StoryTellingWiki

I was curious to see what types of wikis exist, so I did a google search simply using the work “wiki.” The results were disappointing as I searched through pages of poorly organized work. However, I finally came across the StoryTellingWiki, which is a compilation of stories, fairy tales and myths from around the world. It seems to me an ideal example of what a wiki should be as it allows people to share parts of their culture with others.

Disaster Dynamics

The Disaster Dynamics project is dedicated to preparing policy makers, academics, students, etc. to make informed and analytical decisions during a disaster. In order to achieve this goal, the project is seeking to create effective learning environments for the unique challenges surrounding natural disasters. At this time, the chief focus is on creating games and simulations. One such game is called Flow. This is board game that “demonstrates the dynamics of movement during an extreme event. Players control the movement of citizens and emergency vehicles in game boards patterned after real cities.”

Interestingly, the Disaster Dynamics page is presented in a wiki format. However, you must have a pass word to edit the pages.

Virtual Worlds Review

Now that the semester is almost over, you may be ready to take a break from this far too busy world and chill out in a virtual one. Virtual Worlds Review has links and commentary on 18 different virtual spaces where you can don an avatar and be someone else somewhere else for awhile.

Polar Husky site uses cool simulation

The Polar Husky site is an example of simulations being used with e-learning opportunities. It is set up like the Iditarod sites where teachers, students and regular folks can monitor, interact and learn from a dog sled team as it travels the tundra for 3,000 miles. I was expecially drawn to this when the opening animated map came on screen. The Inuit music is included as a bonus! Awesome site that I found tracing down a Clark Aldrich link within the e-learning Centre site. Well worth the time to browse!

Gift Ideas

Matthew Baldwin, author of the very funny Defective Yeti blog, has a very good list of suggested board games for the gifting season.

Voodoo Pad

For those of you who enjoyed the Wiki project, here is an application that allows users to create a local wiki on your own computer. The Voodoo pad allows users to link to files on the computer or internet. There is a free demo version at flyingmeat.com

This product recently won the O'Reilly Innovator's award for exciting new Mac innovations.

Games for Geeks

Design News, a respected trade journal for engineering types has initiated a new feature on their website - a game designed to challenge reader's knowledge of engineering. Participants can see how they rank among their peers or just test their knowledge with what appears to be a Flash-based game. Users need to register to access the site, but it's free (although they might need to verify that you possess a pocket protector :-)

Hacking is Playing is Learning

In my first posting I made reference to an essay by Frank Oppenheimer about play and learning (this Blog, Oct 22). Frank raises an issue that I must always remember: it takes discipline to play. The pressure to produce makes it hard to work creatively and playfully. The more I view a program like Flash as a tool for making money, the harder it is for me to think about creative uses of the program. I think this is why Frank liked that picture of the grain silo sculpted by the wrecking ball operator. Wrecking balls are not normally viewed as a tool for creative expression.

The art of hacking (which is a particular aspect of play) involves looking at the technological stuff around us not as "things-in-themselves" (sorry Herr Kant about misuse of your term) but rather as "things-to-take-apart" and make into something else, or behave in an new way (unintended by the original creators of the thing.)

Some awards for hacking:

--> Andrew "Bunnie" Huang and all the people who have been turning Xbox consoles into computers. See Peyri Ingrum's blog post of 11/29/03, Hacking the Xbox.

--> Adam Mathes: the guy who more or less consolidated the idea of "Google Bombing" (creating a google association between a term, and a particular web page by propagating a bunch of links between the term and the web page. This forces Google's algorithm to make the association.) To try this out, type miserable failure into the Google search engine and hit "I'm feeling lucky".

