Consolarium

October 29th, 2007

The Winning Game

Derek Robertson

Comments: 6 Comments » Tags:  : Categories Aifl, Peth & Kinross, Serious Games

What role can games play in terms of supporting Aifl? Can the design of a game be such that it can help create a ‘winning’ attitude where the player/learner can continually self-reflect in order to move forward? This is quite a serious application of a game and one that possibly fits in with a movement in the games based learning world at present called Serious Games.

Serious Games are described as games that are for education and training purposes and not for entertainment. However, games being games I believe there is always a sense of fun and challenge about games irrespective of them being ‘Serious’ or not…

Anyway, back to the opening questions. Recently we met with a Scottish games based learning compnay called TPLD. They have worked in schools in the past and are currently doing so with an application called Eduteams. They came to talk to the Consolarium to tell us about a new game that they were working in partnership on with the Scottish Institute for Sport Foundation and a man called Yehuda Shinar. Abit more about the partners:

• S ISF: The Scottish Institute of Sport Foundation (www.sisportfoundation.org) is an independent charity, established in 2006. The Foundation is supported by some of Scotland’s most energetic and successful business, political and sporting leaders who share a passion to reshape and inspire the way Scotland performs as a nation. The annual budget of The Foundation is in excess of £1m.
• Yehuda Shinar: Cast your mind back 4 years to the last Rugby World Cup. Do you remember England’s success? Well, it is argued that Yehuda Shinar was a major part in that victory as his Winning Theory was applied by him and Clive Woodward to help create a winning mentality in the England squad. Yehuda’s research has seen him identify what he believes to be the twelve principles that winners employ. whether in sport or business. He calls these his TCUPS: Thinking Correctly Under Pressure.

As a result of this initial meeting we became very interested because we felt that the Winning Theory had the potential to complement and reinforce the Aifl agenda in Scottish schools.

We have now taken project this forward with a small number of local authorities and on Friday we had our initial meeting with proposed project participants to discuss the theory, play the game and consider how it could impact on teaching and learning in their schools. Here’s some photos of the event at Perth HS:

We were delighted to welcome Yehuda Shinar himself to the meeting and he gave a presentation about the Winning Theory. We then had the opportunity to play the game in ther computer room and it proved to be quite an engaging affair with some people tuning in to the Winning Zone more than others. However, the whole point of the game is that there will be a debrief session that can help the player self-reflect and consider what they can do in future to gain improve and gain success. We really want to consider how this ethos can be transferred to other aspects of school life and approaches to learning.
We look forward to taking this project further and reporting back on what we find.

One last thing, very well done to Perth HS and in particular their prefects for the way in which they welcomed and looked after the visitors to their school. They were a credit to themselves and to the school.

October 26th, 2007

Media coverage of the Consolarium’s work

Derek Robertson

Comments: 3 Comments » Tags:  : Categories Be Very Afraid, Dundee City, Nintendo

The Consolarium’s work in using the Nintendo DS in the classroom has been lucky enough to garner a lot of media recognition this week. This really came about as a result of our invitation to Stephen Heppell’s ‘Be Very Afraid’ event and also our invitation frm ELSPA to present our work at the London Games Festival.

First up we have a video clip from BBC Breakfast on Tuesday morning. The focus of the clip was the London Games Festival and in particular the Be Very Afraid event but the background images used were of the boys from St Columba’s playing the game with their Head Teacher, Mrs Andrews, and me hovering in the background grabbing a DS or two to get other people started using it.

We then found out that a computer games based website called Spong had taken great interest in what we did and thery posted an article on their site. This was followed up by a lead piece in today’s TESS. The journalist that I spoke to was very interested in what happened and he even followed it up further than we did by contacting one of the boy’s mums to ask her what she thought about the project. I am pleased to say that Mrs McPherson was delighted with how this experience has helped her son.

Last thing to report in this post is that BBC Education Online have just published an article about the DS project.
There has been a great deal of genuine positive interest about this story and we are really delighted that this story about the possible benefits of games as learning tools has been received in the spirit that it has. We hope to continue sharing many of the other positive stories that are happening with our local authority partners over the coming months.

October 22nd, 2007

What happened at Be Very Afraid?

