Gamestar Mechanic Gaming in education: 'We don’t need no stinking badges' Educators and game designers say gamification is not about adding games to classes, but designing classes as games When video game designer and writer Lee Sheldon designed a physical fitness class called “Skeleton Chase,” he didn’t ask any students to climb into a sewer drain. Yet, one student, who saw it as the best means to attain his goal, did so, anyway. Sheldon showed a photograph of the student climbing into the tunnel to a small gathering of politicians, educators, and industry leaders May 16 on Capitol Hill. Sheldon was one of a handful of game designers to speak about gaming in education as part of the launch of Excelsior College’s new Center for Game and Simulation-Based Learning. Nearly 60 percent of Americans play video games, according to the Entertainment Software Association. At Friday’s event, Sheldon stressed that gaming in education does not mean simply adding video games into a classroom. “It’s not a game added to a class,” Sheldon said.
Scratch - For Educators What is ScratchEd? Launched in July 2009, ScratchEd is an online community where Scratch educators share stories, exchange resources, ask questions, and find people. Since its launch, more than 7500 educators from all around the world have joined the community, sharing hundreds of resources and engaging in thousands of discussions. Join the ScratchEd community for free at scratch-ed.org. How can I learn more about what educators are doing with Scratch – and how I might use it? Not sure what might be possible with Scratch? Read a story about how educators have been including Scratch activities in a wide range of learning environments. Or explore resources across ages, disciplines, and settings.
Why (And How) To Start Teaching Coding In School Fueled by an incredible demand in the workforce for proficient programmers and the need to teach critical thinking skills, the coding movement in schools has exploded. Furthermore, we all communicate through technology, so we should at least know the basic premise of coding because the gadget sitting in our pocket, or on our desk, should not be a mysterious black box to us or our students. Just like writing, multimedia, art, and music are mediums to show ideas, coding can be another form of expression. Learn To Code, Code To Learn We need to think beyond the syntax of a programming language and focus on how using coding as a learning tool will not only give students a key 21st Century Skill but also allow them to demonstrate their learning through another creative outlet. In his TED Talk, Resnick talks about learning in context. Expanding Reach According to a Pew Internet Research study, 97% of students play games. Its Not About Syntax
Games and Learning | Through coverage of the market, research and up-to-date analysis, Games and Learning reports on the opportunities and challenges facing those seeking to unlock the educational power of games. Le cambouis pédagogique du code Il y a quelques jours, des animateurs et concepteurs d’ateliers de programmation pour enfants sont venus au CRI (Centre de Recherche Interdisciplinaire) pour nous présenter leur travail. Les démarches et méthodes de travail présentées sont dynamiques et pertinentes, de quoi nous inspirer dans notre pédagogie et notre façon de mener la classe… récit. Au delà de la diversité des types d’ateliers présentés (en famille, en classe, en périscolaire…) et des outils utilisés (Scratch, Lego Mindstorms, outils de Mozilla Webmaker…) nous avons pu remarquer des points de convergences. Se mettre en projetEn effet, tous les ateliers partent d’un projet concret, la programmation ne s’apprend pas “hors sol” elle permet de poursuivre un but, de créer, de relever un défi : animer un personnage, faire éviter les obstacles à un robot, créer un jeu… ExpérimenterIl a été aussi beaucoup dit qu’il fallait expliquer peu et laisser les enfants expérimenter, s’entraider, solliciter l’adulte si besoin. Like this:
Gamestar Mechanic Scratch 2.0 WeDo extension is now in beta! - Discuss Scratch Today's update to Scratch adds support for the LEGO WeDo - a first for Scratch 2.0! LEGO WeDo is a robotics kit that you can use to connect your Scratch projects to the physical world. If you have a LEGO WeDo, you can add the WeDo extension by clicking the more blocks palette, and then select “add an extension.” Select LEGO WeDo and follow the instructions to install the plugin. What are Scratch Extensions? The WeDo extension is just the first of its kind: It will soon be possible to connect other kinds of hardware to Scratch. I want to make a Scratch extension so I can… (program my 200 foot tall My Little Pony robot / monitor my pet Nar-Nar’s temperature / whatever else you can imagine ) You can find more information about Scratch extensions on the wiki page. Scratch On!
Programming through games for Middle School students In the beginning of 2013 I was invited to offer extra-classes for Middle School students interested on programming because of classes that I had already offered about Arduino and C for High School students. Based on my experience as programmer, teacher (of Mathematics) and Scratch user, I decided to use games as the theme for the classes. The group started with 12 students, but the number lowered to 5 after August. The dynamic of the classes were: I explained the idea of the game and, usually, gave to them a few initial steps. 1) Falling balls (version not free of bugs) The initial goal was to explore basic movements in the stage and object collision. 2) Demented pixie The game was inspired in a stage of the classic Pokemon for Gameboy in which the character has to move on a ice surface. 3) Baliza com a Amanda (Parking Amanda's car) Students asked for a game involving car movements and that was my suggestion: a parking game.
4 Ways To Teach Computing To A New Generation Of Kids Programming conferences are unlikely places to find teachers. But at the recent PyCon UK conference, in the Coventry Technocentre owned by Coventry University, teachers and programmers were working together and sharing their relative expertise. Why? Because they care deeply about teaching computing to young people. The UK government recently mandated that computer science be taught in British schools as a replacement for the much maligned IT curriculum that taught basic (and severely outdated) secretarial skills, with not much room for anything else. This has resulted in an explosion of innovative ways to teach computing to kids and teenagers. Python Few programming languages are quite so well suited for teaching beginners and children as Python. Python is a language that embraces simplicity and readability, and the Python developer community is infamous for being welcoming, conscientious and helpful. Raspberry Pi They’re cheap too, costing a paltry $25. Minecraft Or, is it? Scratch
Research: Online Gaming Expands the Social Life of Gamers Gaming Research | News Research: Online Gaming Expands the Social Life of Gamers By Dian Schaffhauser04/10/14 People who play massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) may notprefer the company of avatars to live humans after all. Researchers from North Carolina State University and Canada's York University and University of Ontario Institute of Technology found that online social behavior doesn't replace offline social behavior in the gaming community. "Gamers aren't the antisocial basement-dwellers we see in pop culture stereotypes; they're highly social people," said Nick Taylor, lead author of "Public Displays of Play: Studying Online Games in Physical Settings" and an assistant professor of communication at North Carolina State. Taylor and his fellow researchers examined the online and offline behavior of gamers with an emphasis on how they communicated with each other. In fact, he added, a player could be "ruthless in a game and still socialize normally offline." About the Author
Les outils visuels de l'apprentissage Quels outils visuels choisir pour favoriser l’apprentissage? C’est à cette question que répond de manière synthétique la très intéressante carte mentale ci-dessus. Pour chaque outil, son utilisation pratique et ses avantages sont proposés. Cliquer sur la carte pour l’agrandir. Son auteur, Renaud Keymeulen l’a réalisée après avoir participé aux ateliers de Visual Mapping de juin 2015. Chercheur en pédagogies nouvelles et méthodologue, il a mis en pratique des activités d’apprentissage différentes basées sur les intelligences multiples et la coopération dans ses classes. Renaud Keymeulen est l’auteur de l’ouvrage pédagogique de référence « Vaincre ses difficultés scolaires grâce aux intelligences multiples« . Les prochains ateliers de Visual Mapping auront lieu à Paris les 5 et 6 octobre prochains.