--> LEGO toys: One thing I like about LEGO toys is that the parts can be used for things other than their original intended purpose. A wheel can become the bumper of a touch sensor, a gear can become a face on a robot. In fact there has been a significant amount of hacking with the LEGO Mindstorms kits. People have reverse engineered the firmware on these toys to make them do rather exceptional things. The reason the Lego Company gets recognition here, is that they have decided not to get in the way of this community of hackers. Compare this to the legal action Sony has taken against certain Abio enthusiasts, under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

uDevGame 2003 : Game Design Contest

"The uDevGame Contest is an effective process for equipping novice and veteran game developers alike with the knowledge they need to create great Mac games. The competitive nature and short development time of the contest forces entrants to develop an appreciation of good game design. uDevGame also helps to teach developers how to pace themselves under the pressure of a deadline (an opportunity many independent game developers have never had), how to put together and work in a team, and how to research and learn new technologies. Most importantly, the contest returns the work of all entrants back to the community in the form every game's source code or raw project files and "postmortem" writeups from all winners, so that everyone benefits."

Looks like an interesting list of games (many of them free to download). Mac only.

Physics' Games and Simulations

This is a good website for people, especially young people, interested in Physics. It contains a number of interactive games and simulations. For example, there is a Periodic Table game where you line up tiles to match the periodic table. There is also a Wafer Maker game in which you grow silicon crystals to make transistors. There is a physics pole vaulting simulation and a game where you can build a solar system. These games and simulations are connected to such prestigious organizations as PBS, the University of Utah and the Exploratorium in San Francisco. This website was created by the Society of Physics Students which is a professional society for physics students and their mentors.

On Your Mark, Get Set, GO!

In mid-November, local students and their teachers were given the opportunity to participate in the first annual Red-Eye Video Shoot Out sponsored by the San Diego County Office of Education's iVIEawards.org (Innovative Video in Education). While video production is not typically considered a game or simulation, this event was a competition with set rules and a winner to be determined at the end of 24 hours, I thought it worthy of a mention in this blog.

The event began when the topic "Recycle, Or Else" (selected by the City of San Diego), was released to the student teams on a Friday afternoon. The teams brainstormed, storyboarded, scripted, shot the scenes, edited and submitted their final project for judging on Saturday afternoon. Watching the expressions on the faces of these teens as their videos were screened was inspirational. One team even admitted to editing their footage and burning the DVD on a laptop in the car on the way to the competition! The kids were all dead tired and yet still so full of enthusiasm. I came away feeling that this type of project is what we, as educators, need to be more involved with.

Entertainment Software Rating Board

The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is a self-regulatory body established in 1994 by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA). They provide ratings to help you choose games that are appropriate for you and your family. They rate games with symbols that indicate the suggested age group of game users for a particular game, and they use content descriptors that tell you about content elements that may be of interest or concern.

The site provides a search function so you can find the ratings for a particular game. I decided to rate Everquest. The results showed 17 versions of the game (!!), all of which contain violence, and most of which contain Blood, Blood and Gore, and Suggestive Themes. All are also rated for teens. I'm glad I don't have kids to worry about.

The ratings are:
EARLY CHILDHOOD
Titles rated EC - Early Childhood have content that may be suitable for ages 3 and older. Contains no material that parents would find inappropriate.
TEEN
Titles rated T - Teen have content that may be suitable for persons ages 13 and older. May contain violent content, mild or strong language, and/or suggestive themes.
ADULTS ONLY
Titles rated AO - Adults Only have content suitable only for adults. Titles in this category may include graphic depictions of sex and/or violence. Adult Only products are not intended for persons under the age of 18.
EVERYONE
Titles rated E - Everyone have content that may be suitable for persons ages 6 and older. Titles in this category may contain minimal violence, some comic mischief and/or mild language.
MATURE
Titles rated M - Mature have content that may be suitable for persons ages 17 and older. Titles in this category may contain mature sexual themes, more intense violence and/or strong language.
RATING PENDING
Titles listed as RP - Rating Pending have been submitted to the ESRB and are awaiting final rating.

Operation Iraqi Freedom, Rated E for Everyone!

I am totally fascinated with Military simulations. I find the thought of fighting terrorists from my living room to be the only function of support I can offer. I have a tremendous amount of respect for the men and women fighting for our country and often feel somewhat helpless in the fact that I am not doing more myself. These simulations give (although false) a sense of combat and control.

