Consolarium

February 24th, 2010

Consolarium Podcast 5: Samba de Amigo inspired learning

Derek Robertson

Comments: 9 Comments » Tags: Tags: Aberdeenshire, Consolarium, crazy talk, game based learning, games based learning, GBL, Glow, Nintendo
 : Categories Aberdeenshire, Added Value, Glow, Literacy, Nintendo, game based learning, podcast, writing

The latest edition of the Consolarium podcast is now available. You can subscribe to the podcast from itunes via this link or listen to it via the embedded player.

Super samba inspired learning in schools!

This edition of the Consolarium podcast is solely dedicated to a project that came to an end just before Christmas 2009. Meldrum PS and Slains PS in Aberdeesnhire had been working with the game Samba de Amigo for the Nintendo Wii. When this game first came out the team at the Consolarium thought that this would have great potential in schools and so it was duly purchased. Here’s what it looks like:

OK, I think that after that clip you may be asking, “How on earth can a game that requires the player to shake out samba rhythms help children learn?” Well it most certainly has. What has been going on?

Samba de Amigo inspires ‘relevant and engaging learning’

The methodology that the Consolarium invariably employs in our approach to game based learning involves the computer game being used as the central ‘contextual hub’ about which learning can be situated. We have used this approach with many of our previous projects and it has proved to be a successful methodology. The teachers involved in this project worked together to create a collaborative story that focused on a rags to riches tale about a favela dwelling samba musician who made it to the big time. Accompanying this came the story of a plane, that was carrying the newly created Samba music superstar, crashing in the Amazon jungle and the associated learning about that. Here is some of the children’s work. Here is a news report of that event:

Some people may still be of the opinion that the idea of game based learning is something that does not sit with what school should be about but we would argue that game based learning, if used appropriately, can excite, challenge and create relevant and appealing contexts for learners. Just look at how writing has been developed here”

• The children created their own samba stars and wrote a biographies about them. Have a read of one these: The life of Angelo de Rimosto (biography)
• The children were inspired to carry out research about the Amazon Rainforest as a result of the “plane crash’ scenario and other ways in which the teachers had created the settings in which intrinsic motivation to explore the topic. Have a read of this piece of writing: The Amazon Rainforest
• The children from both schools used Glow to begin to explore how they could work together on story start project. Here is the beginnings of their efforts: Trible Troubles Chapters 1, 2 and 3 If you would like to find out more about how Glow was used then join their Samba de Amigo Glow group.
• The children also used Crazy Talk to great effect to bring their writing to life. Here we see how writing about an imaginary Amazonian rainforest creature can be enhanced by this simple piece of technology:

If you take the time to listen to the podcast about the Samba de Amigo project then you’ll here us talking to a pupil about his experience. If we could have written a script for a pupil to read out about the benefits of game based learning then what he said (without coaching or prompting we may add) would have been what we would have said. He talks about his learning connecting up, about it being exciting and active and how he will rmember this project. Great stuff from him. Here is a brief clip of some boys  actively involved in the project and warming up for their Samba music creation lesson.

Hopefully the podcast and this brief blogpost will give you a flavour of just how good this GBL project was. A fuller account of what was done and how this GBL context impacted on learning will be released in the near future. In the meantime can we just say thanks to all at Meldrum PS and Slains PS for working with us on this project.

January 28th, 2010

Consolarium podcast no.3: BETT10 reflections and Wii Winter Olympics

Derek Robertson

Comments: 1 Comment Tags: Tags: bett10, Consolarium, educational games, fun inc, games based learning, Nintendo, Tom Chatfield
 : Categories West Dunbartonshire

This editon of the Consolarium is now available. You can subscribe to the podcast from itunes via this link or listen to it via the embedded player.

