Years ago, when TV was a source for the collective conscious, I remember sitting down with my folks to watch the Generation Game on BBC1. The willing contestants were always presented with challenging and nonsensical tasks to try out and one that sticks in my mind involved handbell ringing!
Somehow a visit to a school in Peterhead last week to see a game based learning initiative that used Wii Music brought that memory back to me as I watched groups of children swing their wiimotes and nunchunks in a campanology stylee but in so doing they really were ringing the bell for game based learning in schools…
I was contacted by Jonathan Cordiner from the Aberdeenshire Glow team some time ago to be informed about the work that he was doing with Esther Clark and her P.6 class from Buchanhaven PS in Peterhead using the game Wii Music for the Nintendo Wii. Now Wii Music involves a number of games that encourage you to ‘jam’ with the Miis on screen and in so doing play various instruments and learn a surprising amount about music.
When I mentioned the potential of learning about music through this game to some people they did not initially think that standing in front of a screen waving a game controller up and down or side to side could have any real substance or add value to learners experience in this area. Having visited the class and seeing what they have done for myself I can’t help saying just how incredible the skilled and informed use of this resource has been and just what a tremendous impact this has had on the learners in this class.
What have they been learning?
The first thing that struck me when I met the class was just again how excited and motivated the children were to show what they had been doing and to demonstrate their new skills.
For me the educational ethos in a class is so important if children are to be engaged by learning and here we saw a class bursting with enthusiasm, industry, skills and knowledge of their subject. I saw:
Groups of children accompanying the Miis with various vitual instruments in the game to perfectly perform a selection of songs
Children learning about the role and responsibility of the orchestra conductor and showing their skills in conducting the Wii orchestra
Children moving away from the game to play ‘real’ instruments in order to play the songs they had performed within the game
Children talking confidently and knowledgeably about the range of musical instruments AND musical notation
Children performing their own ringtones that were created using a pentatonic scale
Class displays about various composers and the different genres of music there are
Above all I saw learning happening in a classroom bursting with life. We have videoed a lot of the work that the children have been doing but is just at the edit stage but have a quick look at some of the work that the children have done about the composers that they investigated:
Yet again we see how a game built for entertainment can prove to be such a rich source for learning when used by skilled and thoughtful teachers who know how to use game based learning in order to create the appropriate context and climate in which rich learning can thrive. There have been many requests to the Aberdeenshire Glow team for the plans that were used for this project. These can be accessed here:
This project was a sheer delight to see and many congratulations must go to Jonathan and Esther for their imaginative and thorough approach, an approach that has made this initiative such a success.
As part of the work that the Consolarium has done in the field of game based learning and more importantly the significance of the reference to games design in the CfE Technology outcomes LTS is in the early stages of an initiative that aims to develop the capacity for the development of a games design community via Glow. As part of this work are carrying out this survey that we hope will help us outline the current landscape about the use and spread of games based learning in Scottish schools. To this end we have worked with Scottish Screen and the Abertay University to create two questionnaires: one for teachers and one for pupils. We are hoping that responses from both questionnaires will give us a clearer picture of the spread of games based learning and some attitudes to it.
Teacher questionnaire Closing date for this questionnaire is Friday 20th November. It should not take more than 5-10 mins to complete.
Pupil questionnaire Closing date for this questionnaire is Friday 11th December. It should not take more than 5-10 mins to complete.
There is the added incentive for pupils to participate by the possibility of winning a Nintendo DSi. The following link also contains text that addresses the issue of safety in relation to children’s participation with this survey.
We fully appreciate that GBL in schools is hapening in many places outside of Scotland but this survey is aimed only at Scottish pupils and Scottish schools. We would greatly appreciate as many responses as possible to so please share it with as many people as you can.
Our results will be shared with the wider community once we have had time to collate and analyse them.
Thanking you in advance for your participation and support with this.
As part of the ongoing remit to explore emerging technologies and their potential application within teaching and learning contexts Learning and Teaching Scotland’sConsolarium has been exploring Virtual Worlds. Virtual Worlds present players/learners with a computer-based simulated environment intended for its players/learners to inhabit and interact via avatars. The most famous virtual worlds would include World of Warcraft and Second Life. Although World of Warcraft is of great interest to us we are not yet looking at this due to reasons that include the time required to spend ‘in-world’ and the unprotected nature of the environment in terms of knowing who is engaging with young learners. However, the world of Second Life has been of interest to us and this is an area that we have been considering. Our ongoing discussions with various industry partners led to a meeting with an Aberdeen based company called Second Places. They make bespoke virtual worlds for clients and have worked with organisations as varied as BP, The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, and even the comedian Jimmy Carr! Discussions between us led to the germ of an idea that would make the concept of the virtual world in relation to teaching and learning something that would be attainable, accessible and relevant in the modern Scottish classroom. This idea is CANVAS. (Full presentation of CANVAS’ design and planned implementation will be available at a seminar at SLF’09 & HHL’09)
What is CANVAS?
