Bill Mackenty

Learning games network has this really cool contest - from the horses mouth:

(I) My “Aha” Moment
What’s an “aha” moment, you ask? Have you ever played a game and unexpectedly made a connection with something you learned someplace else? Something that made you think, “Aha!“ If you’ve experienced that spark of realization, that moment of epiphany between an idea from a game and something you learned - at school, at home, or anywhere else - tell us about it in your video.

What game were you playing? How did you connect it to something else you had learned? When and where were you when you made the connection — re-playing the game, studying for a test, reading a textbook, doing your homework, crossing the street? We want to know!

(II) My Dream Assignment
Imagine you’re a teacher or coach assigning homework or a class activity that requires students to play a game in a favorite class, in one they’re having trouble with, or in a subject area where they just want to do better. Do you have an idea for a great game for learning?

I cannot begin to tell you how many times I have connected in-game experiences with real-world stuff. And I see this happening with my students all the time. The neat thing is, as kids get very excited about games, they also connect that excitement with classroom content. I have told this story many times, one of my 8th grade students (a low achieving student) had been playing Age of Empires and during social studies class excitedly starting talking about his experience in the game with his class (this from a kid who normally “laid low” in class).

Actually, this is how games work in education. The kids play the game, and then refelct on the experience to create tangible (measurable) learning outcomes). I know many (many) gamers who said civilization got them through world history.

I can’t wait to see the results of this competition, and send major kudos to the folks at learning games network for this idea. If you haven’t joined this contest, please do - and pass the word!

Posted by Bill on 06/26 at 09:17 AM in Games in education
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Best way to learn programming for a 16 year old? Build a game….
Tuesday, April 28, 2009

I work at a school for gifted kids. One of my great joys is having long, highly detailed technical talks with the kids. When I first started working at this school, I was shocked when I engaged in a 45 minute debate about cross-side scripting with a 7th grader (13 years old). I mean, this kid REALLY understood his stuff.

Yesterday I had another such conversation. One of our students is just eons ahead of his peers as a programmer and geek. He generally likes to frolic with low-level code, device drivers, and small servers. He has a well-reasoned philosophy that light-weight, locally compiled code connected to the cloud is better than scripting languages and monolithic programs. Really neat stuff. We don’t see eye-to-eye about everything, but from a geek point of view, he is a delight. He is, in every sense, an implementor.

So, part of discussion yesterday was around “what to do” with a program. Like, what direction to take. After a few seconds thought, I told him to write a game! As I reflect, almost all of my programming knowledge and experience came from designing games, hacking games, and rolling my own game. Even now, I occasionally hack at a multiplayer text-based game and continue to learn. Time and complexity be damned! I’m sure he will write something really fun, and I can’t wait to play with it.

This is the magic I see in computer games - observe the time, enthusiasm, and energy they spend with computers. It really is intriguing.

Now. A Practical Note (tm) - Making / modding a game takes a long long time in my opinion, not for in-class work. However, as long as there are good guidelines for outcomes (so the kid doesn’t spend 10 hours making a flaming sword with an accurate heat ratio) hacking at a game is a delightful way to learn.

Posted by Bill on 04/28 at 08:00 AM in Games in education, Practical Advice, Teaching Diary
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Exceptional article on video game addiction
Thursday, April 16, 2009

This is the best article I have ever read about video game addiction. PERIOD. Fair, balanced, and even-keeled. I highly commend everyone to read this.

I think, in time, scientists will connect that “dopamine-pattern-fun” thing that Raph Koster talks about with gamers. I think most people can enjoy games without any trouble, but I think the unique thing about computer games is how they “tickle” our brains. And I think, for a small percentage of people, that turns out to be problematic.

Please click here for a pdf in case the link goes dead (as of this post, the page is being slashdotted).

Posted by Bill on 04/16 at 07:43 AM in Blogging, Games in education
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The fourth type of game - kagfs
Monday, April 13, 2009

When I talk about educational games, I usually talk about three types of games (see original blog post here).

