Week 5 - Scratch Tutorial

Scratch Tutorial
Here is my scratch tutorial. I have also added it to the EDUC 6814 gallery.



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Scratch Cards 

Some of the effects used on these cards were used on my tutorial project. I have not yet finished working on the project that I originally selected for a mix yet.

I finished all of the flash cards. I hope that I was correct that these effects needed to be applied project that we found on Scratch making it a remix. After thinking about this I hope I was not suppose to add these effects to the tutorial project.

After completing all of the flash cards I went to share this on the website and after 5 attempts I kept getting the same upload error. I have provided a picture on this blog to document my problems. You can see the costume I added and even the last effect that I added in the background.

I still cant fix the upload program. 

Double Journal Entry #3 - Quest Atlantis

While I was reading the article

Making learning fun: Quest Atlantis, a game without guns

the following quote caught my attention. 

Since we are working in this class to essentially design a video game I thought this was an excellent quote to examine as we are study the course. It is important when designing a video game that we understand the social commitments and that we clearly understand what constraints that need to be put in place. We also have to make sure that these constraints do not take away from the learning process of the student. We need to make sure that the game allows for social interaction and collaboration with out posing a safety threat or a distraction to the students. 

In my county we are going through the process of instituting a social media policy - and there is great concern with this. If we are going to be having our students communicate via Internet in any matter or form we are to send home letters to the parents and receive a signature of approval for their student to use this. As I use Edmodo in ALL of my classes this will become a very time consuming process - and as I continue to implement various forms of communication and collaboration over the Internet this will pose even more paperwork. There is also concern as how the board will gain access to all of the teachers personal social networking information. Currently they have withdrawn the policy for further review. 

Week 4 - Setting Up Scratch

I got my scratch account set up!

Here is a game that I found related to the content that I teach:


I chose this game because it deals in relation to a concept we are working on in my Web Design class. We recently dealt with hotspots and image maps = although I am not entirely sure I imagen this game using many of the same concepts and code as our image maps use.

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I also added this game because I found it to be interesting.

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Double Entry # 2 -Garden of Times Game

I had a great deal of fun playing the gardens of time game. 

1. Identity. You are a time traveller on a mission to remove pieces of time that do not belong in that era.  

2. Interaction. There are multiple ways in which the game interacts  First there are the challenges by selecting a misplaced item - an action: such as a new item or the completion of the level occurs. As you complete scenes and challenges other characters in the game interact with you telling you the story line and giving you more tasks to complete. There is an even an opportunity for interaction between players such as the sending of gifts.

3. Production This builds on the interaction even more. "Players are the writers". In this game we can send our friends gifts to help the accomplish tasks and excel through levels. Another form that we take as the writers is how we complete the levels, at what skill and how fast we complete the levels all determine the next steps the game takes. The experience of the game could in fact be different for each player. 

4. Risk Taking. the only form of risk taking that I can think of in this game is really selecting the an item that you are not sure of the name of - other than that I am not sure if there are any opportunities for risk taking. 

5. Customization - The customization for this game would be the way in which you design your garden and the new "portals" or missions that opens for the player. 

6.  Agency- i noticed my self continuing to come back to the game to play and to continue to improve my scores and complete against the other players in the game. 

7.  Well-Order Problems. Since this game is basically the same throughout there is not much room for open space and problem solving - although the levels do increase in difficulty as you move through the game. 

8.  Challenge and Consolidation - In this game we ware completing tasks and we have to play the same level multiple times to receive enough stars to complete the level and to complete other tasks throughout the game. As we complete the level each time it becomes easier as there is a routine and an automaticity about the process. 

9.  “Just in Time” and “On Demand” - In this game as we complete certain tasks we are given short messages from another character about the next process or step that we need to complete. When we are playing the game there are options for the on demand clues when you are struggling to find an item such as the magnifying class and the goggles. 

10.  Situated meanings. - This game is perfect for situated meanings. You are provided with a word and you have to find the image associated with that word or that represents its meaning. 

11.  Pleasantly Frustrating. - This game was difficult to locate some of the items at time, but with patience and sometimes the use of tools I was able to complete the task, and with each repetition things became easier and more doable. 

12.  System Thinking. - I am not sure that this one applies lot to this game; however you do think if you can click on all of the correct items in a time sequence you receive more points. 

13.  Explore, Think Laterally, Rethink Goals. - This game requires you to move through the world and complete them to open new worlds, but there are also tasks that require you to go back and obtain additional stars to unlock other parts of the game. In addition there are not only the scenes in this game but the building of a gardern and in combination these two acts allow you to move through the levels. 

14.  Smart Tools and Distributed Knowledge. - The characters in this game help guide you through the necessary steps and the process one must take to successfully move through the game. 