In this simulation you can enter the cockpit of a Navy/Marine workhorse fighting machine-the F/A-18 Hornet; fly CAP (Combat Air Patrol), SEAD (Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses), CAS/DAS (Close and Deep Air Support) or Escort missions in a variety of theater-like environments. There is no limit to the number of scenarios that are created. As you move through the thousands of square miles of terrain, your choices choose the patterns generated.

There is a free 10-day trial offered at http://www.operation-iraqi-freedom.us/

Educational PDA Games

In researching one of my Wiki topics, I came across an article by Howard Tomlinson in the September, 2003 edition of the T.H.E. Journal about the increased use of PDAs in the classroom. The PDAs are seen as a less expensive alternative to laptop or desktop PCs for each student. They can be used by both students and teachers for a whole range of activities and uses. Included among the applications are educational games that can be played on the PDAs. These include various word and math games. Some allow students to compete against one another what can further motivate students to play the games.

An additional resource I found is K12 Handhelds site, a company in Long Beach that sells PDAs for classroom use. Their website lists “101 classroom uses for PDAs” along with links to other resources and case studies illustrating ways PDAs are used in classrooms at all grade-levels from elementary through college.

While I realize that gaming is just one part of the usefulness of the PDAs, I found the topic interesting because I was unaware of the capabilities of these machines or the potential for their use in education.

Virtual U

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to run your own university? Here's your chance to test your skills and knowledge as you become the university's president. The player will gain a better understanding of management practices in our colleges and universities.

Virtual U was developed by William Massy, among others, of the Jackson Hole Higher Education Group and Enlight Software of Hong Kong.

The player will need to take the time, possibly several hours, to learn the simulation. There are very complex ideas being presented, possibly for the first time. He/she will have to make many decisions that could help or hurt their university. Therefore, take the time to learn the tricks of the job. Easier said than done!

Below are some presidential tasks:
•Customize your institution
•Evalution and outlines priorities
•Your instituation and critical ratings
•The student newspaper alerts you to special events
•Individual faculty screen
•Look at a range of faculty attributes to pinpoint places for improvement
•Look at department rankings to see where to focus on improving your university
•Monitor your faculty's satisfaction and diversity
•Budget information screens
•Check out your admission results and student population
•Direct your faculty by defining how they prioritize their time
•The Virtual U campus screen
•Monitor your capital reserves
•Another campus screen. Note how buildings will be different depending on the types of departments your university features.
•Design the class structures a department offers
•Determine your university's endowment investment strategy
•Your virtual university always features a football stadium and basketball arena
•How will you allocate alumni contributions?
•Set your athletic policies and build a winning sports department

Virtual U can be used in the classroom, student competitions, and distance education. This simulation could be extremely useful for those who plan to go into administration. It is also being used by undergraduate and graduate business, finance, and accounting classes.

The downfall, in my eyes, is that Virtual U is not available for the Macintosh. So all you PC users try it out and see what you think.



  
 

   

SuperKids/ReviewZone Educational Software Reviews

For the past few years, I’ve been trying to find a web site that provides educational software reviews using a formal methodology. I still haven’t found any really strong sites (If anyone knows of any, I’d like to hear about them), but a number of years ago I ran into SuperKids Educational Software Reviews.

This website reviews educational software titles based on educational value, kids appeal, and ease-of-use, and employs a 1-to-5 rating scale (5 being best.). However, the site doesn’t provide any metric indicating how scores are arrived at. Still, it’s better than another review site I ran into, The Review Zone, which does much the same thing but never met a software program it didn’t like, and tends to spend more time on Nintendo GameCube titles that actual educational software.

You can also check out some of my reviews of eduational software while I was a tutor for Project READ of Redwood City. These reviews are well-known for their dry wit, persuasive rating scale, and compelling writing style, made up of equal parts 'wanton heed' and 'giddy cunning' (By the way, does anyone know the origin of that quote by Milton?).

That's My Doll!

The Mattel Corporation (manufacturer of Barbie and Hot Wheels) was recently victorious in the High Court of Justice in London. Mattel’s claim of copyright infringement against Simba Toys and the “My Style” doll line was determined to be valid. The line was a copy of Mattel’s “My Scene” dolls.