Derek Robertson

Comments: 8 Comments » Tags:  : Categories Be Very Afraid, Dundee City, Nintendo

What a fantastic day today we have had at Stephen Heppell’s “Be Very Afraid”event at BAFTA in London. After a hectic day travelling we finally managed to get to BAFTA in Piccadily for the pre-event meeting. After that we all headed back to our hotels. The boys from St Columba’s PS in Dundee who came with us to London had never flown before and they had never been to London! The apprehension and excitement in their voices as the plane engines roared for take-off at Dundee airport was heard throughout the plane, and the same happened as we landed at London City! Here is a short video of our time at the event:

Anyway, what an experience today was. Although the Be Very Afraid event was superb and packed with innovative, cutting-edge practice and bright sparky kids I could not help but feel inward glee at the way the boys from Dundee not only conducted themselves but also with how they demonstrated a thorough knowledge of the Nintendo DS device and the Dr Kawashima game they used. Their ability to convey the excitement, value and challenge they experienced during the project to such a wide and varied range of interested parties was a joy to behold. They were articulate, confident and accommodating and I’m sure that a great many people who spoke to them and took the oppoertunity to play the game managed to get a little insight in to what a positive experience this project was for them.
They really were a credit to their school and to the Consolarium’s work in trying to put LTS’ games-based-learning initiatives in the educational mix. Very well done to you both boys and to all the children from St Columba’s PS and the other schools involved for all their work and efforts.

October 16th, 2007

DS case study school invited to ‘Be Very Afraid IV’ at London Games Festival

Derek Robertson

Comments: 2 Comments » Tags:  : Categories Consolarium, Dundee City, London Games Festival

A few months ago Stephen Heppell visited the Consolarium in Dundee and I had the pleasure of taking him to a couple of games based learning projects that were happening in the city. One of those was the Dr Kawashima Nintendo DS project that is featured in our sharing practice site. He was very impressed with and interested in what we were doing with this game and in the resultant gains and impact that it appeared to have. As a result of this we have been invited to his Be Very Afraid event at this year’s London Games Festival. “This is an annual event held at BAFTA in London combining ingenious students - from primary to university age, cool technology, conversations with key influencers, and some remarkable projects - all jammed into a room which is literally bursting with creativity.”

Stella Andrews (HT), myself and two of the P.6 boys from St Columba’s who participated in the case study will be attending and contributing to this year’s event. They will be armed with their Nintendo DS machines, the Kawashima game and tales of their experiences using the DS in the classroom. More information about the event can be accessed via this link but this short paragraph from the London Games Festival website possibly captures the essence of what it’s all about:

“Be Very Afraid” poses a number of questions for policy makers. It is clear that the old “factory schools” who were “delivering” a curriculum into “empty vessels” are disappearing. But what is replacing them is exciting AND effective. Be Very Afraid annually brings us all up to speed with what our children are capable of, when you add inspired teachers, new technology, imagination and a little space into the mix. It has become a major fixture for senior policy makers and for those who care about the future of cinema, television, games and learning. nowadays, they are afraid to miss it!

We have also been asked by ELSPA to deliver a session about the games based learning initiatives that the Consolarium has led this year. This will again be delivered at BAFTA and will be focused mostly on the DS case study and the Guitar Hero case study. If you are in London at this time (Oct 24) then please come along and see what some of the pupils and teachers in Scottish schools have been getting up to with games.

Needless to say we will document the children’s experiences at the event on this blog so stay tuned (or RSSd)!

October 9th, 2007

Games and young people review: get involved

Derek Robertson

Comments: none Tags:  : Categories Games and violence

A couple of things have caught my ear over the past few days in relation to games and learning. Firstly there was the debate about computer games that was on Radio 5 Live on Sunday morning. I almost phoned in to contribute because I was wholly dismayed at what I felt was such a negative and moral panic driven argument. The focus of the debate yet again was on ‘inappropriate material’ getting in to the hands of young learners and the debate revolved around the usual suspects of 18 rated games with no mention made of the games that we are using in schools.

Although we have some guidance on how our site about how parents and teachers can be informed about games ELSPA’s askaboutgames site is a particulalry useful resource.

