Cruel 2 B Kind Web-based Digital Storytelling Tools and Online Interactive Resources : Danny Maas, Emerging Technologies AISI Consultant Click Here to Download a Condensed, 2-Page Handout (950Kb) Click Here to Download PDF Handout Version of this Blog Post (2.3 MB) There are many great websites that provide opportunities for students to develop language skills, tell stories, and share back their knowledge in fun, creative, and meaningful ways each using a computer. There are also terrific websites and portals which have links to excellent online interactives which can be used in the classroom with an interactive whiteboard. Below are links and short descriptions of these sites. Underlying Beliefs: Important Considerations: What are your educational goals? Bring a buddy class with younger students – Students in kindergarten or the early grades are capable of doing a lot with a computer, but they need a lot of individual help early on. Digital Storytelling Web-based Tools Storyjumper – – Getting Started with Storyjumper.com Animoto – Blog Post – Using Animoto With Students
Activism, The Public Policy Game Sponsored by the DCCC and released during the height of the 2004 general election, players are challenged to balance six public policy issues with limited time and resources. In the game, you manage 10,000 virtual "Activists" allocating them across 6 policy issues. You can play based on your own preferences or load a pre-played scenario from players across the nation.
Water Cooler Games Note: the Water Cooler Games archive is currently offline, but it will return shortly after being transitioned to this website. -ib, July 2014 From 2003-2009, Water Cooler Games served as the web’s primary forum for “videogames with an agenda” — coverage of the uses of video games in advertising, politics, education, and other everyday activities, outside the sphere of entertainment. The site was maintained at watercoolergames.org, where it was edited by myself and Gonzalo Frasca from 2003-2006, and by me alone from 2006-2009. While the site primarily introduced general readers to the idea of games beyond entertainment, it also served as a research blog. All links to watercoolergames.org remain active and will forward to their correct pages in the archive. A Force More Powerful People Power is about politics, about strategy and about social change. As a leader of a popular movement you fight against tough adversaries who control the police, the army and bureaucracy, even the media. The only weapon in your hand is your strategic skill and ingenuity. A unique interactive teaching tool in the field of nonviolent conflict, People Power was produced for The International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC) by York Zimmerman Inc. People Power is built on nonviolent strategies and tactics used successfully in conflicts around the world. In creating People Power, our development team incorporated the hundreds of ideas and suggestions sent from users around the world who’d played our first game, A Force More Powerful. About the Game Audience – People Power is a learning tool for people who want to use nonviolent action in their own struggles for rights and freedom. This game is recommended for players age 14 and older, and is currently available in English.
Conway's Game of Life "Conway game" redirects here. For Conway's surreal number game theory, see surreal number. The Game of Life, also known simply as Life, is a cellular automaton devised by the British mathematician John Horton Conway in 1970.[1] The "game" is a zero-player game, meaning that its evolution is determined by its initial state, requiring no further input. Rules[edit] The universe of the Game of Life is an infinite two-dimensional orthogonal grid of square cells, each of which is in one of two possible states, alive or dead. Any live cell with fewer than two live neighbours dies, as if caused by under-population.Any live cell with two or three live neighbours lives on to the next generation.Any live cell with more than three live neighbours dies, as if by overcrowding.Any dead cell with exactly three live neighbours becomes a live cell, as if by reproduction. The initial pattern constitutes the seed of the system. Origins[edit] Examples of patterns[edit] Gosper glider gun Self-replication[edit]
Points of Entry Compete to award Green Cards under the Merit-Based Evaluation System included in legislation recently debated in Congress. The system proposed a Federal standard for worker visa awards, based not on individual achievement, but on a single, standardized system for all immigrants. Some criticized the bill for rejecting family ties, others for putting business interests in the hands of the government. In either case, the promise of one single method to judge the absolute merit of immigrant workers demonstrates the real value of contemporary domestic policy: bureaucracy itself. During debate about the 380-page bill, neither legislators nor the popular press brought its details to the public.
