Researchers Make a Case For Learning Through Video Game Creation 68
ub3r n3u7r4l1st sends along this snippet from Science Daily:
"Computer games have a broad appeal that transcends gender, culture, age and socio-economic status. Now, computer scientists in the US think that creating computer games, rather than just playing them, could boost students' critical and creative thinking skills as well as broaden their participation in computing. ... 'Worldwide, there is increasing recognition of a digital divide, a troubling gap between groups that use information and communication technologies widely and those that do not,' the team explains. 'The digital divide refers not only to unequal access to computing resources between groups of people but also to inequalities in their ability to use information technology fully.' There are many causes and proposed solutions to bridging this divide, but applying them at the educational and computer literacy level in an entertaining and productive way might be one of the more successful. The team adds that teaching people how to use off-the-shelf tools to quickly build a computer game might allow anyone to learn new thinking and computing skills."
Gamers grown up (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Gamers grown up (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Gamers grown up (Score:5, Interesting)
I suppose you're correct if you look at it as teaching kids how to program video games, but it looks like they're trying to get them to learn critical and creative thinking in a broad range, rather than xor'ing pixels all day.
If you compare it to art class, where students liberally steal ideas and style from Van Gogh and Matisse (and Bob Ross) yet still learn the basics of how to paint, I think that in the same way students will be able to pick up some basics of the thought processes involved in designing something from scratch, in a variety of disciplines. Even with off-the-shelf software, they will still have to think on the surface of how to render out an environment, build characters or puzzles, and create some sort of user interface and menu system. It'll likely be slapped together and a horrible program, but it could definitely build computer skills for those with a penchant for problem-solving and creative thinking.
I think it's a good idea overall, but the implementation will probably completely fail in the US due to lack of capable teachers.
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students liberally steal ideas and style
Stealing? Try learning.
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Did you even read the rest of the sentence?
Copying the brush technique from "Starry Night" is stealing it in the case of most art students, but they'll learn something along the way.
I'm not saying it's stealing in the same sense as taking food from the grocery, so don't get all ridiculous on me.
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The best part is this quote is stolen from Oscar Wilde.
Re:Gamers grown up (Score:4, Insightful)
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I tried one which generated J2EE apps, but actually, but it just slowed me down, and making the diagrams look neat took much more effort than to make the code neat. (You know, a lot of wires crossing each other etc.) Actually, writing an autoindent module for textual code is much easier than for a graph based language.
Actually what makes diagrams in gen
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A "simple app constructor" would be a killer app for any platform.
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There's always 'Construct', a free and open-source 'game constructor' at www.scirra.com, but it doesn't do Android or iPhone yet...
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Actually, it can be relatively simple.
Have a look at Omega, brought out in 1989: http://www.mobygames.com/game/omega_ [mobygames.com]
A game teaching you how to program a tank.
Another nice thing came out in the late 80s for the Mac: ChipWits. :)
(Obviously I now have to point to my free PC version in the sig, although that's not the point of this post)
You programmed a ChipWit robot to drink coffee and avoid bugs by a simple icon-based language. Great fun
Ciao,
Klaus
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What surprises me is that an 11 year old kid, with a 10 minute training, can create a fun and interesting game in just 2 hours. They can analyse there game concept and add a layer of abstraction to it to program it. They can convert the idea, the cat needs to move to his basket while luring the dog away to the concept, the o
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People think 'politics' is the problem but that excuse doesn't fly in a democracy. The problem is the voters who don't think their wishes through completely.
Computer Science != Computer Skills (Score:5, Insightful)
I super hates stories like this that generalize "computer skills" with computer science. Most of the programmers I know aren't gamers, and most gamers aren't programmers. Most of the programmers have great skills solving a computer science problem, but might run into problems with diagnosing a hardware/software conflict to make their legacy Soundblaster Audigy work with Battlefield 2 (as an example).
