January 30th, 2011

My French Coach Part 2

Brian Clark

Comments: 2 Comments » Tags: Tags: cfe, Consolarium, firrhill, games based learning, GBL, mfl, modern foreign languages, My French Coach
 : Categories Consolarium, Edinburgh, Nintendo, game based learning

My French Coach [2 of 3]

Hélène Clark | Firrhill High School, Edinburgh

Read Part 1 here

With S3 pupils (13-14 years old)

The Game

In S3, pupils have a fairly developed knowledge of French and my class has initially enjoyed playing the game and progressing through levels for the first couple of weeks of its used.

They soon needed to be more challenged and felt that the “compare” tool (repeating phrases) was making them feel self aware in front of others in the class.

TASK – Creating a conversation using the phrase book tool.

The Set-Up

Pupils were asked to work in pairs in order to create a conversation in French using the My French Coach software. They were invited to choose a topic of their choice and make reference to their consolidated knowledge of French in order to create sentences which were grammatically and structurally correct. Their task was flexible in terms of length, vocabulary, originality, use of humour and props, etc…

Previously, pupils had only practised very short, set up role plays in class on specific topics.

How the software was used

Pupils first familiarised themselves with the phrase book and dictionary tools. Each pair then discussed and agreed on a topic and started constructing their sentences being able to get confident with unknown vocabulary using the “compare tool” in order to learn and practice the pronunciation of their new words.

The phrase book tool offers a variety of topics (such as holidays, greetings, shopping…), most of which haven’t been taught in class.

Below, we can see a short clip of pupils discussing their role play using the DS.

The Outcome

Once the task was completed, pupils were filmed, performing their role play and were asked to assess each other as follows

• In class, pupils discussed and agreed on assessment criteria through class discussion and I/the teacher formatted them into a worksheet
• Pupils felt confident speaking French thanks to the “compare” tool.
• Other pupils enjoyed acting in French and felt very positive about the experience.
• Pupils watched each video and naturally praised their colleagues before assessing each group.
• Assessment was done through a “star rating and comment” system decies by the class, as well as using 2 stars and a wish.
• I/The teacher collated all the feedback and reported to each pair.
• When asked about the task, pupils felt assertive about expressing their opinions:

Pupil A: “It’d be good if the phrase book focussed more on topics studied in French such as school, but the compare tool helps with pronunciation.”

Pupil B: “I enjoyed using the DS and feel it’d be good if there was a voice recognition device where you can record your Standard Grade speaking pieces and it would then be said by a French person!”

Hélène’s Comments

I feel this task has been very well received by my pupils. They felt it was something exciting to do and it really raised their confidence in speaking French as well as thinking about their next steps in order to make progress.

During the preparation of their task, pupils needed teacher’s help but a lot less than for other types of writing work. I also felt that pupils were “on task” and developed their social skills without realising: compromising, working as part of a team, listening to others’ views, use of praise and being considerate: “is it ok to use stereotype? Will I offend someone?”

Below is an example of the role plays produced by the pupils.

Finally, we can see the critera chosen, and the feedback given by the pupils.

Read Part 1 here

January 18th, 2011

My French Coach

Brian Clark

Comments: 6 Comments » Tags: Tags: cfe, DS, engagement, game based learning, GBL, Learning, My French Coach, Nintendo
 : Categories Consolarium, Edinburgh, game based learning

My French Coach [1 of 3]

Hélène Clark | Firrhill High School, Edinburgh

When first playing my French Coach, the user takes a test which sets their initial comprehension of the French language. The player is then placed into a level reflective of their score. A player who scores highly will be able to skip many of the initial levels and more basic concepts.

When starting a lesson, the player is shown ten new words, which include nouns, verbs, adjectives, or adverbs, as well as their meanings and pronunciation.

The software also includes a dictionary and phrase book, complete with audio pronunciations and the facility to record your own pronunciation for comparison purposes.