In essence CANVAS (Children’s Art at the National Virtual Arena of Scotland) is a virtual art space where Scottish pupils can exhibit their still or moving image art. Access to CANVAS will be through Glow (full Shibboleth Authentication) and with this comes the opportunity to exhibit pupils’ work, in a safer and securer environment, to the huge audience of pupils and teachers throughout Scotland. Not only will pupils be able to exhibit their work but they also will be able to appear in-world, represented by a virtual character called an avatar, so that they can talk via a chat facility to gallery visitors who come to visit and view the art works on show in CANVAS. We believe that the participative nature of the design will offer a context in which young learners experiences, thoughts and understanding of their own work and development can be enriched and enhanced by the proposed opportunity for dialogue and discussion that the world offers. The exhibiting pupils will not be able to appear in world all the time so we have also built in the functionality that would allow the artist to record and embed a short video that can be played by gallery visitors when learners/artists are not in-world. This in itself is also another rich learning experience in terms of ICT but also in relation to the drafting and recording of a focused and succinct piece that would tell the viewer all about the artist’s work. To further add to this collaborative environment is the function that enables gallery visitors to leave formative comment about their experience and what they have thought about the art that is on show. Each separate artist will have their own forum where comments can be left for them to consider and reflect on.
What is the technology that is used?
Although the world looks and feels like Second Life it is actually made using an application called Open Sim. This has allowed us to create our own bespoke virtual world that can be hosted on our servers so that we have full control over whom we allow in to view and interact in the world. In order to view the world there are some technical issues that need to addressed. These include
• some ports require to be opened in firewalls before schools can access the world. Local Authority partners have been very helpful in addressing this issue so that the integrity of their networks is not compromised
• A CANVAS client will require to be installed locally to any machine that will be used to view the world. Again, we are working with Local Authority partners in order to find solutions for the delivery of this resource across managed networks
• Quicktime must be installed on any machine to be used to view CANVAS (in order to view videos within the world)
It seems that innovation does not come without its challenges and this project has certainly not found itself short on challenges. We would like to comment on the dedication and ‘stickability’ of Second Places and in particular Mark Duffy who has faced a series of what appeared to be never-ending hilltops! We are almost at the top!
What is the role of local Authorities in making CANVAS work?
Initially the idea behind CANVAS involved the use of only one exhibition space. This space would allow a local authority to exhibit pupils’ work for a three-week period. However, this would have meant that some local authorities would need to wait almost three years before they could participate and showcase pupils’ work from their schools. This was not acceptable to us. Further discussions led to the extension of the world so that there were 32 separate rooms so that all local authorities can choose to maintain and refresh their own gallery in a manageable way. The refresh timescale of the exhibition is down to each local authority. There is also some discussion still to be had in relation to what each gallery would exhibit. We are leaving this open to local authorities so that they may choose to have something along the lines of:
• an exhibition that focuses on a particular theme
• a focus on a school to showcase their pupil’s work
• best of Secondary
• best of Primary/Nursery
• a moving image special
• a focus on a particular style such as Impressionism, modern art, portraiture
We still have the main exhibition space but we are currently in discussion about the role that this will play in the future. Should we make this somewhere that displays the work from a selected local authority as first envisaged or should it exhibit a monthly selection of art from the 32 local authority galleries? Might this main exhibition space showcase art of a particular theme from schools across Scotland or can it also show art from galleries not connected with school or maybe even art teachers work? These are questions that we are currently discussing but at this stage we still envisage using this main space to showcase pupil art from selected local authorities.
Management of the CANVAS environment has been made as accessible as possible for users. We aim to give ‘god’ accounts to the people within each local authority who would be willing/responsible to manage the collation of the artwork and the subsequent uploading of this to CANVAS. They will also need to work with the exhibiting schools/pupils in order to arrange times when the pupil will be available to be ‘in-world’ so that they can interact and engage with visitors to the gallery. LTS are more than willing to support local authorities in the use of CANVAS so that they can take ownership of it at as early a stage as possible.
There will also be some requirement to moderate the comments that are submitted to the formative forum. We do hope that this will not be too onerous a task and as we know the identity of everyone in the world is (via the Shibboleth authentication) then we can trace any inappropriate comment, delete it and then, if appropriate, suspend the offending person from the world. This is an issue that may cause us the occasional headache but we believe that we have the mechanisms in place to address it if it does arise.