Without belaboring it:

COTS -commercial, off the shelf
Edutainment
Serious games

There has been an emergence of a fourth category of game, I’m calling it kick-ass-game-for-schools (kagfs). The qualities of a kagfs include:

1. Very high production value
2. Content-accurate information (like, accurate representation of history, medical information, government structure, etc…)
3. Really good tools for reporting individual student progress to teachers
4. All the stuff that make COTS games good like:

4.1 ...dynamic, adjustable difficulty
4.2 ...easy early goals
4.3 ...play experience invites entrance into Csikszentmihalyi’s idea of “flow“
4.4 ...allows different player types to enjoy the game
4.5 ...is a game a kid would want to play at home (this is kind of my ultimate litmus test for games in education)

I have only seen one instance of a kagfs, at muzzy lane but a recent feed popped up on my rss reader: t.h.e. journal had a piece titled: Researchers Study Effects of Educational Games on Math Achievement by Scott Aronowitz. I think this might be another example of a kagfs link here for dimensionM. But I need to play this game to see.

It looks like there is some snazzy instruction stuff on the front end, and then the kids explore a pretty cool-looking interactive world, applying the math skills they are studying.

The only thing I don’t enjoy: stopping the game while the kid solves a math problem. Update: after playing their demo, I kind of nudge this particular game into the edutainment arena. Gorgeous production values, great tutorial, but zapping all the transmitters that have an even number? That doesn’t quite fit into my kagfs category.

Anyone else see any kagfs?

Posted by Bill on 04/13 at 08:21 AM in Games in education
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Informal Learning and Video Games
Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Great article entitled: Public Pedagogy through Video Games by James Paul Gee and Elizabeth Hayes (pdf here)

I think about computer and games learning in basically two ways. Informal learning and formal learning. These aren’t exclusive viewpoints, nor are they necessarily contradictory.

Formal learning using video games happens in a classroom, with highly structured lesson design, and clear assessment of learning objectives. I advocate this type of use of video games because it fits with my occupation; an instructional designer and computer teacher. I’ve always been focused on proving that video games are effective instructional tools. if you are interested in a quick guide for games in education, click here (you can also click here to see everything I’ve written about games in education).

Informal learning refers to the inherent, automatic, and natural learning that happens when people play video games. It is this area that scholars like Gee and Schaeffer write so eloquently. My summary of their thinking is that games are inherently educational and computer games are excellent and complex learning systems. Just playing a complex computer game is educational.

I happen to agree with the informal learning ideas, but I spend more time thinking about formal uses.

In comes the above article, which is really good for understanding why computer games are inherently educational. The article discusses design, resources, and what the authors call call “affinity spaces”.

Posted by Bill on 01/28 at 11:16 AM in Games in education
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Board games in the classroom?
Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Another beautiful question:

Hello, I am a fifth grade teacher and would like to use games to help the students learn. My school, though, does not have the resources for computer
based games. I was wondering if their were any simulation board games that I could use. I was thinking something similar to Avalon Hills Blitzkrieg. I
have heard of some that teach the pioneer life. I have been scouring the internet for help but have come up with nothing. I thank you for any help.
Craig

My answer:

Hey Craig!

Nice to meet you. Actually, board games have more educational value than computer games, in that players often see the mechanics behind game outcomes, whereas computer games people only see outcomes.

Any teacher can make anything education (almost.) The key thing is to ask the kids to think about what they are doing. So you can play great games, but if you don’t ask the kids to reflect on the experience, then while minimally educational, they won’t get as much out of it. I hope this makes sense - it’s the basic “how games in education work” message I’ve been pushing for years now.

Create essential questions about XYZ. Teach the kids about XYZ, play a board game, reflect on the experience, build assessment tools. This is bread and butter teacher stuff. The game will get your kids very excited and involved. Make sure they know all the rules, and ask them how this game is (and isn’t) like your topic of study. Ask them to simulate certain scenarios.