Hélène Clark, Modern Languages teacher at Firrhill High School in Edinburgh, has used My French Coach with her S1 - S3 classes between September and December 2010. This is the first of 3 blog posts which will document some of her work with pupils using the software.

With S1 pupils (12-13 years old)

The Game

In S1, pupils have a limited knowledge of French and my classes have enjoyed playing the game and progressing through levels for 15-20 minutes use about twice a week.

Pupils have been keeping a record of their progress at the back of their jotters, reflecting on their learning and noting new words they have learned. This coupled with the individuals user profile on the software allows the pupils to see how they are progressing with the language in a contemporary, familiar way that many of them are used to seeing with their social network profiles and console game profiles. In order to unlock different areas and types of game, pupils must master words. This has proven to be a highly motivating factor.

Using the Dictionary

While the game itself is a useful and motivating tool, Helene used other parts of the software as learning tool. Below is a summary of one of the tasks.

TASK - Creating sentences using prepositions.

The Set-Up

Pupils were asked to work in groups in order to create sentences using prepositions which they had learnt in class: sur, sous, dans, devant, derrière
Previously, pupils were taught how to create sentences using words they had been taught in class eg: Le chat est sur la table.

Each group was then given a photo/drawing (similar to the one below) that had unfamiliar animals, objects and rooms in them.

In groups, pupils used the My French Coach dictionary to inspire them in completing the task,

• practice pronunciation of new words (repeating and recording using the dictionary and compare tool)
• dictionary skill
• creating sentences using prepositions (Le chat est sur la table)

How the software was used

Pupils were already familiar with the dictionary tool available in the software. They were asked to examine the pictures given to them and construct descriptive sentences, using DS dictionary to find and learn unfamiliar words, including learning the pronunciation of their new words. (using the “compare” tool)

NOTE - One drawback of using the dictionary on the “My French Coach” software is that it does not give the gender of nouns and doesn’t specify if the French word given is a noun, adverb or verb. Therefore, a broader understanding of the language is necessary and S1 pupils needed to use a “paper dictionary” in order to find the gender: masculine (le) / feminine (la)

The Outcome

• Once the task was completed, pupils presented their sentences to the rest of the class. Pupils felt confident speaking French thanks to the “compare” tool.
• Other pupils enjoyed “guessing” the meaning of their partners’ work by pointing at the photo/drawing, displayed on a screen using a data projector.
• Pupils then assessed each group, in terms of effort, complexity of the sentences and number of sentences produced.

When asked about the task, pupils felt assertive about expressing their opinions:

Pupil A: “the software is very useful but it should be changed so that we can see the gender”
Pupil B: “Looking up words on the DS is fast and easier than a paper dictionary”
Pupil C: “Some words aren’t on the DS dictionary”
Pupil D: “The DS tells you how to pronounce words and makes me happier to talk French”

Hélène’s Comments

I started using the Nintendo DS consoles in August 2010, at the beginning of the new school year. I didn’t know my S1 students. The first thing I noticed is that using the Nintendo DS has helped me establish a strong, positive relationship with my new classes very quickly. The mention of the project created motivation, excitement and engagement with technology relevant to pupils.

The initial test and progressing through levels lead naturally to peer evaluation, informal discussions, bonding of class members, meaningful reward in the context of the game and meeting each student’s needs – for example:

A lower attaining ADHD pupil, who can be quite restless, started at level 1 after his initial test. He felt frustrated, knew very little French but was engaged and motivated to learn with the DS. Progressing through levels was very meaningful to him. As a result, he has made incredible progress. He may spend 20 minutes to produce 3 French sentences but he thinks thoroughly about the structure of the language and always tries to achieve his full potential. He also learns his vocabulary after each lesson as he has understood the importance of building on his own knowledge. In class, he is always positive, calm and hardworking despite his condition.

A very able, slightly over confident pupil started at level 12 after his initial test. He started by showing off to the rest of the class which didn’t make him very popular in class discussions. However, he soon realised that it was very difficult for him to progress through the levels as the game gets more challenging. He also realised that he was often rushing his work and was missing on important information or making various mistakes from grammar, spelling or structure. His attitude has now changed as he is being more conscientious on his DS or class work. He also often offers to support other pupils, using his own ability and mistakes to helping others in the class. His relationship with the rest of the class is also more positive.