This edition of the Consolarium podcast consists of the following:

Reflections on BETT10

Derek Robertson and Ollie Bray attended the BETT10 educational technology exhibition at London’s Olympia. They offer their reflections of how this visit was for them…

Mario and Sonic at the Olympics at Gavinburn PS

Ollie Bray interviews Gillian Penny, the headteacher of Gavinburn PS from Old Kilpatrick in West Dunbartonshire. Mrs Penny has become a real ally and asset to game based learning having carried out some tremendous initiatives in conjunction with the Consolarium over the past year or so. Ollie talks to her about the planning process involved in leading game based learning projects in a school and they take the chance to focus on how planning for the Mario and Sonic at the Winter Olympics project is progressing.

AOCBGBL

Brian McLaren talks bout how he is using the lovely www.buildyourwildself.com resource to support his work in schools with Wild Earth African Safari.

Olie Bray recommends an website called www.blabberize.com that allows you to turn images into talking, or blabbering, animations. Very nice!

Derek Robertson mentions a new published book about computer games called Fun Inc. Why Games are the 21st Centuries Most Serious Business by Tom Chatfield

Brian Clark recommends the website www.tutpup.com. Online numeracy and spelling challenges.

November 29th, 2009

Wee Musicians performing with Wii Music

Derek Robertson

Comments: 2 Comments » Tags: Tags: Consolarium, educational games, game based learning, games based learning, LTS, Nintendo, Wii
 : Categories Aberdeenshire, Consolarium, Nintendo

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
• Children using Glow to share their work and to engage with tasks set bu the teacher in Glow Learn (and to perform at an international education conference go to 30mins)
• 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:

Aberdeenshire Council’s Wii Music plans

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.

September 28th, 2008

Dr Kawashima Challenge at SLF ‘08

Derek Robertson

Comments: 2 Comments » Tags: Tags: Consolarium, Nintendo, SLF08, SLF2008
 : Categories Nintendo, SLF08

To celebrate the impact that this work has had in Scottish schools and to test the ability of teachers and pupils alike we decided to have the Dr Kawashima (how fast can you do your sums) Challenge at this year’s Scottish Learning Festival? This event was supported by Nintendo and they kindly donated 30 DS plus games to us to offer as prizes in this competition. We asked the delegates at this years conference if they were the fastest sums expert in Scotland! We were unsure if teachers would avoid this because they might have felt a little compromised because they couldn’t quite remember things like 7 x 8 under pressure.

Over the course of both days the LTS stand was extremely busy with teachers undertaking the x20 challenge in the game in order to get on the leaderboard so that they had a chance of getting in the top eight that would compete at the Gamezone Challenge at the end of the day.

The final involved the top 8 teachers directly competing against each other in the x30 download challenge. The teachers that did compete did very very well and they contributed to a great session at the end of both days., The winners were:

• Wednesday: Steven Beattie, Dens Road PS, Dundee (15 DS plus games)
  
• Thursday: Vicky Mackenzie, Lairdsland PS, Kirkintilloch (15 DS plus games)

Well done to both winners and we hope that you enjoy and make good use of your newly acquired games/learning devices.

September 25th, 2008

Dr Kawashima extended trial summary results

Derek Robertson

Comments: 6 Comments » Tags: Tags: Consolarium, Derek Robertson, games based learning, LTS, Nintendo, SLF2008
 : Categories Nintendo

LTS Dr Kawashima Summary Report

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.

August 15th, 2008

Scottish Schools Sonic Olympics Challenge at SLF ‘08

Derek Robertson

Comments: 1 Comment Tags: Tags: Consolarium, LTS, Nintendo, Scottish Learning Festival, SLF2008, Sonic and Mario at the Olympics, Wii
 : Categories Consolarium, SLF08

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!

June 17th, 2008

Dr Kawashima: The post-tests begin!

Derek Robertson

Comments: none Tags: Tags: Consolarium, DS, Kawashima, Nintendo
 : Categories Aberdeenshire, Nintendo

Time flies when you’re playing Brain Training in the classroom it seems. The extended research study into the use of Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training that I am doing with Dr David Miller from the University of Dundee is coming to an end. I can hardly believe that it’s been ten weeks since this began and that we are already at the post-test data collection stage.