I love that you are looking at war games - fun and exciting. Here’s a list I think you can use with 5th graders:

1. Diplomacy
2. Axis and Allies (there are different theaters - all work)
3. Risk

There are more, of course - but as long as you use strong instructional design, you’ll be fine.

Good luck, and please keep me in the loop.

Posted by Bill on 12/30 at 03:22 PM in Games in education, Practical Advice
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What would you teach a group of 11 year old kids about text based games - part 4
Monday, November 10, 2008

part 1 part 2 part 3

We began our explorations of MUSHes today. In a nutshell, the activity was slightly disappointing, but I learned something important (especially at the end of the class).

We logged into a world war 2 mush and began character generation. This was the first difference the kids noticed - interactive fiction had no CG and the mud we played had a minimal CG process. The kids chose skills, attributes, nation of origin, looked at descriptions, and backgrounds. After about 10 minutes of character generation, the kids started to complain “I just want to play!“.

We continued, though, and they enjoyed looking and choosing the skills. There was a very entertaining conversation about flamethrowers. Still, though there was some impatience. They chose complimentary roles they thought would make a good party, and as with other text-based games we have played, they were incredibly excited and interested (but a bit impatient).

We finally got to the training grounds, and the kids learned the commands for targeting and shooting. This was very different for them, as the combat system worked on a time-based point system (we are on mush, after all). The talk soon turned towards “this is boring” and “when do we get to attack stuff”? One of the kids seemed especially disappointing there wasn’t a flamethrower around for him to use. Heh.

So I realized at this point I had made a mistake. The mush we were on is actually very well designed, and well coded. The problem was we were trying to play a mush like a mud. With the kids becoming exasperated, I told them we were going to role play new privates in the army during world war 2. We had already gone through character generation, so the kids had a sense of their character. I taught them how to pose, and we discussed our pose order, and we got started.

The complaining immediately stopped, the room became quiet, and the conversation began! The kids were acting like solders, and having a blast. They were in-character, and acting like, well, new recruits. They responded to each other in character and were having fun.

I told them we might play a “pure rp” mush next week, and I apologized to them. They were quite understanding. They remain very excited about making their own game. We are going to explore how different games are made over the next few weeks before settling on a specific text-based domain.

Posted by Bill on 11/10 at 08:51 AM in Games in education
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Paper and Pencil games
Monday, September 22, 2008

So here’s an interesting tidbit:

I recently visited my two brothers, (15 and 17). Being a Self Respecting Geek, I decided to introduce them to dungeons and Dragons (4th edition, thank you). The games went swimmingly, and they are both excited to play again (and did you know 2 third level characters can beat a young white dragon? I was impressed…).

Both of my brothers enjoy computer games (one a bit more than the other) and they both play Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

First of all, I was delighted that D&D still has the fun factor. After just 3 gaming sessions, the boys were laughing about critical misses, low initiative rolls, and funny moments during the game. The concentration, the intense arguing about tactics, the frantic grab for the Players Handbook - everything clicked in the game. It was really fun.

Secondly, I observed how they dealt with complexity. Unlike computer RPG’s, D&D doesn’t try to hide to hide numbers, armor class, or math that influence a combat or action. In computer games, there is button mashing, and the computer runs the numbers. In D&D, I was pleased when I saw my brothers split apart so the archer would be flanking the dragon they were fighting (this confers combat advantage, which adds a +2 to hit). I was also pleased to hear them argue about how to effectively use their at-will, daily, and encounter powers effectively. The boys were actually arguing about dice averages!!!

An all-around win.

Posted by Bill on 09/22 at 05:02 PM in Games in education
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Teens video games and civics
Sunday, September 21, 2008

The Pew Internet & American Life Project has published a very interesting report entitled Teens, Video Games and Civics (PDF here).

I can’t believe 97% of teens play video games. I mean, 70% to 80%, ok, yea. But 97%? Wow.

The report is a must-read for anyone who is interested in teens, technology, and education.