I believe using the game as one tool in my classroom, has helped create an engaging climate for learning for all pupils. I have observed my pupils demonstrating the 4 capacities of Curriculum for Excellence: successful learner, confident individual, responsible citizen and effective contributor.

You can contact Hélène at [email protected]

Read Part 2 here

January 16th, 2011

LWF11: Wolfram Alpha makes maths beautiful

Derek Robertson

Comments: none Tags:  : Categories Mathematics

How long does it take to fall one thousand feet? Ok, 7.9 seconds is the answer. How long would it then take to fall 2000ft then 4000ft then 8000ft. As I thought through these answers I couldn’t help think of the old cartoon with Wiley Coyoye and the Roadrunner and the Acme contraptions that often lead to precipitous falls. However, moving away from the trivial to the extraordinary let me share Wolfram Alpha with you.

Wolfram Alphas is a ‘computational knowledge engine’. Wolfram Alpha introduces a fundamentally new way to get knowledge and answers—not by searching the web, but by doing dynamic computations based on a vast collection of built-in data, algorithms, and methods.

I was tremendously impressed with this resource and incredibly motivated to learn from it. The example I quoted at the beginning of this post came to my mind when I was searching through the examples that are available on the site. I saw the question ‘Compute how long to fall 1000ft.’ Once I saw this and then looked at the formula I had flashbacks to my youth in school with Higher Maths and how much I really did enjoy using maths that had a practical application and that was applied to contexts that had meaning. These opportunities back then were few and far between I may add.

Here are some other examples from the site that had me totally absorbed:

• What is the nutritional value of 2 slices of Swiss cheese?
• Earthquake data near Krakatoa
• What are your odds of a lottery win?
• Compute cosmological properties of the universse 1 billion years after the big bang

This resource has great potential. There are clear cross-0vers in to a variety of areas of interest and the ways in which this can be used to help address numeracy across learning for CfE and how it can have particular applied use in Maths, Physics and Chemistry is there to be explored. If you are a school in Scotland that intends to tap in to this excellent resource then please do let us know so that we can document just how this can help learners learn.

January 16th, 2011

LWF11: Skateboards, graffiti artists and large white gloves

Derek Robertson

Comments: 1 Comment Tags: Tags: game based learning, games based learning, GBL, lwf11, open source, skate it, steve bunce
 : Categories Conferences

When the Consolarium team talk about the use of games in schools they always talk about the benefits of creating learning opportunities that are situated within the cultural framework of learners. We feel that this is one of the main reasons as to why our ideas in using Guitar Hero for example worked so well. This game initially built for entertainment has become very popular thanks to the initial ideas and practice that showed how ‘traditional learning’ such as writing could be made even more appealing, relevant and purposeful to learners.

Steve Bunce shares this view. He currently leads CPD for teachers in England through his work with Vital and has been a major player in building understanding, practice and capacity for game based learning in schools in England. One of the projects that Steve has been working on recently has involved a skateboarding game that works with the Wii, Skate it. Have a look:

This video review shows the game and the controller in action.

I managed to grab a few minutes of Steve’s time at the Learning Without Frontiers conference in London earlier this week where he gave me an explanation of what he has been doing with this game. Have a listen

Another speaker at this event proved to be incredibly interesting and much of what he said gave me some food for thought in terms of the riole that open source software can be used in schools. Evan Roth is an artist who works in Paris. work is in the permanent collection of the MoMA (NYC) and has been exhibited widely in the Americas, Europe and Asia, including the Pompidou (Paris), the Kunsthalle (Vienna), the Tate (London), the Fondation Cartier (Paris) and the front page of Youtube. Roth has received numerous awards for his work, including the Golden Nica from Prix Ars Electronica, Rhizome/The New Museum commissions (2007, 2009), the Future Everything Award and Brit Insurance Designs of the Year (1, 2).