Last week we went up to Aberdeesnhire to carry out the post tests and were ably assisted in this by the ICT Staff Tutor team that comprises of Anna Rossvoll, Alison Butcher and Caroline Denning. The same tests were given out within the same framework although this time the beautiful weather made the travel betwen the schools hugely enjoyable. What a beautiful part of the country Aberdeenshire is.

We still have Dundee, the Western Isles and East Ayrshire to visit over the next two weeks and then we’re in to the data analysis. At this stage it seems that the experience has been an enjoyable one for the children and that they do feel that the game has helped them with their mental maths. My feelings were that the schools that were using the Nintendo DS machines were very much quicker with the number test this time around but as yet I don’t know about their accuracy.  There’s quite a lot of marking to be done now.

Thanks to all in Aberdeenshire for their support with this leg of the LTS Dr Kawashima research project.

March 22nd, 2008

Fantastic learning in P.2 via Nintendogs

Derek Robertson

Comments: 11 Comments » Tags: Tags: Aberdeenshire, Consolarium, games based learning, Nintendo, Nintendogs
 : Categories Aberdeenshire, Nintendo

What was the name of the first dog in space? You don’t know…well the children in a P.2 class in Aberdeenshire do and they were able to tell me all about him. (Answer at the end of this blogpost!)

A previous blogpost talked of the Nintendogs project that we  initiated in two P.2 classes up in Aberdeenshire. I managed to arrange a visit there in order to capture (video, audio and image)  all the practice that we could for case study presentation. Unsure of what we were going to find, we made our way up to that beautiful part of Scotland full of hope and anticipation that the practice that we would see would be something special.

To say that is what we found would have to be one of the biggest understatements ever. I can’t wait for the case study to be shared with everyone because the learning that we captured, saw, experienced, in both these classes, was incredible.

First of all we went to Elrick P.S. and found ourselves in a class that was bursting with life and learning. The class teacher had used the context of Nintendogs to create a rich mix of cross-curricular activities that had the concept of dogs at its very heart. The main thrust of the game is to look after your puppy and to ensure that it is healthy, happy and well exercised. You can also train your dog and take it to dog competitions, kind of like a virtual Crufts, and win money that you can then spend in the virtual shop on toys, clothes, brushes etc for your dog. What learning has been happening in the class:

• Children making stop motion animations of dogs playing together
• Children role playing in the class Veterinary Surgery. You can imagine the writing and talking activities inherent in such a context: appointments, role playing as a vet, dealing with money etc…
• Exuberant approach to writing stories about the life of their Nintendogs and how they were getting on in the virtual competitions. Children with gleeful and proud faces desperate to show the ‘new adults in the room’ their writing and paintings.
• P.7 children helping P.2 children type up blogposts and scanning in their drawings so that the children’s learning could be shared beyond the classroom. Mum, dads and grannies and other people offering formative and encouraging comment on what they were reading. A great way of developing structures that allow children to become the co-constructors of knowledge.
  • Elrick PS Top Dogs blog
  • Banchory PS Doggytails blog
    
• Who says that children won’t read or become interested in books because they spend too much time playing games? The topic bookshelf was packed full of books about dogs and it was apparently hugely popular.
• A vibrant wall display about Hairy Maclary. Writing and paintings associated with this text
• An informative wall display about Crufts. This became a topic of great interest to the children because of the competitions that you take your dog into in the game. The teacher had made stickers for 1st, 2nd & 3rd places in the virtual competitions and these were worn with pride by the children in the class.
• Some of the children already had Nintendogs and so were pretty skilled in understanding the menus and the narrative of the game. They became the Top Dogs in the class (a name chosen by the children) and with this title came the responsibility to be a peer tutor, someone who could help develop players new to the game so that they too could reach the level of top dog. Tremendous self-esteem being developed here but also an approach that creates an ethos that sees the learner as an active agent in the learning process in the class. Superb idea!!!
• A dog walking service has been initiated, not Nintendogs but real dogs. Parents involved and safety issues all taken into consideration. Children have learned to understand dogs a bit better and some children who were frightened are much less fearful and now more confident around dogs.
• The local dog warden paid a visit to the school and helped the children understand the six rules of keeping and being around dogs. These rules were all acted out to us by the children with gleeful abandon.
  

