Video Game Design with Elementary Learners

In order to support interest and passion driven learning (all – I mean all – of my students play video games) as well as address cross-curricular content area integration of language arts, science, and technology standards, I had my gifted elementary learners, grades 2 through 6, do a semester long project on video game design.

Standards Addressed

English Language Arts Common Core State Standards

• Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character’s thoughts, words, or actions).
• Make connections between the text of a story or drama and a visual or oral presentation of the text, identifying where each version reflects specific descriptions and directions in the text.
• Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.
• Reference – http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/

Next Generation Science Standards

• Define a simple design problem that can be solved through the development of an object, tool, process, or system and includes several criteria for success and constraints on materials, time, or cost.
• Generate and compare multiple solutions to a problem based on how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the design problem.
• Reference – https://www.nextgenscience.org/

ISTE NETS for Students

• 4a – Students know and use a deliberate design process for generating ideas, testing theories, creating innovative artifacts or solving authentic problems.
• 4b – Students select and use digital tools to plan and manage a design process that considers design constraints and calculated risks.
• 4c – Students develop, test and refine prototypes as part of a cyclical design process
• 4d – Students exhibit a tolerance for ambiguity, perseverance and the capacity to work with open-ended problems.
• Reference – https://www.iste.org/standards/standards/for-students

Unit Overview

The overview for this unit:

• Introduction to Storytelling
• Storyboarding with Storyboad That
• Storyboard Presentations, Feedback, and Revisions
• Create a Video
• Design a Logo

Introduction to Storytelling

The following video and articles were reviewed with the learners:

• How To Write A Good Game Story – http://www.paladinstudios.com/2012/08/06/how-to-write-a-good-game-story-and-get-filthy-rich/

• How To Write A Compelling Game Story In Three Steps https://www.nyfa.edu/student-resources/how-to-write-a-compelling-game-story-in-three-steps/

Storyboarding with Storyboard That

Learners used Storyboard That to create the storyboards for their video games.

Storyboard That is a graphic organizer and storyboard creator . The program provides pre-made scenes, characters, text boxes, shapes, and other images to choose from,  Students are able to drag and drop these items into their chosen layout. Scenes are organized into locational and thematic categories (e.g. school). Characters are organized similarly and can be customized with hair color, eye color, and other edits. Text boxes allow the student to give voice to their characters. Shapes and additional images add props to the story. (https://www.edsurge.com/product-reviews/storyboard-that-product)

It was continually reinforced that their storyboards needed to include strong characters, settings, and plot.

Feedback

Learners presented their storyboards to their classmates. Their classmates asked questions and gave feedback using the questions from How To Write A Good Game Story http://www.paladinstudios.com/2012/08/06/how-to-write-a-good-game-story-and-get-filthy-rich/

They made revisions and additions based on the feedback they received.

Create a Video Game

Learners were then given the choice to create their video games using one of the following platforms:

• Sploder
• Bloxels
• CoSpaces

Create a Logo for the Game

Finally, learners were asked to design a logo for their games. To add another element of fun, learners decorated sugar cookies with their game logo.

Examples

The Adventures of Jack by a 6th Grade Boy

His video game was created using Sploder:

His Game Logo:

Save Mother by a 4th Grade Girl

Her video game was created by Bloxels:

Her Game Logo:

Sam and the Dark Lord by a 2nd Grade Boy

His video game was created using Sploder:

His Game Logo:

Today’s Education Should Be About Giving Learners Voice and Choice

Some of the recurring themes of my conference presentations and blog posts include:

• Schools are doing Education 1.0; talking about doing Education 2.0; when they should be planning Education 3.0
• We are living in an age of information abundance
• It is important to facilitate learner agency

The underlying theme of all of my ideas, of all of my blog posts is about setting up the conditions where learners’ choice and voice flourish.  I have come to believe that the only real education is one that fully embraces learner choice and voice. All instructional practices in this era of learning should revolve around learner choice and voice:

Education works when people have opportunities to find and develop unaccessed or unknown voices and skills. Audre Lorde poignantly describes this “transformation of silence into language and action [as] an act of self-revelation.” Opportunities for flexibility and choice assist learners in finding passion, voice, and revelation through their work. (http://www.edutopia.org/blog/student-choice-leads-to-voice-joshua-block)

Internet accessibility, technologies that permit the user-generated media, and social media allow for unlimited potential for learner choice and voice.

Learner Choice can be facilitated through:

• Giving learners choice in how they want to learn content including through videos, text-based resources, podcasts, hands-on modules, or human interactions (see UDL’s multiple means of representation).
• Giving learners choices to show what they know-what they learned through anything from writing a paper to creating a multimedia presentation to creating a performance art work (see UDL’s multiple means of action and expression).
• Giving learners choice to study topics based on personal interests (see Interest Fuels Effortless Engagement).
• Being a tour guide of learning possibilities – showing learners the possibilities and then get out of the way (see https://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2015/07/26/show-learners-the-possibilities-and-then-get-out-of-the-way/).

Learner Voice can be facilitated by:

• Giving learners an opportunity to use their unique voices to show what they know-what they learned (see UDL’s multiple means of action and expression).
• Giving learners options to use their voice in a way that works best for them. Some may want to write, some may want to use art, photos, videos, and others may want to talk.
• Helping learners find authentic audiences with whom they can share their voice.
• Giving learners a say in how their school and classroom operate – being part of a democratic process.

As John Dewey notes (as is often the case, he says it best):

The essence of the demand for freedom is the need of conditions which will enable an individual to make his own special contribution to a group interest, and to partake of its activities in such ways that social guidance shall be a matter of his own mental attitude, and not a mere authoritative dictation of his acts.

– John Dewey
Democracy and Education