He is also a co-founder of Graffiti Research Lab and the Free Art & Technology Lab (F.A.T. Lab), a web based, open source research and development lab.

Have a look at how they have subverted this Michael Jackson performance using open source software:

Evan Roth provides full access to all the materials and code associated with this clever piece of work from this part of his site.

Some of these ideas might be just outwith the boundaries of education in schools for some but the more we see how contexts that engage learners due to the experiences and content being something that sits within their cultural framework, is something that resonates with them, excites them - then maybe we should be exploring the practical application of these so that we can really meet learners needs and help them grow and flourish.

January 13th, 2011

Competition Winners - Islands of Elemental Evil

charlielove

Comments: none Tags: Tags: Competition, games design, RPG Maker VX
 : Categories games design

Islands of Elemental Evil

What can come out of a great novel writing club? A computer game! This project was the brain child of pupils from Garnock Academy in North Ayrshire and their English Teacher, Matthew Reid. They put together the first level of an epic adventure game/RPG using content which was originally intended for their novel. The game was created using RPG Maker VX (which is available as a 30-day free trial) and involves the hero, Ben, undertaking a quest to save the kingdom from a dragon in return for the hand of the princess in marriage. Ben has to solve riddles, explore the island to retrieve objects and talk to the inhabitants to gather information.

The reasons we liked this game

From the very start it was clear that here was a computer game with a strong focus on literacy and the design of simple adventure puzzles. This game is a very good example of collaboration, literacy and language, design and technology and demonstrates clear connections across learning. The pupils from Garnock Academy have demonstrated very clearly how games design can play a key role in the development of a Curriculum for Excellence by producing a title which draws on so many areas of skill.

A complete walk-through of the first island is shown below and you can download it here:

All the Winners

Primary Group Winner - AnEmSha
Secondary Group Winner - Islands of Elemental Evil
Secondary Individual Winner - T. Greep and Co.

January 12th, 2011

Competition Winners - T. Greep and Co.

charlielove

Comments: none Tags: Tags: Coding, FPS Creator, Game Programming, games design, Online Communities
 : Categories games design

For this next entry we’ll say nothing until you play this video (double click to play).

T. Greep and Co.

Wow! This game is the work of Jonathan Hay of Whitburn Academy. You play as Ryan Walker, a criminal for hire for an underground organisation, called T. Greep & Co. after its founder. The game follows this character on a series of missions, in a variety of locations around the world, over the course of 3 years, incidentally 3 levels. You have to complete objectives, for example delete information from a computer server to progress to the next level. There are also obstacles, such as enemies (gang members, security officers, etc…) and puzzles to hinder your progress, but ultimately once all of the objectives are complete you can progress to the next level or complete the game.

The reasons we liked this game

This game is the work of one pupil who constructed the game using FPS Creator (a game engine written in Dark Basic Pro). Each level is cleverly constructed with a number of puzzles to be solved and enemies to defeat. Jonathan reused a variety of resources sourced from the web to create the game such as 3D models, AI code and other dynamic objects. FPS has a good developer community and Jonathan tapped into this community to ask questions and seek help for creating aspects of his game. This is an excellent example of how online communities can provide great support. One of the forums which he used is http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=168918&b=25.

We loved the opening credits for the game which perfectly set the game’s spooky, creepy mood from the very start and this is continued into the lighting for the levels and the voice instructions which you receive throughout the game. Jonathan also used his programming skills to edit the AI and the non-player characters in the game will investigate noises, explosions etc. adding a very real feel to the gameplay.

You can download the game (380MiB) from here. Jonathan has launched a web site for the game too at http://www.thistlems.co.uk/greepandco.html.

Check out this brief game play video to see the game in action.

All the Winners

Primary Group Winner - AnEmSha
Secondary Group Winner - Islands of Elemental Evil
Secondary Individual Winner - T. Greep and Co.

January 12th, 2011

LWF11: Paint a circuit!

