Lit Review Rough Draft

Rough Draft Google Doc

Idea's For Literature Review

I often hear friends and professionals complain about violence in the world today.  Stricter gun regulations are a controversial topic in West Virginia.  Often people blame video games for violence.  I want to find some true statistics on the correlation between violence and video games.  So I chose the question, "What is the relationship between video games and violence?"

Here are articles I have found to help me answer this question:

• Video games aren't to blame for violence
• Video games a scapegoat
• Video game playing and its relations with aggressive and prosocial behaviour
• Video game violence and aggression: Comments on 'Video game playing and its relations with aggressive and prosocial behaviour'
• Continuing controversy over video game content: Debate over violence- filled video games has been raging for more than 10 years
• Video games--good or bad?

In addition, I do want to point out the characteristics of a "good game" by using the following references from the course:

• GOOD VIDEO GAMES AND GOOD LEARNING
• Why Are Video Games Good For Learning?*

APA Citation:

Gee, J. P. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.academiccolab.org/resources/documents/Good_Learning.pdf

Gee, J. P. (n.d.). Retrieved from website: http://www.academiccolab.org/resources/documents/MacArthur.pdf

Griffiths, M. D. (2000). Video game violence and aggression: Comments on 'video game playing and its relations with aggressive and prosocial behaviour' by O. wiegman and E.G. M. van schie. The British Journal of Social Psychology, 39, 147-9. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.fairmontstate.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/219191751?accountid=10797

Jarjoura, B. (2003, Jan 24). Continuing controversy over video game content: Debate over violence- filled video games has been raging for more than 10 years. Daily Townsman. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.fairmontstate.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/356151093?accountid=10797

Mardero, A. (2005, Jun 02). Video games aren't to blame for violence. Sudbury Star. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.fairmontstate.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/348976930?accountid=10797

Tien-Hua, W. (2000, Jul 31). Video games a scapegoat. The Vancouver Sun. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.fairmontstate.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/242684480?accountid=10797

Wiegman, O., & Emil G M van, S. (1998). Video game playing and its relations with aggressive and prosocial behaviour. The British Journal of Social Psychology, 37, 367-78. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.fairmontstate.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/219186411?accountid=10797

Video games--good or bad? (2005, October). Pediatrics, 116(4), 1025. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com.ezproxy.fairmontstate.edu/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA137965726&v=2.1&u=fairmt&it=r&p=ITOF&sw=w

Double Entry Journal #11

Quote:

"In my mind, play and learning can and should be intimately linked. Each, at its best, involves a process of experimentation, exploration, and testing the boundaries."

Reaction:
I could not agree more with the author on this one.  At times, it is looked down one if a class is having "too much fun."  Heaven forbid, a student giggle during class or have fun learning :).  Learning is always the priority in the classroom, but it does not have to be perceived as something boring in miserable.  We need a little "play"  in the classroom, whether it be through technology or just a fun activity.  Playing and learning deserved to be link.  Why not create learning that involves exploration and creativity?

Additional Resource:
Editorial: Play and learn: potentials of game-based learning
British article on the true potential that gaming can have on learning.

Week 12 - Final Game Reflection

I call my project “Skip the Skier Slope Game.”  Skip is a beginner skier that cannot go down slopes steeper than -1.  A fun and energetic dancing guy takes the player through different animated ski slope.  The player is given the rise and run and has to use this information to determine whether Skip is able to go down the slope or not. The player encounters multiple skills while playing the game.  First, the student needs to calculate slope.  Then the player needs to be able to determine whether the slope is steeper than -1.  This helps students truly understand what slope is.  I came up with the idea because I was teaching slope to 8^th graders.  They let me know at the beginning of the unit that slope was really confusing and they had no clue what it even meant; they just knew it had something to do with rise, run, x values, y values, and graphing.  When I introduced slope, I introduced as a real concept: A numerical value given to a line/incline/ramp to describe its steepness.  I found that once students were able to realize that okay a slope of -3 is steeper than a slope of -1, calculating and remember how to calculate slope became easier.  I wanted to create a slope game that mirrored this real world thinking.

Creating this game was challenging at times.  I had to create all of the backgrounds for my  animated ski slope.  I used triangles in Paint and the created the picture around the triangle so I could get a precise look at what a slope of -1.5 would look like.  I learned so much about animation during the process;  I literally spent hours just trying to figure out how to do something like transitions backgrounds and Sprite animations simultaneously.   It was a rewarding experience because I began to grow a tremendous amount of respect for animators. 

I am very proud of my project.  I am not sure what I am “most proud” of; I am extremely pleased with the finished product.  I didn’t know that I was capable of creating an interactive computer game, but I am!

I am happy to say that my game does provide explicit examples of principles of good gaming and good learning.  The learner must take on a new identity; they become ski experts that are helping a friend, Skip, safely choose slopes to go down.  The game is interactive; it does talk back and even give the gamer hints when he/she makes incorrect decisions.  The player becomes a producer; he/she makes the decision on the slopes that are alright for Skip.  The game allows for players to take risks; if they answer incorrectly, it is okay; they will get a hint.  The game involves well-ordered problems; the problems at the beginning are easier and the hints at the beginning are more in-depth.  This order also challenges the player.  The game can be pleasantly frustrating for some students, challenging, but doable.  System thinking is needed for my game; students aren’t just simply finding the slope; they are “using” the slope.  

Double Entry Journal #10

Quote One:
"It is the interactive and multimodal features of computer games that have been proposed as being particularly powerful in regard to learning."

Reaction to Quote One:
Computer games are interactive and multimodal; these two characteristics are powerful in learning.  I believe all teachers strive to have an "interactive" classroom and "interactive" lesson.  Why not explore how computer games can make that possible or assist?


Quote Two:
"The fact that children, adolescents and adults learn important lessons about themselves and their surroundings by engaging in game-like activities is uncontroversial. Throughout social and behavioural science discourse on social and cognitive development, gameplay is regarded as an important arena for the development and formation of thinking, identities, values and norms (Cole, 1996; Piaget, 1951; Rogoff, 1990)."

Reaction to Quote Two:
This quote helps disprove the thought that games do not belong in the curriculum.  Gameplay is an important arena for the development of not just thinking, but identities, values, and norms.  I teach middle school where students really start developing their identity.  If gameplay can help develop something as crucial as identity, then I am interested in incorporating it.


Quote Three:
"By paying serious attention to how players make sense of what they do, including the resources they draw on in the process, I believe that we as educational researchers can provide more realistic accounts of what computer gaming is about, how computer games might be used in order to facilitate learning in schools, and what, in fact, people learn when engaged in activities of computer game play."

Reaction to Quote Three:
I think that this is important to focus on.  Are players just memorizing(short-term) codes or patterns to get through a game, or is there a deeper understanding at play?  Do different games involve different processes? I do believe that some game design could be extremely beneficial to the learning in our schools, but in the same respect: it is important to remember that not all computer games will produce educational benefits.  The educational benefits of engaging in activities of computer game play DO EXIST, though!

Additional Resource:
I found an awesome Prezi Presentation that someone created entitled: "Playing to Learn Math?" (embedded below).
I would really love to see the creator of this presentation present it, but go ahead and read through it.  Very valid points are made and I felt it really corresponded with the article.

Week 11 Scratch Game Edits

Above is the edited version of my game.  I corrected the following bugs: 1. Player now starts the game by pressing the spacebar; before, players did not have enough time to read instructions.  2, The sprite has changed location on several backgrounds.  Before, he was covering up some of the information such as the slope formula.