15.  Cross-Functional Teams.- The only combination of players in this game is the giving of gifts to help you proceed through the game - "neighbours" can help you out by giving you power to complete the scenes - tools to aid you in the scenes and items needed to help you build your garden to a high enough standard to move onto the next level. 

16.  Performance Before Competence. In this game you can perform even if you do not know the items on the list - however it does not offer the opportunity for different levels such as easy, medium, and hard. This game does offer learners the opportunity to learn from their mistakes and try trial and error. 

How the videos changed my views - Week 3

Explain how the information in each of the two videos and presentation changed or confirmed your position on the effects of gaming on young people intellectual and social lives.

After watching the videos I have came to the conclusion that video games - all types of video games can be beneficial for both the social and intellectual aspects of our students. I have changed my views on the idea that violent games make our children violent. I liked a point made in the second video that stated that games do not make our children violent - however if a child already has been exposed to violence it could encourage them or provide them with ideas of how to perform violence. It was interesting to learn that these violent games are so action packed that they are actually increasing their brain matter. It is interesting to think that what we have for so long perceived as wasted time has actually been helping our students improve their brain and their IQ scores. I also found it very interesting news that IQs are increasing with each generation. These videos provided a wealth of information concerning video games and changed my outlook to realize that video games do not only meet students interests but they actually help them develop parts of their brain and increase their intelligence. Very Interesting and a great motivator when presenting this to administration.

Teens, Games, and Civics (Presentation) Week 3

I did not find it surprising that the hours per day playing video games was higher for boys than it was for girls. I also found it interesting in the slide show that 76% of kids played games with someone else. The new focus of education is groups – and while the students claim that they hate it – that is what they are doing during video games. Maybe we have the wrong idea for group activities. I found it intersesting that 90% of parents say that they know what games their students are playing – I do not know if the parents were wanting to be completely honest here. Or I might need to take into account these parents “think” they know what games their students are playing and are unaware of what games they might be playing at a friends house or when they are not able to observe.

3 things I learned:

• I also found it interesting in the slide show that 76% of kids played games with someone else.
• I found it interesting that 90% of parents say that they know what games their students are playing.
• Civic participation is increased when other are present in the room while the child is playing a game and if the child post to a gaming website or blog they are more likely to be even more civically involved

1 question I have:

Why are boys more likely to spend more hours a day playing video games? Does this make boys have better attention spans and increase their brain matter more - making them smarter? .

Are Video Games Making Kids Smarter (Video) Week 3

In the second video I found it so surprising that he mentioned the game Where in the World is Carmen Sandieago. My mother bought this game for me when I was a little girl and I would play it all the time it was so much fun and I was learning new stuff. I remember discovering a new fact or mission and running and telling my mom about it – actually much of what I remember about history is from this game. Parents, teachers, and kids all agreed that video games were great and that was 1987. The idea that attention problems are in fact related to the fact that are world is too slow for our students today because they are not using the type of multitasking skills that they are using when they are playing video games. I believe this too be a provable statement, because I can see the differences in behaviour and work ethic in many of my classes when I allow educational games and the students are watching the projector, listening to me, and doing the work as they are.

3 neat things I learned:

• Playing complex video games actually increases your brain matter, thus making you smarter. And that the IQ is rising and in the US it is about .363 per year. This started in the 1990’s around the same time as video games.
• Gerneation G main focus is on video games or video game like experiences.
• Where in the World is Carmen Sandieago was one of the 1st educational games that teachers, students, and parents all agreed was ok to be played. 

1 question that I have:

I think that creating your curriculum to be a video game is a great idea. But I teach an elective class – how do I create a game that can cover all of my CSOs with only 1 hour planning a day? Is there a way to modify the curriculum to be in a game without spending hours behind a flash program? If there is I am highly interested in learning how to do this. 

Your Brain on Video Games (Video) Week 3

I learned a great deal of information. I found all the following information to be intriguing and surprising to me. The average age of game is 33 years old. I found this fact o be very surprising. It was interesting to hear the argument that a video game with such a degree of violence could be so beneficial to the human behavior. It’s amazing to see the results that video games can actually increase parts of the brain such as the brain. It makes since why someone who plays fast pace complex video games can pay more attention to detail – this makes me think of the times of garden game we were playing. Gamers have a better attention span and their ability to track objects around them. Again these are things that you do not think about as begin to weigh the pros and cons of video games. I found it surprising that the video claims that the multimedia tasker is truly not good at multitasking.

 3 neat things I learned:

•  Action packed games – yes even the violent ones- allow children to use three parts of their brain increasing their ability to focus and pay attention. Playing complex games increases your ability to multitask.
•  Those who do what we believe are multitasking activities actually can not multitask but the students who play action packed video games are quite good at multitasking.
•  Playing games affects three different parts of the brain dealing with attention and recalling of details.

 1 question that I have:
 If video games are so good for the brain – why are they not used more in the educational system?