Taking this forward
We understand that there are have been some unfortunate stories linked with Second Life over the past year or so. We wish to stress that we are not using Second Life but an application called Open Sim that has enabled us to create out own world that we have complete control over in terms of who can access it. We would also like to stress that this project has been carefully considered with CfE and AifL clearly in mind and has been developed in conjunction with a range of ICT, Expressive Arts, AifL and school partners. It has the potential to be a significant resource and is another example of how we are exploring emerging technologies that have become embedded, for good or bad in contemporary culture, but with a clear focus on teaching and learning. Finally, CANVAS has such a low technology skills threshold that we believe that it will enable the vast majority of teachers to use it without any fear of its technical aspect.
We believe that CANVAS has the potential to be a transformational resource and that it will enrich learning in art & design for Scottish pupils
As a result of a small scale intervention that we carried out in some classrooms last year we managed to fund an extended study to explore further the findings that we identified in relation to mental maths attainment and academic self-concept as a result of playing Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training for the Nintendo DS in the primary school.
As a result of this extended study, carried out by Learning and Teaching Scotland in partnership with the University of Dundee and HMIE, we now have some concrete evidence of learning gains that can be attributed to the use of a games console in the primary classroom. But it has also raised a series of questions in our minds; there is a lot more we need to learn…
Although our research does indicate significant gains by the Nintendo group we feel that two things are particularly important for those with an interest in Scottish education. The first is that even the control group children showed measurable improvements in performance; this reflects very well on hard-working Scottish class teachers. The second point is important when thinking about the implications of our findings: because of the research design, we can feel confident that these findings are likely to be typical of what we can realistically expect across the board in Scotland.
We attach a summary paper that gives an outline of what we have found. We intend to submit a fuller paper for full academic review hence the summary nature of the information that we are sharing with you. The results will be discussed and shared with a wider audience for the first time at the Scottish Learning Festival in Glasgow.
Congratulations to David Whyte from Baldragon Academy in Dundee who yesterday swept all challengers aside to become the Scottish Schools Guitar Hero for 2008. Congratulations also to Craig Davidson, Shaun Caldwell and Lewis Bayne for making it to the semi-finals and for giving such a spirited and skilled performance at the Gamezone Challenge.
David thoroughly impressed the viewing delegates at the conference with his expertise at the game. Whilst playing the song: When We Were Young by The Killers he managed to hit a 500 note streak on expert level. Superb!!!
Thanks to all who supported this event by either participating over the course of the last month or by coming along to the venue to support the boys and to support the unusual addition of something like the Gamezone Challenge at an educational conference.
Thanks also to Microsoft and Nintendo for the donation of prizes for the competitions that we are running in the Gamezone Challenge.
As part of this year’s Consolarium inspired Gamezone Challenge at this year’s SLF we have the DR Kawashima Challenge: How fast can you do your sums? Delegates are invited to take the x20 challenge within this game and see if their score gets on the leaderboard! If a score features in the top eight by 3:30pm on the Wednesday or 2:30pm on the Thursday then the talented delegate will be invited to take part in the x30 download challenge to see if they are the fastest sums expert in Scotland! This title will come with 15, yes I said 15 Nintendo DS plus Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training for the DS.
Established in 2006 The Consolarium was Learning and Teaching Scotland’s initiative to explore the potential, worth and manageability of games based learning in nursery, primary and secondary classrooms. Last year’s Scottish Learning Festival allowed a number of these projects to be shared and celebrated and it is with great delight that I can say that this year’s event, SLF ‘08 has given us the opportunity to show what has continued to happen in Scottish classrooms.
What’s on then you may be asking? A full Games pathway brochure is available but as a quick ready reckoner here’s what’s going on over the two days:
Rock and Roll is helping the Scottish Learning Festival ’08 turn it up to eleven this year in the form of the Scottish Schools Guitar Hero Challenge! If you think that your pupils have the potential to win this then get involved in this year’s Game Zone Challenge at SLF’08. All you need is one of the following: a PS2, PS3, XBox360 or Nintendo Wii along with a copy of Guitar Hero III (with a guitar).
Over the next few weeks we are asking you to let your children play When We Were Young by The Killers. Pupils validated scores should be emailed by their teacher to consolarium@ltscotland.org.uk and we will then upload this to the leaderboard The competition heats will end on Friday 12 September when the top four on the leaderboard will be identified and invited to Glasgow to compete in the Game Zone Challenge. Travel costs will be covered by LTS. This event will take place at the SLF’08 on Wednesday 24 September, 4:00pm.
It promises to be quite an event what with the finals being held on a stage with a PA, large screens, lights AND a dry ice machine…eat your heart out Spinal Tap! Oh, and the champion can win computer games goodies for their school.