Debt Ski A game about savings, debt, and its consequences. Commissioned by mtvU, MTV’s college network, and the Peter G. Peterson Foundation. The game is intended to spotlight the dangers of excessive debt, challenge young people to avoid destructive financial behavior, and spur fiscally responsible action. Players of Debt Ski must maneuver the game's central character, Piggy Banks, through a series of obstacles to maximize his savings, limit his debt and maintain his level of happiness – all while making payments for necessities like housing and food. Spending tsunamis are the biggest threat to Piggy Banks' future as they represent unexpected life events – such as medical expenses or increases to the cost of living – and have the potential to significantly dent savings and increase debt. Debt Ski was inspired by Brian Haveri of Milburn, NJ who submitted the winning concept in mtvU's Indebted Digital Challenge.
Take Back Illinois Sponsored by the Illinois GOP, Take Back Illinois challenged players to explore four issues surrounding the 2004 state elections: Medical Malpractice Reform, Education Reform, Grassroots Activism, and Economic Reform. Take Back Illinois was a 2005 Slamdance Independent Game Festival Finalist. The game was created in four parts, released once a week for the month before the election (Four Issues, Four Games, Four Weeks). Players explored Illinois state legislative policiy positions on Medical Malpractice Reform, Education, Citizen Participation, and Economic Reform. Medical Malpractice Reform – provide health care to a community. Education - concentrating all education resources in one part of the state or share resources across state school districts. Citizen Participation - explore the responsibility of democracy as participation. Key Features: All four games were interrelated and your play in one affected your score in the others.
ESCAPE FROM WOOMERA Welcome to the final home of the Escape From Woomera project, archived here by the grace of selectparks.net. If you want to get in touch, here's a contact email that actually works: escapefromwoomera at gmail dot com And now for a long overdue revealing of the names of the other half of the project team. We had to keep these identities secret for professional reasons. Missing from the "Team" page on this site are: Katharine Neil (aka 'Kipper'), Creative Director. Matthew Jones (aka 'Matt Harrigan'), Programmer. Duncan Murray (aka 'Darren Taylor') Programmer. David Jewsbury, Programmer. Monique Jones, UI Artist and Web Designer. So there you go, four years on.
Organizing Game Fatworld Fatworld is a game about the politics of nutrition. It explores the relationships between obesity, nutrition, and socioeconomics in the contemporary U.S. Fit or Fat? In the last two decades, obesity has soared in the United States. Public and private organizations have mounted ongoing efforts to change Americans’ behavior toward nutrition and exercise. More importantly, these efforts assume that our obesity crisis is caused solely by lack of self-control: if only everyone would choose to eat right and exercise, the problem would go away. Fatworld is a videogame about the politics of nutrition. Existing approaches to nutrition advocacy fail to communicate the aggregate effect of everyday health practices. You can choose starting weights and health conditions, including predispositions towards ailments like diabetes, heart disease, or food allergies. Interested in politics?
Killer Flu A game about seasonal and pandemic flu, how they mutate, and how they are spread. Commissioned by the UK Clinical Virology Network and produced in association with Scotland's Traffic Games. In spring 2009, panicked headlines appeared worldwide warning of the dangerous "swine flu." Reading the papers, you'd think that pandemics are like magical epidemiological tidal waves that rise and cover the planet. But the truth is, pandemic flus are rare and unusual strains that are far harder to spread than popular discourse might make it seem. Or consider swine flu again. Given historical facts like these, remarks like WHO director-general Margaret Chan's dire warning that "It really is all of humanity that is under threat" don't do much more than spread panic. Kiler Flu was created as an attempt to explain how flu really mutates and spreads, and how challenging it can be for a deadly strain to affect a large population geographically.
Flower The developer that brought you the award-winning PLAYSTATION Network title flOw is back with another concept that challenges traditional gaming conventions. Flower expands the team's tradition of delivering simple gameplay, accessible controls and a medium to explore emotional chords uncommon in video games. In Flower, the surrounding environment, most often pushed to the background in games, is pulled to the forefront and becomes the primary "character." The player will journey through a beautifully vivid and changing landscape in this fresh and genuine game only on PS3. The game exploits the tension between urban bustle and natural serenity. The goals and journey in each level vary, but all involve flight, exploration and interaction with the worlds presented to you. Both pastoral and at times chaotic, Flower is a visual, audio and interactive escape on PS3. Order Flower on PlayStation Network Store or GameStop