Games For Change 2011: Outside the Classroom: Youth Designing Games

Outside  the  Classroom:  Kids  Designing  Games

SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY ENGINEERING MATH

GIRLSTART: WHAT WE DO

• STEM Education for girls (K-12, primarily 3rd-10th grade)

• Programs:

• Girlstart Summer Camp

• Girlstart After School

• Girls in STEM Conference

• Public STEM Education

• Teacher Professional Development

3

OPPORTUNITIES

• We have leveraged these extant resources to create something new:

• STEM Integration = Organizational Flexibility / Acumen

• Toolbox of Varied Game Development Resources

• Collaborations

• Corporate Support

4

CHALLENGES

• A toolbox of varied game dev resources demands more resources to support it

• Managing expectations

• Staff time investment in training

• Mutable external environment

5

TOOLSETS

• Agentsheets

• GameSalad

• Gamestar Mechanic

• Open source creative tools

• Tools that arise out of collaborations (eg NGCP, Austin Film Society, corporate)

• Other STEM tools and resources

6

EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES

• Creative problem solving

• Immersion in the complex and multifaceted work of game development

• Connect game development with STEM subjects, majors

• Connect game development to careers / esp women working in STEM

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MOUSE  Serious  Game  

Key  Opportuni5es

• engagement

• web  infrastructure

• organiza5onal  partnerships

• curiosity  of  educators

Most  Significant  Challenges

• applying  engagement  to  social  issues

• designing  for  a  minimally  guided  instruc5onal  environment

• forma5ve  assessment

Primary  Toolsets

Objec5ves

• the  mechanical  and  conceptual  literacies  of  MAKING  and  DOING

• exposing  the  underbelly• design  &  systems  thinking• affect  the  aMtudes  of  young  geeks  about  

their  role  in  change

Outside  the  Classroom:  Kids  Designing  Games

NYC  Haunts

Juan  RubioGlobal  Kids

Key  topics

Key  opportunities  leveraged  in  developing  and  running  the  program

Challenges  faced  during  implementation

Primary  toolsets  used  and  why  they  were  chosen

What  were  the  primary  educational  objectives?

NYC  Haunts  

Location-­‐based  game  designed  by  middle  school  students  from  MS  391  in  the  Bronx

Partnership  between  Global  Kids  and  The  New  York  Public  Library

Using  the  game  location  based  platform  SCVNGR  and  QR  codes

Opportunities

Willingness  and  interest  from  students  to  work  on  game  design

New  York  Public  Library  desire  to  collaborate  in  a  digital  media  project

Key  challenges  faced  during  implementation

Technology  challenges

Program  challenges

Technology  challenges

Firewall  restrictions:  access  to  websites  and  applications

Youtube,  SCVNGR

Equipment  availability

Care  of  equipment:  student  broke  an  iPad

Program  challenges

Working  outside  the  school  system:  student  attendance,  recruitment

Play  testing:  coordinate  field  trips

Maintaining  line  of  communication  while  offsite  

Ambitious  Design

Incorporating  student  decisions  as  time  afforded

Primary  tool  sets

Mobile  technology:  iPad  2’s

Game  location  based  application:  SCVNGR

QR  Codes

Websites

Book

Primary  Educational  Objectives

Serious  game  design  literacy

Increased  technical  proficiency  and  digital  literacy

Community  leadership  skills

Increased  knowledge  of  their  neighborhood  history

olp.globalkids.org

Global Kids Online Leadership Program

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OpportunitySTEM Integration; existing toolbox, collaborations, and corporate support

Offered funds to advance their current use of technology.

Youth interest in game design; technical infrastructure; collaborations; educator interest

Offered funds; Youth interest in game design

Challenges Using a wide variety of game dev tools; managing youth expectations; training time

Part-time staff;High youth expectations for game design

Engaging youth in serious issues; designing for minimal instruction; formative assessment

Firewalls; care of equipment; public school limitations; ambitious design; balancing youth voices vs. schedule

Tech  Tools Agentsheets, GameSalad, Gamestar Mechanic, and more Scratch

Mousesquad.org, Gamestar Mechanic, video, and more

iPad2, SVNGR, QR Codes, web site and books

Educational

ObjectivesCreative problem solving; Game design literacy; STEM skills and careers

STEM skills and careers

Building literacies of making and doing; understanding game design and field; design & systems thinking; geeks as change agents

Serious game design literacy; technical proficiency and digital literacy; leadership skills and community knowledge