Consolarium

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)!