Learning to Game - Gaming to Learn

Skapad: 27.01.2014

The project in intended for students ages 13-14 (7^th grade in Finland). The class in question is an English language class that learns according to the CLIL method (Content and Language Integrated Learning).

The purpose of the iTEC project is to introduce students to a different perspective in gaming. They will create their own games and share them with the third graders and fifth graders in the elementary school. The purpose of the games is to provide the younger students with a fun way to review topics they have studied. The topics are related to My Roots and Flows and Cycles. The students will be assessed on the process they go through when programming the games and the success of the games: purpose, functionality, playability, graphics, and age-group suitability.

• Purpose: Does the game fulfill its purpose, i.e. can it be used to review topics pertaining to local environment and Finland and water, air and the solar system? Do the activities in the game serve the purpose of review?
• Functionality: Is the game challenging? Are the functions in the game too easy, too difficult?  
• Playability: Are the activities in the game suitable for the topic chosen? Is it logical? Is the game fun to play?
• Graphics: Are the graphics used suitable for the type of game chosen? 

The students will make a draft game and test it out on their classmates. After the classmates have given their evaluations, the students will edit their games based on the evaluation they received. Once the students have made the final version of their game, we will agree on a time to share the games with the smaller children in the elementary school who also learn according to the CLIL method.

The reason for choosing two scenarios, My Roots and Flows and Cycles, is due to the fact that the topics studied in Environmental Studies in the 3^rd grade are closely related to the local environment and Finland (My Roots), while the topics studied in Physics and Chemistry in the fifth grade are related to water, air and phenomena in the solar system (Flows and Cycles). The students will create their games in English, and the purpose of the games will be to give the younger students an opportunity to review the topics they have learned in their Environmental Studies and Physics lessons. This, of course, calls for close cooperation with the teachers of the classes in question to find out the topics the students have studied thus far.

Due to restrictions pertaining to access to technological devices (8 iPads/350 students), the students will create their games using the school’s laptops. The class involved in creating the games has 25 students. The students will be divided into pairs to encourage cooperation and the give the students the opportunity to express their ideas and receive feedback about those ideas.       

Grundare: Judi Rose