At the heart of all this was a very good and creative teacher who has approached this project in an imaginative yet thoughtful and structured way. For me a first class exemplification of how to use a good resource to help develop good learning.

We then went to Banchory P.S. where we saw another class of children doing a range of very similar activities. Again here we had an imaginative teacher focusing on the learning that could be developed through the context of this game.

What I couldn’t help notice in some of the talk that was happening was the children’s very impressive ability to recognise place value in to the hundreds and thousands of pounds. Remember, these children are 6/7 yet they were reading out how much money they had accrued in the game with apparent ease. One young lad took great in delight in reading out his bank balance which was£4228.22!!!

We also managed to interview some parents about their attitudes to the idea of games in the class and this turned out to be a great session. We really could not have scripted their responses any better in terms of convincing those who may still be sceptical. Comments made included:

“I wasn’t too happy when I heard about a computer game being used in the class at first. But it’s been great…my son talks about school and what he has learned now.”

” My son has had his confidence boosted because he needs a bit of extra help with his work but because he’s very good at the game he is now in the position of helping others for a change.”

“I’ve heard on the news about other schools in Scotland using computer games and I now think it’s the way to go. I mean, the children are really excited about school and my child tells me all about her day at school now where before she really didn’t.”

We also had Graham Brown-Martin from Handheld Learning as a guest visitor on the day and I think it’s fair to say that he was rather impressed by what was on view in both schools. A full case study of this initiative will appear on the Consolarium’s website in due course but in the meantime some clips can be viewed on Handheld Learning TV.

1. Parents talking about the project
   
2. Learner voice
3. Headteacher comments on the project
4. How to engage teachers
5. The children animate their dog
6. Derek Robertson talks about the project
7. The game as the contextual hub for learning

This for me was an exceptional day. It’s great to be passionate about learning and to use this passion to argue the case for games based learning in the classroom but when you see teachers actually making the learning come to life and such rich, dynamic and varied ways then it only reaffirms what we are trying to do.

Very well done to all associated with this excellent project.

By the way, the first dog in space was Laika.

February 8th, 2008

Nintendogs project under way

Derek Robertson

Comments: 2 Comments » Tags: Tags: DS, games based learning, Nintendo, Nintendogs
 : Categories Aberdeenshire, Nintendo, rich tasks

Some time ago I received a very interesting proposal from the team in Aberdeenshire for a games-based-learning project that we could undertake in a couple of P.2 classrooms. The idea was to use the popular Nintendogs game for the Nintendo DS as a the context through which a cross-curricular project could be developed. What is Nintendogs I hear you ask? It’s a virtual pet that grows from being a puppy to a well-trained dog that you can take to virtual dog shows. I can assure they are great fun and disarmingly therapeutic when you scratch them behind the ear or tickle them under the belly! Have a look:

I was really interested in this and when I saw how the teachers had planned to use the resource I immediatley bought in to the idea.

The Consolarium has loaned some DSs and games to the schools and the local authority have also purchased resources to support the project. The children are working in pairs to support the nurturing and dvelopment of their virtual pets and the teachers are using the context created by the game to dive in to a range of rich tasks that open up the curriculum in a connected and meaningful fashion.

Lots of ideas for writing and number, design and technology is being looked at as the children have ben given a design brief to create a kennel that will keep a real dog dry and warm. There has also been evidence of entreupeneurship as some of the children have decided to open a dog-walking service that ocurs on a Friday afternoon (safety concerns taken acount of and parents heavily involved). The children have also established a system called Top Dogs in the class. To be a top dog you will probably have Nintendogs at home and will most likely be a more experienced player. These chiuldren are then acting as mentors to help and advise peers as they look after their dogs!

The project has a class blog, called Top Dogs, that hopes to detail the progress of the Nintendog puppies and the teaching and learning that is ongoing.

Looking forward to reporting more about this in the near future.