My interest in using games in education stems from the observation I made while I was the club advisor for the yu-gi-oh club. “Low ability” students were spending crazy amount of time, energy and mental muscle on this game. The rules were complex, with branching conditions and fascinating strategies.

As I looked at computer games, I saw the same thing; kids who might be labeled as dis-invested in school or “low scorers” were crazy about these games! The inequality between school behavior and game behavior was stunning. Joey is a poor writer? Why is he writing 200 page game guides?!?!?

I don’t claim to have a magic formula, but the basic idea is to use COTS games in the classroom with strong instructional design; that is, include the game the way you might include a DVD, field trip, guest speaker, or special project. Talk about the content area, play the game, and then talk about how you can apply the lessons in the game to the content area.

Posted by Bill on 09/21 at 09:07 AM in Games in education, Educational Tech
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Text-based games with a group of 11 year old kids
Wednesday, September 17, 2008

I’ve started teaching a small group of 4th and 5th graders (age 10 and 11) about text based games. We are meeting in an after school program. I wrote my first introduction about this project here and cross-posted it to to a couple of community listserves.

Yesterday was our first class, and I admit, I was nervous. How would a 11 year old kid respond to a text-based game in 2008? My anxiety increased as one of the kids asked me if we were going to design video games. I told him no, we might design text-based games if we have time. I started with an introduction “you are about to play one of the very first computer games” (ok, a bit of a stretch, but it’s kind of close). Enticed, they started typing

On the screen, a blue screen with the words “You are standing West of a white house….“

I wrote the cardinal directions on a whiteboard, as well as some commands they might need (look, i, open, close, etc..). Then they began. There was some initial playing with the parser:

kid -> “you are stupid”
Zork -> “I don’t know the word “you”
kid -> “what am I supposed to do?“

I teased them a bit. “Make sure you examine everything, and if you find a weapon, I strongly suggest you get it…never know when you’re going to run into a troll who wants to eat you….“

The kids looked at me in disbelief. Troll? Weapons? Combat? WHERE?! They became glued to their screens and excitedly started pointing and yelling.

I was almost brought to tears (literally) when a young voiced piped up “Um, Mr. MacKenty, What’s a Grue?“. I immediately halted the class and we reviewed the wikipedia entry about grues. I carefully explained that grues are sort of like rattlesnakes, in that they like to be left alone - but if they are annoyed, they might eat you. I told them if they want to avoid being eaten, it’s best to have some light available. Immediately they started asking each other about the brass lantern in the old white house.

It was about 35 minutes into the class I realized how utterly and completely captivated the kids were. I mean, they were literally glued to the screens; in a state of flow - they were consulting invisclues, they had printed maps, and they were trying to write a guide to solve the game quickly. It was a wonderful experience.

They didn’t solve zork, we ran out of time. But they did download the interpreter and the z machine files to usb drives so they could play it at home.

We’ll continue with Zork I next week, and I hope to introduce MUD’s the week after.

This is why I love teaching.

Posted by Bill on 09/17 at 12:45 PM in Games in education, Text-based gaming
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2008 Conference Notes Games in Education Conference
Tuesday, August 19, 2008

The Right Circumstances for Games to work in Education (1.8mb pdf file)

Posted by Bill on 08/19 at 10:45 AM in Games in education, Practical Advice
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News story: Video games help children learn
Tuesday, August 19, 2008

CNN is running a story about video games being educational (pdf here).

A quick note: there are different ways of understanding “learning” and “educational”. I do believe that many video games improve and strengthen cognitive skills. I also see how video games can help students frame certain issues.

However, when I talk about video games and education, the type of learning I usually talk about is how teachers can use video games in the classroom effectively.

So - it’s not that I find this story incorrect or troubling in any way - I’m looking at video games in a slightly more structured manner (that is, inside the classroom).

