance of situated
learning while designing multimedia applications. Designing is not
possible without a particular context or domain. Situated multimedia
design
Educational Games: Learners as Creators provides an opportunity for
learners to approach subject matter from a different vantage point than
their own. (Kafai et al, 1997) They found that the development of
instructional animations
facilitated students' understanding of science and at the same time
enabled more sophisticated programming and vice versa. Situated
learning is also apparent in the multidisciplinary approach to the
authoring of adventure games using Cabrillo (Ritchie & Dodge, 1991).
Students learned about developing storyboards, storyline and creative
writing in language arts, creating game obstacles using
scientific and mathematical concepts, factual information on history,
culture and geography and about contemporary games and sports in
physical education. Moreover, integrating graphics, sound effects and
traditional music gave the students an opportunity to learn about art
and music. All this was possible while simultaneously learning about
template use and entering material
using word processors and graphic programs.
The results of using traditional Native American games to teach the
inter-relationship between culture and mathematics to first and second
graders disclosed educational values that surpassed the researcher's
expectations (Barta & Schaelling, 1998). Mathematical concepts evolved
from the game without the teacher's typical plan prior to the game.
Students are allowed to develop their own curriculum as they become
involved with their own instruction. They
capitalize on what interests them the most and those become the
vehicles of learning. Students develop meaningful understandings for
the concepts and mathematics becomes synonymous with fun and learning.
HOW LONG WILL AUSTRALIA KEEP DOING THIS TO MY FAMILY. WE WILL ALL
WONDER?
In his article "How I designed a game - and discovered the meaning
of life", Thiagarajan, with subtle humor, describes his experiences
and lessons learned in the game of game design. To illustrate, some of
the lessons include how to have fun without making people guilty, how
to make sure people learn from experience, how to provide strokes for
different folks and how to make friends around the world. Thiagarajan
designed his first game at the age of seven and
unconsciously incorporated some of the essential elements of games -
instructional topic, desired objectives, player characteristics, and
situational constraints (Thiagarajan, 1994).
There are several implications in the field of game design. We have
seen how technology affects learners as designers. But, more
importantly, the question that arises is how does the learner impact
technology. Druin (2001) describes four roles of children in the
design process and how each role can impact technologies that are
created: user, tester, informant, and design partner. In the first two
roles, the children have less direct impact on technology since adults
make the decisions about changes. Academic researchers and industry
professionals have been using children in these roles since the last
three to four decades, because observation of children using or testing
prototypes of technologies, contribute to the research and development
process. There is an
increasing order of empowerment of children in the roles of informant
and design partner, which began from the latter half of the nineties.
As an informant, the child plays a part in the design process at
different stages. The child is observed with existing technologies or
asked for inputs on paper sketches. The child's feedback is again
taken after the technology has been developed or even during the
process. To illustrate this role of the child, the interface of the
Knowledge
Adventure's popular CD-ROM, My first Encyclopedia, used the picture
of a tall tree instead of Educational Games: Learners as Creators the
usual windows format, based on the response of children interviewed.
Research teams
developed Artemis, software that supports learning with digital
information resources, when they observed students struggling with
information derived from search engines and browsers. Thus as
informants, children can have an impact on technologies from the
beginning and on the shaping and evaluation of technologies. However,
the ideas of children are not always feasible
and could conflict with pedagogical goals of the software. Adult
ultimately make the final decisions. Druin draws attention to the equal
power of the child in the design process when in the role of the design
partner. This role can have the greatest impact on the design of new
technologies. Children and adults form an intergenerational team and
collaborate on new projects. The development of such a unique
partnership is still in the making since it is difficult for adults to
accept the decision-making roles of children. The appropriate role can
be selected depending on the development goals, research questions,
resources and personal philosophies (Druin, 2001). Druin concludes by
saying that not only can we change technology but also we have a chance
to change the life of a child, to be able to do things he never dreamed
of. Along a similar strain, Henry Jenkins discusses about virtual play
spaces afforded by video games, the need for parents to have a dialogue
with their children about the values and
qualities exhibited by these games. This can be done in two ways - by
collaborating together in the design and development of video game
spaces, or by giving tools to children so that they can construct their
own play spaces and be free to do what they want. However, it is not
easy to escape adult intervention in shaping children's play
environments (Cassell & Jenkins, 2000).
Subrahmanyam and Greenfield note (Cassell & Jenkins, 2000, p49) that
children, like adults are active selectors of their own environments.
Their active preferences would be operating when they designed games
with respect to genres, environments, themes, settings, Educational
Games: Learners as Creators animation, characters and interaction.
These results would provide insights for developing design and play
environments that support children's versatility in expressing
themselves and transgressing barriers of imagination.
FIND_NARA AND CHILD_HARA_KIRI IN GODWANNALAND.
Learner-designed educational games, digital or otherwise, have the
potential of affording both experiential and reflective learning,
directing the investment of psychic energy and improving the quality of
life. Game design then becomes an autotelic experience or is
intrinsically rewarding (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990).
How long it will take to accept and incorporate this powerful form of
learning is
anybody's guess; the situation worsened by access and equity issues
(but that's another story!).
What is important is the awareness, as Prensky points out, that the
needs of the "Games Generations" are different and the sooner we
realize this the better. Educational Games: Learners as Creators
References
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mathematics and culture
in the classroom." Teaching Children Mathematics 4(7): 388-393.
Bates, B. (2001). Game Design: The Art & Business of Creating Games.
California,
Prima Tech.
Berrenberg, J. L., & Prosser, A. (1991). "The Create-A-Game Exam: A
Method to
Facilitate Student Interest and Learning." Teaching of Psychology
18(3): 167-169.
Cassell, J., & Jenkins, H., Ed. (2000). From Barbie to Mortal Kombat:
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Computer Games. Massachusetts, MIT Press.
Crawford, C. (1982). The Art of Computer Game Design, Peabody, S. 1997.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Enjoyment and the Quality of Life. New
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Perennial.
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on Computer Human Interaction. 2001.
Duffy, T. M., & Cunningham, D. J. (2001). Constructivism: Implications
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Goldstein, R., Kalas, I., Noss R., & Pratt, D. (2001). Building Rules.
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Houston, Texas,
Gulf Publishing Company.
Educational Games: Learners as Creators 18
Howland, J., Laffey, J., & Espinosa, L. M. (2000). A Computing
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simulations?"
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Kafai, Y. B., Ching, C. C., & Marshall, S. (1997). "Children as
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Malone, T. W., & Lepper, M. R. (1983). "Making Learning Fun: A Taxonomy
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Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Game-Based Learning. New York, McGraw-Hill.
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Schunk, D. H. (2000). Learning Theories: an educational perspective.
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