Schell on Games and Educations

Mobile games that educate the children! Is this simply a novel idea, which might pass; no, we believe there is an educational shifting taking place. There is a need for games. Games used as tools. Transformative learning environments were kids play and learn. Play built on curricula learning outcomes with instance feedback on progress and achievements. Schell writes  in Art of Game Design (p 472) on games and education: 

Some hold the position that education is serious, but games are not; therefore games have no place in education. But an examination of our educational system shows that it is a game! Students (players) are given a series of assignments (goals) that must be handed in (accomplished) by certain due dates (time limits). They receive grades (scores) as feedback repeatedly as assignments (challenges) get harder and harder, until the end of the course when they are faced with a final exam (boss monster), which they can only pass (defeat) if they have mastered all the skills in the course (game). Students (players) who perform particularly well are listed on the honor roll (leader board).

So, why doesn’t education feel more like a game? ...Traditional educational methods often feature a real lack of surprises, a lack of projection, a lack of pleasures, a lack of community, and a bad interest curve. When Marshall McLuhan said “Anyone who thinks education and entertain- ment are different doesn’t know much about either,” this is what he was talking about. It’s not that learning isn’t fun, it is just that many educational experiences are poorly designed.

So why haven’t educational videogames found more of a home in the classroom? There seem to be several reasons:

• Time constraints. Playing games can take a long time, and a variable amount of time — many meaningful, educational games are just too long of an experience for a classroom setting.
• Variable pacing. One thing games are good at is letting players proceed at their own pace. In a school setting, the instructor usually has to keep everyone mov- ing along at a single pace.
• 1965. People born before 1965 did not grow up playing videogames; therefore games do not come naturally to them and seem kind of foreign. At the time of this printing, the educational system is primarily run by people born before 1965.
• Good educational games are hard to make. To create something that delivers a complete, verifiable, assessable lesson, while still engaging students is very hard. And an average semester class contains two or three dozen different lessons that must be covered

Despite these challenges, games can be excellent tools for education, but they work best as tools and not complete educational systems. A wise educator uses the right tool for the right job. 

Added Some New Flags on to Free The Balloon Game!

We added some flags to the hoops today... You get power ups, speed and tons of coins for passing through hoops with these flags! 

John-Mark's Educational Story

Elementary school is a breeze for some and a challenge for other kids. It was the latter for me (John-Mark Ferguson). I was a dyslexic child who flip-flopped the order of letters and numbers. Due to this problem a teacher told my parents I was unteachable. This was most likely a scaring event in my childhood development because I remember it vividly. For those of you who do not know, dyslexia is a disability that impairs a person's fluency or 'comprehension accuracy' in being able to read and write. The past and current education system still relies on reading and writing as standard practice. Thus having a learning disability in both produced barriers to success. 

Fortunately, my grandfather found a program called Structure Of Intellect (SOI) which was based on military fighter jet training from the USA ( I remember him telling me: "jet fighter pilots did this too"). My grandfather told the teachers: "the kid is not dumb he simply thinks differently". Looking back, I bet my grandfather was likely dyslexic too because he was unable to spell and his handwriting was only legible to himself. He turned out ok and was a lawyer, a pilot, a physicist, commerce grad, and ended his career in charge of economic development in British Columbia!

After a few years in SOI my reading and writing was raised to a normal level for a kid my age. SOI presents learning environments differently and focuses on playing games, listening and neuro-plasticity to aid in development. I slowly became proficient at reading but I have never been able to write without spelling errors. I developed my own ways of coping with my brain idiosyncrasies and how my brain functions. For example, I would remember how to spell  words, by representing individual letters with pictures of objects. My brain stores information with its auditory memory rather a sequential letter system of most people. You learn how to deal with your weakness and use specific tools to aid in your learning. The birth of modern computing has been a saving grace for me. So you can appreciate what a blessing it is to utilize the spell check function!

Jump ahead a decade: the dyslexic adult, starts attending university. With the the skills I developed through SOI, teachers, self reflection  and introspection I was able to get through. In a career counselling session I remember talking to the counsellor how I wish I could help kids who were like me: Children who did not fit into the system as easily as others. But I did not want to become a teacher or a neurologist at the time so I put that thought back on the shelf. 

What a surprise: here I am now, building an educational mobile game! A wise teacher knows when to use the right tool for the specific kid--but how do you know what tool to use? Learning is very subjective. It needs to adapt to the child rather than having the child adapt to the system. Technology will help aid in meeting each child where they are. We cannot change the past but are able to form the future. Let's meet kids where they are and use the tools which are right for them so that they can excel.'

Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG)

Hannah: "What is your BHAG, Mr. Fox?"

Mark: "It's quite fantastic actually! Wouldn't it be wonderful if purchases of Free The Balloon could fund the use of the game in places where the educational infrastructure is weak?"

Hannah: "That would be amazing"

Mark: "Just think if you had a whole series of elementary school math games: it would be possible for a child to achieve specified learning outcomes even if they didn't have a reliable school environment."

Hannah: "All the grades?"

Mark: "Yes!"

Hannah: "That is crazy!"

Mark: "Exactly. That's why we call it our BHAG!"

Hannah: "How are you going to do this?"

Mark: "One step at a time. One Child at a time. One game at a time. To begin with, Free The Balloon will cost $1.99 in areas where the education system is strong and will be almost free everywhere else."

Hannah: "Holy Toledos Batman... That is cool!"

Mark: "Thanks for asking great questions, Hannah."

Hannah: "My pleasure!"

Free The Balloon From A Teacher's Perspective

Carlee is a grade two teacher who graciously allowed us to come into her class. This is where we conducted our primary research for Free The Balloon and beta tested the game with her and the students.  It has been an awesome experience. Thanks again Carlee and class!

Educational Transformation & Gaming

Vision

We are interested in: “creating transformative & engaging learning experiences that are embedded in games that have a rigorous pedagogical foundation.”

• We would like to be part of the Education revolution that is already occurring (Eg. KhanAcademy)

• The age of information has in some sense passed. The challenge now is to build on that foundation and leverage it for transformation and so facilitate the age of transformation.
• The focus is not on the technology whatever that might be (e.g. paper and pencils, overheads, computers, smart devices such as tablets) but rather on the transformative educational experience that technology enables.
• “Games” in their most general sense capture much more than the stereotype of some “shoot-em-up” diversionary activity but are innately part of what it means to play and in some deep sense discover what life is about. “The whole truth regarding play cannot be known until the whole truth regarding life itself is known.”¹
• The intention is not to blindly accept the current fashionable technology of the day. Rather we maintain that we can ground games in a solid pedagogical foundation.
• To potentially disrupt current para-school Math programs with a $1.99 game which is equivalent to a $ 600+ a month tutoring system cost!
• To satisfy the demand for educating children in an innovative way.

First Game

Free The Balloon is a first in a series of the above grand vision where we: “create a Math game for use by elementary students that will run on any smart device technology.”(e.g. iOS devices such as iPhone & iPad, Android phone or tablet). Free The Balloon is designed to teach skip counting.

• Skip Counting is a core math skill.
• By this age students are already technology savvy and verbally competent.
• Lessons learned in this can be used to expand the scope to more grade levels.
• The scope of deployment is huge. For example the development by India of a $50 Android powered tablet for wide deployment (hundreds of millions) could leverage games such as these in a powerful educationally transformative ways for large numbers of students.

A brief sidebar on Education & Gaming

Schell² is worth quoting in detail: “Traditional educational methods often feature a real lack of surprises, a lack of projection, a lack of pleasures, a lack of community, and a bad  interestcurve. When Marshall McLuhan said   ‘Anyone who thinks education and entertain-ment are different doesn’t know much about either,  ‘ this  is what he was talking about. It’s not that learning  isn’t fun,  it  is just that many educational experiences are poorly designed.” Examples of educationally transformative elements in Games include:

• facts can be easily integrated aurally and visually and linked with rewards & instant feedback
• games are innately problem solving contexts that may be paused and re-played
• games facilitate playing with relationships engaging Miller’s pyramid of learning (Knows->Knows How->Shows->Does) This can lead to new insights.
• games feed off curiosity which is foundational to learning.
• games can easily accommodate modal learning styles (auditory, visual)³
• Pre Math foundations such as The Structure Of Intellect(SOI) exercises for Arithmetic & Mathematics⁴ can be readily incorporated into game motifs. e.g. CSR exercises could be used as clues in a treasure hunt.

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1 Quoted in “The Art of Game Design”, Schell, Carnegie Mellon University, 2008 p. 38.
2 Ibid. His whole book is an amazing tour de force that transcends any stereotypes one has about gaming. He has some interesting comments on games & education on p. 443ff.
3 See “An Interpretative Guide with strategies for Using SOI” Mary Meeker, 2000
4 “SOI Math Preparation Modules: Preparation for the Math Curriculum” Mary Meeker & Howard Meeker 2002, p. 79ff