Posted by Bill on 08/19 at 03:28 AM in Games in education
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Three types of games in education
Monday, July 28, 2008

I’ve used three different kinds of games in my classroom. The purpose of this blog post is to help teachers understand the differences, similarities, and characteristics of the three types of games.

COTS - Commercial, Off the Shelf game.

I’ve covered COTS games for a while. COTS games are designed for the mass market - they are designed for enjoyment, challenge, and fun. COTS games can often cost many millions of dollars to make, and a hit game (AAA title) can generate hundreds of millions of dollars. COTS games are increasingly being released for the personal computer and consoles.

COTS games offer:

1. High production value (very high quality graphics and sound)
2. Low technical problems and very strong technical support
3. Strong user communities (fan sites, active forums, etc…)
4. Often these games have very active modding communities
5. Work on a fairly new machines; older computers (more than 3 years) might have problems.
6. Run locally (from the internal hard disk)
7. Have exceptionally good gameplay
8. Very good tutorials, which check for understanding
9. Adjust difficulty based on the players skills
10. A game kids want to play at home

Edutaintenment

Many teachers are familiar with these titles - Millies Math House, Reader Rabbit, Sammy’s Science House The hallmark of these games are kid-friendly graphics with gameplay that follows a “solve these problems and get to the next fun thing to do”. Sometimes players are asked to do something like bowl for math problems. The general feel of the games is really fun math or reading worksheets.

These games are fun, and build basic skills. They are valuable and good learning tools. In my context of games in education, these games generally don’t fit well. They are a little to oriented to the drilling model (but who says drilling has to be no fun?).

Characteristics of edutainment titles:

1. Marketed exclusively for schools / education
2. Content-specific (titles focusing on math, reading, spelling, foreign language, etc)
3. Marketed for specific age or grade levels
4. ESRB ratings are often intended for general
5. The back-story of the game i
6. Gameplay is generally segmented and measured around learning objectives

Serious games

Serious games are a relatively new phenomena (although people have been seriously playing games for a long time). Here’s wikipedia’s view on the matter; I like what they say. I think of serious games a single-topic, highly specific semi-simulations.

Serious games have similar profiles:

1. They are usually web-based (flash or shockwave)
2. They usually have a very specific theme (peace in the mideast,
3. They are not meant to be in-depth simulations, they are meant to model the most important dynamics
4. They are short-term games
5. They are deliberately designed to teach, explain an issue, or clarify the dynamics of an issue
6. The point is to simplify complex issues

I’ll blog more about these types of games, and provide some examples of each game in action - in the classroom.

Posted by Bill on 07/28 at 09:45 AM in Games in education
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Railroad Tycoon III in the classroom
Friday, July 18, 2008

I got this great question and thought I’d answer it here:

Wow, great site. I teach 8th graders and avidly incorporate games into my
classroom and in an after school strategy gaming club. We play Civ II,
Stronghold, and Medieval Total War II.

This year I will be teaching a class of 10th grade American History and am
excited to use the demo of Railroad Tycoon III (official site) with the students. Do you
know of any lesson plans or links to sites that give suggestions on how best to incorporate Rail Tycoon 3 into the classroom. Thanks so much.

First of all, my congratulations to you! It sounds like you are pretty advanced. I applaud your efforts to use games in your classroom. I’m running an after-school program next year for text-based games - maybe we can compare notes. I suspect your strategy gaming club is more fun, though. I once ran a micro-armour club after-school club and the kids loved it (despite the complexity of a paper-and-pen rule set).

First of all, some lessons on railroads and the Transcontinental Railway (via this google search) :

1. General lesson plans for the industrial revolution (but not directly tied into Rail Road Tycoon III)
2. PBS Railroad lesson plans
3. Discovery Railroad lesson plans
4. Edsite Transcontinental railroad lessons
5. Another decent looking lesson for railroads - with an emphasis on reading

The second part of your question, “links to sites that give suggestions on how best to incorporate Rail Tycoon 3 into the classroom“ can be answered here:

When I’m using games in the classroom, I don’t think “ I have a game, how can I use it to teach INSERT LESSON OBJECTIVE HERE ?“. Instead, I think “I have to teach LESSON OBJECTIVE HERE, are games the best choice, and will they do the trick?“. I’m sure you are using games wisely - but please read some basic criteria I’ve discussed before decided to use games in your classroom. And please remember, the single most important part of using games in your teaching is instructional design. As I often say, if you stick a kid in front of a game for an hour, and expect something magical to happen, you are going to be disappointed.