Today, on BBC Breakfast there was yet another debate about games and young people but this time it was much more balanced and objective. As a result of this debate I became aware of the new Government review into the effect of games on young people. Tanya Byron (clinical psychologist of House of Tiny Tearaways fame) is heading this review and you can read her initial statement regarding this via this link. I have written in to let them know about the work we are doing with games and learning in Scotland but I’d ask colleagues who are doing the excellent work out in schools that is helping to inform and influence how games can be used in schools to contribute to the debate.

I do believe that there are issues about inappropriate games getting in the hands of young people and that there may be a concern about how this virtual world of nastiness and violence can adversely impact on some people however, I also passionately believe that informed use of appropriate games can be a force for good in teaching and learning and I sincerely hope that aspect is not missed in this review. We can’t allow this to continue without promoting the positive aspects of what we are finding in our classrooms.
If you have anything to contribute to the debate then please get in touch via this link [email protected].

October 4th, 2007

The Consolarium goes to Falkirk

Derek Robertson

Comments: 7 Comments » Tags:  : Categories Consolarium visits, Falkirk

A few months ago Stuart Lennie and the ICT Development team from Falkirk Council came to visit the Consolarium. We had a very good day and as a result of that initial meeting we now have a number of games based learning projects happening in that local authority. Not only that but last night they held a CPD computer games for learning event at Bo’ness Academy.

I was asked to give an initial talk about the place and value of computer games in teaching and learning but the real reason to be there was to see what is happening in schools in that authority. It seems that games based learning is certainly taking hold in Falkirk.

Here are just some of the things that are happening there:

Falkirk Council Active Schools: The people from the active schools team gave a demonstration of the Stepmania software that you can install on your PC and is then controlled via a USB connected dance mat. Maybe the people that say computer games cause obseity in youngsters need to have alook, and a go , at some of the se activity based games. Have a look at some other exertainment links.

Bankier Primary School: The children and teachers from Bankier PS gave a demonstration of RM Easiteach dance mat resources. Have a look at this in action.

Bo’ness Academy: The staff and pupils from the pupil support department gave a demonstration of how skilled they are becoming at using the Nintendo Wii Sports game and Big Brian Academy for the Wii. We hope to follow up this project in the near future.
Bo’ness Academy: Now this is a particularly interesting and juicy games based project. The English Department are using the Nintendo DS and the Phoenix Wright game as the context for a writing project. The children are allowed to take the consoles and the game home but they are expected to complete the case files that Phoenix has to solve. Up to now there has been 100% completion of the tasks and the associated and unconnected homework. When they come back to class the teacher is using the context of the game to encourage the children to write their own newspaper reports of the crimes that are being investigated in the game, they are writing scripts so that these can be recorderd and shared via podcast and they are developing their own characters that will appear in their own crime mystery stories. Much more of this to come in the near future.

Denny Nursery: The staff from Denny Nursery gave a demonstration of Primary Steps Phonics software that uses a dance mat. This resource is really taking off and is making appearance in mnay local authoriuties.

Easter Carmuirs Primary: The very popular and successful Sony PS2 game Buzz has just included another version into its family. It’s called Buzz!: The School Quiz and this school is j ust one of a number throughout Scotland that the Consolarium has managed to make available as part of a pilot project with Sony. Again, much more to come about this…
Glenfair Nursery: The staff from gave a demonstration of the Eye Toy for the Playstation 2 and talked about the impact that this is having on the youngsters in that context. One thing that it seems to be teaching the children is turn taking and queuing. It seems that the Eye Toy is the first thing that the children want to queue for in the Nursery!

Very well done to all at Falkirk for what was a truly exciting and inspiring CPD session. We look forward to reporting in depth about all of these projects.

October 2nd, 2007

Myst case study now published

Derek Robertson

Comments: 4 Comments » Tags:  : Categories Aberdeenshire, Literacy, writing

A new case study has just been published on the LTS Consolarium site. Looking at the use of the Myst game in schools in Aberdeenshire in Scotland it documents how the project began, how Tim Rylands helped with CPD and the impact on learning it has had in one school in particular. Have a look to see how paired writing tasks were initiated and how it has motivated reluctant writers to write

We’d love to hear from anyone else who is using this game so that they can tell us what their experience was.