Derek Robertson

Comments: 1 Comment Tags: Tags: lwf11
 : Categories Conferences

What would it take to begin to explore what an electronic circuit is with very young children? What if all you had was a piece of paper, a paintbrush, a battery and a jar of ink…not any old jar of ink but one that ‘can create custom electronic circuitry on the skin as well as any surface where water-based paints would be appropriate. Bare can be applied with a brush, stamp or spray and is easily removed with soap and water.’
At the Learning Without Frontiers Conference this week I met with the people from Bare Conductive and was introduced to this very interesting resource. Their table and layout was strange because there was no digital tech, no games , no screens - all I saw were pieces of white paper with ink drawings on them scattered on a desk. When I asked them what they were showing they told me that they had an ink that could conduct electricity. I said, “Show me.” This is what I saw:

As you can see the battery at one end of the drawing is sending a current to the bulb at the other, all via the ink on the paper!

I really was astonished at this ingenious idea and at what appears to be an apparently simple technology. Immediate ideas began to spring to mind about its potential use in schools in relation to expolring circuits, especially when using a 2p piece was used as a resistor simply by sliding it up and down the line of ink, but there must also be teachers from the CDT and Art and Design domains who could no doubt look at ways in which this material can be incorporated in to pupils work.

As yet this ink is not available to buy but we have registered an interest with the people at @bareconductive to see if we can have get our hands on this material so that we can try it in schools. Anyone interested in having a look?

January 12th, 2011

Competition Winners - AnEmaSha

Brian Clark

Comments: 1 Comment Tags: Tags: #dgd, Competitions, games design, Scratch
 : Categories SLF10, games design

In February last year we launched the first LTS Consolarium Games Design Competition and the level of interest from teachers and learners across Scotland was fantastic. When the competition closed on September 3rd 2010, we were very impressed by the quality of the entries and the professional manner in which entrants had prepared their games. We’ve now made arrangements for these games to be hosted online and for you to download them so lets have a little look at what made these games so good and what they are all about in this series of three blogs posts.

AnEmSha

Uh-oh! AnEmSha has crash landed on Earth on her way home! Can you help her gather all the parts of her spaceship from different environments around the world, avoid the dangers that lurk in the forests and oceans of the Earth and keep her energy up by eating the right sort of food? If you are up for the challenge, then this Scratch game is for you. AnEmSha is the product of three pupils from Shapinsay Primary School in Orkney. It was submitted as a group entry for our Game Design Competition and was judged the best in its category.

Learn more about this project

The reasons we liked this game

All three pupils had specific and detailed roles during the project – project manager, programmer and designer. The project was started in school, but most of the communication was done via Glow and email in the learners own time at home with the girls sending each other sprites, ideas, versions of the game and feedback.

The game itself has elements that are found in the most popular and successful adventure games today such as

• Clearly defined user instructions
• Introduction animation to set the scene
• All original artwork and sprite animations
• Ability to ‘skip’ levels if you have the correct code
• 5 levels to work your way though – each with appropriate backgrounds and enemies.
• Cut scenes between levels 3 and 4
• A winning state (AnEmSha gets to fly home) or a losing state (if you get caught by one of the creatures)
• Instructions for animation, scoring, energy, movement and level progression all coded in the Scratch environment.

This type of activity really engages pupils with Game Design. This project has demonstrated that the 3 gilrs are TOPCODERs!

• Target Setting set their own objectives / defining the project
• Organisation people and time management skills
• Peer / Self Assessment what did we do well? How could we make it better? What do we need to do next?
• Collaborative Working communicate using variety of media
• Ongoing Evaluation develop quality control mechanisms for the game eg repeat[create,share, feedback, improve ]
• Develop / Share Skills learn new or improve existing skills in IT, art and design and teamwork
• Encourage investigation “I wonder how I would do ….”

All the Winners

Primary Group Winner - AnEmSha
Secondary Group Winners - Islands of Elemental Evil
Secondary Individual Winner - T. Greep and Co.