You are teaching 10th grade American History, and I’m sure some part of that teaching will involve the transcontinental railroad. In New York State, there are plenty of standards you could use. The cool thing about Railroad Tycoon series is the simulation element - so you could ask your kids to set up some “what if” scenarios, and perhaps incorporate the game into a bigger role-play in your classroom.

You could also use Railroad Tycoon to talk about economic development during this period. From wikipedia:

The objective of the game is to build and manage a railroad company by laying track, building stations, and buying and scheduling trains. The game models supply and demand of goods and passengers as well as a miniature stock market on which players can buy and sell stock of their own or competing companies.

I hope I’ve answered your question - again, I’d like to offer my congratulations to you, and I’m eager to hear how Railroad Tycoon works for you!

Posted by Bill on 07/18 at 09:59 PM in Games in education, Practical Advice
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Text based games in an after school program
Sunday, June 22, 2008

I’ll be running an after-school class in text-based games next year (starting September 2008). I’m quite excited about it, and there seems to be interest from many in the school community.

I’ve developed a tentative outline, and I have begun reaching out to others in the text-based gaming community to get some ideas and feedback. I’ll keep track of my progress here on my blog, and I’m really looking forward to running this class.

The class would last an entire school year (September through June), meeting once a week. So we would be looking at about 30 class meeting times (probably more like 20 with interruptions and field trips).

I have thought about this a bit, and here’s my basic outline:

Text based games

The classics:

play part of Adventure
play part of zork I
play a multiplayer text based game (but this is tricky as they will
all be minors)

MUDS

Talk about different code bases
Play some muds:
fantasy
science fiction
popular fiction
building
build a mud using (mud code base 1)
build a mud using (mud code base 2)
interviewing a mud builder
interviewing a mud creator

MUSHES

Talk about different mushes
Play some MUSHES:
fantasy
science fiction
popular fiction
building
Build a mush using the pennmush server

MUXes

playing muxes
playing a Battle tech mux

Interactive fiction

The big difference in interactive fiction and MU*‘s
playing IF: play some games
designing IF using Inform 7
Puzzles: what makes a puzzle fun?

Good writing

How to write a good story
How to write a good bad guy
General game skills
How to run a TP (tiny plot, from the mu* world)
Coded systems versus free form RP

Posted by Bill on 06/22 at 07:13 AM in Games in education, Text-based gaming
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MMORPG’s in education
Sunday, June 01, 2008

Mark Wagner has finished his dissertation! Many congrats to Mark.

His dissertation, MMORPGs in Education, asks if MMORPG’s can be educational, and under what conditions. This paragraph, from a draft of the conclusion, is so perfect about some problems of implementing games in education:

If such a paradigm shift is a desired destination, the road will likely be a long and difficult one. The results of this study suggest that significant infrastructure and logistical challenges may lay ahead for any implementation of MMORPGs in schools. Infrastructure challenges may include student access to computers, hardware requirements, and bandwidth requirements. Logistical issues may include great costs, in terms of finances, time, and human resources. Even more significant may be the kinds of organizational change necessary for successful implementation, particularly given the likelihood of resistance not only on account of MMORPGs being seen as videogames, but also on account of the tendency of educators and educational institutions to resist innovations in educational technology.

Again, that games are educational is without doubt. but the devil is in the details - and they are formidable. But this study contributes heartily to the informed discussion of how we can use these important tools. I’ll keep working on it!

Posted by Bill on 06/01 at 08:18 AM in Games in education
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