We have established a Guitar Hero Glow Group for schools to share the associated curricular work that can go on around a game such as a Guitar Hero but if your school is not yet in Glow don’t worry you can still participate…send your high scores to me and I’ll add it to the leaderboard. If you like you can send me any other material your class may have done in relation to Guitar Hero and I’ll post it in Glow.
The song that we want you to play does not immediately appear in the game so you have two ways of accessing it.
Play the game until it opens the song
Use a cheat. If you don’t know how to do this then follow these instructions:
To enter cheats, from the main menu in Guitar Hero III go to Options -> Cheats -> Enter New Cheat. For each code, you have to strum while you press the given buttons. Notes in parenthesis are held together while you strum .i.e. (RY) denotes Red and Yellow buttons held at the same time and strummed once.
The cheat code is as follows: GRBO, GRYB, GRYO, GBYO, GRYB, RYBO, GRYB, GYBO, GRYB, GRYO, GRYO, GRYB, GRYO
Please contact us if you have any difficulties with this. Good luck and maybe we’ll see you and your pupils at SLF’08!
Do your pupils have what it takes to be the Scottish Schools Sonic and Mario at the Olympics Champion for 2008? If so, then get involved in the Mario Olympics Challenge at this year’s Game Zone Challenge at the Scottish Learning Festival ‘08. All you need is a Nintendo Wii, a copy of the game and up to four Wiimotes (the handset that you use to play the Wii).
Over the next few weeks we would like your pupils to enter the trampolining heat. They must try to get the highest score they can on the trampoline event in the game. Their validated scores should then be emailed by a teacher to consolarium@ltscotland.org.uk and we will upload this to the leaderboard.
The competition heats will end on Friday 12 September when the top eight on the leaderboard will be identified and invited to Glasgow to compete in the Game Zone Challenge. Travel costs will be covered by LTS.
One school in Dundee has already piloted this game and not only was this great fun but it led to enthusiastic learning around the associated curricular areas. This work will soon appear on the Consolarium’s website in case study format.
We have established a Glow group for those who want to collaborate and share their work and experiences in this venture. If your school is not in Glow then please do still feel free to join in and compete….
Please note that the finals will comprise of the 100m sprint, the swimming and the trampoline so get cracking with it. They will be held on a stage in the Education Village (Thursday 25 September, 3:00pm) so that an enthusiastic audience can cheer on the competitors. The champion will win some computer games goodies for their school and this prize will be presented by one of Scotland’s best rugby players of recent times, Gregor Townsend MBE who now works with the Winning Scotland Foundation.
Please contact us at consolarium@ltscotland.org.uk if you have any queries about this. Good luck and maybe we’ll see you and your pupils at SLF’08!
The past two weeks have been rather hectic, with the promise of more of the same next week. I’m writing this post from the Western Isles EDC offices in Stornoway having completed another leg of the LTS extended Dr Kawashima project.
Last year we carried out a small-scale intervention using Nintendo DS & Dr Kawashima in a P.5/6 class in Dundee. Thew results proved to be so interesting that we managed to access funds that has allowed us to extend this to 16 schoolsd with Nintendo with 16 control groups. The methodology is very similar to what we did last year with the exception that we only have Nintendo groups and control groups this time around and the fact we are using different measures to the Burnett Self-Scale that we used last year. So now things are well under way…
We had a great start last week in Aberdeenshire schools that are taking part. It was an experience, to say the least, to have some headteachers waiting at the front door for my arrival and then to be welcomed with the excited exclamation, “It’s the Nintedno man!” The pre and post tests went like clockwork, no small thanks to Anna Rossvoll, Alison Butcher and Caroline Denning from the ‘Shire’s ICT team as well as Elizabeth Cole from HMIe. What a team!
This week has seen me carrying out the needful in the Western Isles with my colleague from the University of Dundee, Dr David Miller doing likewise in the participating Dundee schools. Next week will see us both doing the same in our partner schools in East-Ayrshire.
I’ve always said that teaching is a great career but it’s an added bonus to see the gleeful reactions and to hear the gasps of disbelief when we tell ther children that they are getting to use the DS in class, and that we are giving them one each for the 10 week duration of the project. Good times.
We’ll all be back to visit the schools to carry out the post-tests in 10 weeks time and then for the analysis…
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Somehow a visit to a school in Peterhead last week to see a game based learning initiative that used Wii Music brought that memory back to me as I watched groups of children swing their wiimotes and nunchunks in a campanology stylee but in so doing they really were ringing the bell for game based learning in schools…
As a result of a 
Congratulations to David Whyte from 
Rock and Roll is helping the 
Do your pupils have what it takes to be the Scottish Schools Sonic and Mario at the Olympics Champion for 2008? If so, then get involved in the Mario Olympics Challenge at this year’s Game Zone Challenge at the