For a car analogy *ahem* this is just like, a godlike car mechanic might not be a "good" driver, whatever good means, and a good driver might not be able to fix cars. Both driving and fixing are skills. Teaching kids to make games doesn't magically make him/her a better computer user. It doesn't teach them to Win-L when they walk away from the terminal.
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I don't think that a car analogy can work here, but a pizza analogy might. You mean that if I like pizzas doesn't necessarily mean I can make good ones ? Or not ?
A good Pizza Analogy anyone ?
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A closer analogy I think is:
Knowing how to make a pizza and then making it, doesn't mean it'll taste good. And, making good pizza doesn't mean you know exactly what you did, you're just talented.
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Re:Computer Science != Computer Skills (Score:5, Funny)
Ok sure, it's like when a car runs out of gasoline, you have to fill it up. But sometimes you do it with 87 octane and you know it's not enough.
So you go to the supermarkets, and get a can of green peas and also a copy of electronic gaming monthly. You head back to the car and all of a sudden, the 87 octane didn't seem so bad cuz if you filled it with 93, you would've have the peas.
Get it?
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I was going to ask if I should put them in the fuel tank, but then realised that they'd block the injectors. Should I mix them in a pan with some 87 octane first? Over a halogen hob of course... We all know that petrol doesn't mix well with fire!
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Maybe he means that, if you make good pizza, then you need a good driver to deliver it. If you make bad pizza, then you'd better be a good driver. If you make bad pizza and you can't drive, then you need to own a pizzeria, preferably, a Dominoes, where you can be bad at both and still make money.
I could draw you a chi-square, if you'd like, but slashdot doesn't support tables.
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Most of the programmers have great skills solving a computer science problem
Not really accurate. Computer scientists invent and analyze algorithms, whereas programmers just implement them.
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Which is why most programmers are, to some extent, computer scientists.
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Yes, like plumbers are, to some extent, professors in fluid dynamics ;)
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In any job I've worked at, as well as anything I do in my spare time, my "programming" also involved developing the algorithm to do a certain task.
I can see that some simple programming jobs might not need you to develop algorithms. But for those companies that need that - are there really companies where they hire separate computer scientists and programmers, where the former explains the algorithm than the programmer simply does the laborious work of translating algorithms to code?
If you want to talk abou
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I think it is more like you have one pure mathematician who works out some crazy new maths and then you get an applied mathematician who works out how to use it for something practical.
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Xcept for the fact that... (Score:1)
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Not funny, but it does raise a point; the ideal environment for this might well be some sort of graphical MUD. I would personally begin with Sauerbraten, and add a nice LUA interface or something, at least as a proof-of-concept. I'm envisioning something like Second Life, but with content creation tools that don't hurt your brain. Why is it that Open Source software nearly always has a shit interface? Even FreeCiv, which gives you tons more control over units and cities than the games on which it is based,
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I've compared the reactions of new users to each, and The GIMP comes out worse universally.
MMA? (Score:2)
MMO or MMA on consoles
What do massively multiplayer online and mixed martial arts have to do with each other?
modding support (Score:4, Insightful)
There is a way already here: it is called game modding. Modding is almost as good as creating a new game, and doesn't cost the millions for dev or engine licensing.
Downside is you don't get paid.
Re:modding support (Score:5, Interesting)
Indeed. Modding is great. I learned loads from UT modding. It makes understanding OOP much easier as when you start you can relate 'objects' to ingame stuff that you can see, while later you find out that there are many 'objects' that you cannot see at all. It gives a base for AI, it teaches programming of course, it learns you about debugging and performance.
You don't have to create the next countersstrike or whatever, just make something fun. And it will teach you a lot more then sitting in a classroom.
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yes. and people are driven while modding, much like a gamer playing a favorite game. After you master a game you realize what it was missing and you want to change it. Or maybe make a different story/concept.
I mod Civilization 4 (Second Revolution mod) and i host a podcast on modding called ModCast [slashdot.org].
It helped my math (Score:2, Insightful)
I dunno about creativity, but dabbling in game programming made me understand and appreciate math better. I've always hated math for it's own sake and avoided learning at all costs, but when I started messing around in pygame I had trig make sense for the first time thanks to the vectors of a moving sprite and I taught myself linear equations all over again too.
Alice? (Score:3, Informative)
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Seriously, don't half teach people how to program. If I can teach myself to program in 6th grade, on my own, I'm sure anyone else who has the motivation can learn to program, especially with someone helping them. Teaching them "beginner" languages is just dumb. Teach them an easy language, but one with actual uses. Not some "programming language for girls!" bullshit.
Yawn (Score:2)
So they're concluding that performing a complex multidisciplinary task requiring thinking, planning and problem solving skills, but that is also fun improves student performance and learning?
I'm shocked!
Digital Divide is From Copyright Law (Score:2)
The only reason there is a digital divide is because of copyright law. Programmers have the benefit of creating something that can be sold over and over again, whether it is embedded in a service such as a bank, insurance company, or financial house, or, off the shelf. This benefit is generally created by copyright law and patents. If you didn't have those things, then, you, programmers wouldn't be able to cash in selling stuff over and over again because everyone could just copy it once made. Then, pro
Where is the Free Assets Foundation? (Score:2)
The only reason there is a digital divide is because of copyright law. Programmers have the benefit of
...a vibrant free software community. But a video game has components other than software, and there isn't as much of a free assets community.
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Ok, it's not quite turbosquid, but still nice
Good Luck (Score:5, Insightful)
What they haven't taken into account is that most kids who play computer/console games are not critical thinkers in the sense they want them to be. I know plenty of people who, when we were young, thought the idea of making a game would be a dream job... then after a 10 week C++ class in high school they realized. "Hey, this is shit really hard.... and boring."
The fact is that most people play games because they are an easy escape from life, or a good way to socially interact. Your typical madden, or call of duty player doesn't give a shit about critical thinking, or programming.
Hey! Guess what... (Score:1)
Why not just design tabletop games? (Score:3, Insightful)
The critical thinking and intimate understanding isn't exclusive to VIDEO game development -- it's a fundamental aspect of game design. One must understand the inner workings of whatever it is you're trying to model, at an abstract level, in order to make a game out of it.
Tabletop gaming also doesn't require a computer (although they can facilitate it), so schools with less computer access can still participate. The best part, too, is that there is likely to be one or two games each year that are actually fun to play; Those games can be used by future classes for teaching. In a classroom environment, where kids are forced away from video games anyways, allowing tabletop games in should be a welcome alternative to enduring lectures.
There's a whole movement called "Serious Games" -- MSU even has a graduate degree in it. Check it out.
Reconciling the Conventional Methods (Score:1)
I have a bad feeling about this... (Score:2)
Like Peter re-learning how to drive?
http://tv.gawker.com/5439580/peter-uses-grand-theft-auto-as-a-driving-tutorial-on-family-guy [gawker.com]
Good but Old Idea (Score:1)
Here's how it works. (Score:1)
Steps to make it work:
1) at age 8, refuse to buy games
2) tell that need to create it yourself if one wants games
3) provide necessary tools to build it
4) provide computer
Rest will happen automatically. Should be careful with disappointments that happen when the game is completely ready, but noone else wants it. It's the process of creating it that is most interesting and handling complexity and deciding what aspects makes the game interesting -- anything outside that process i
How about start with just art and music? (Score:2)
Making games sounds fun and forward thinking, but if you imagine implementing such a course you are looking at huge hardware, software, and human resource requirements. Even if all software is open source and free, someone who can teach children how to program is someone who can get a 6 figure income anywhere else... And with the public education system having problems keeping normal talent, counting on them to retain talented teachers is not being very realistic.
But before going high-tech, schools are alre