Mattel has maintained the highest standards of individuality over its lifetime and sees this as not only copyright but as a mark against their originality. The toy business is not one to be dismissed as small potatoes. Mattel alone is a conglomerate that employs more than 25,000 people in 36 countries and sells products in more than 150 nations throughout the world.

This is the first time ever that a European court has made a Union-wide order based on community design. Mattel was please with the verdict on multiple levels, the biggest being that because it was based on Community Design rights, the decision applies across the whole European Union.

Matt Bousquette, President of Mattel Brands, said, "The toy industry's long term health is driven by new breakframe products and ideas. It is important that these efforts are protected for all companies, ensuring a continued investment in innovation is made throughout the toy industry, maximizing consumers' choices for great, fun toys."

No matter where you go, there you are.

It looks like the producers of the newest sims-like online role-playing game, There.com are hoping that the Lizzy McGuire set will flock to this virtual getaway and once they ARE there that they will shell out real cash to buy virtual things like “hip” clothes or floating surfboards.

Admittedly, this sim looks very cool. QuickTime tours linked off of the home page reveal a graphically rich world with lots of places to hang out and chat with your friends. You can also partake in dune buggy races, attend concerts and, of course, travel around There on your floating surfboard. One interesting feature that I think we will see more of in the future are the chat balloons. This allows players to see conversations comic book style instead of having to read the chat window used by many MMPRG.

If you want to check it out, There offers a two week free trial that doesn’t require a credit card for collateral.

Board Games' Enduring Appeal

While the toy business in general is not doing especially well, BusinessWeek reports in a November 24 article, that board games are one of the few bright spots. The overall board-games category is up 10% so far this year and toymaker Hasbro reports sales up 50% in that area. Two former Microsoft executives stumbled upon this trend a few years back when they were looking for a new business idea. With some funding from Amazon and Starbucks, they came up with Cranium, a family game that included a bit of spelling, drawing, trivia and charades. Apparently their timing was great and Seattle has become a hot area for game development (maybe it's all of the rain...).

Industry insiders have attributed the popularity to a number of factors - everything from 9/11 creating a "nesting" instinct to the increasing appeal of "game nights" as inspired by that recurring theme on the TV show Will & Grace to a desire to return to simpler times or seek cost effective entertainment.

Some of the new breed of games includes an electronic component but others are still simple games that require no batteries or electricity. Although big toymakers dominate the field, this appears to be one area where small game publishers have a chance. Several reported success with relatively small investments and limited advertising.

Cyberathlete Professional League

Did you know that winning online games can pay big money? Yep, the gamers have gone pro, forming the Cyberathlete Professional League. After Counter-Strike became wildly popular, tournaments began to appear, and with them, a group of players so expert that they went professional. They have sponsors, some of them can make as much as $100,000 per year.

For example, in December of this year Intel is sponsoring the CPL Pentium® 4 Processor Winter 2003 Championship in Dallas. The tournament games will be Half-Life Counter-Strike with a cash purse of $100,000, and Halo for Windows with a cash purse of $30,000.

CPL has a European division and, perhaps a little less intimidating, there is also a Cyberathlete Amateur League.

The CPL would like the gaming community to vote on what game to include in their Summer Tournament for 2004. Counter-Strike is the game used most often for tournaments, but you may be interested in the nominees:

Day of Defeat
Team Fortress Classic
Call of Duty
Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne
Savage: The Battle for Newerth
America's Army
Medal of Honor
Soldier of Fortune II
Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory
Battlefield 1942
Quake 3: Arena
Return to Castle Wolfenstein
StarCraft

Game Research: a multidisciplinary gaming site

Game Research attempts to bring together knowledge on computer games from the areas of art, business, and science. I like their cross-discipline approach to gaming.

This site presents short introductions to important areas of gaming issues and gaming research, and provides access to a database of links and references to literature. The “research articles” should be read with a bit of skepticism, as they are not in a peer-reviewed journal; however, they usually link to reliable sources, and the site itself provides links to the online academic journal Game Studies .

I also found their gaming dictionary useful, although it is rudimentary. Submissions by site visitors are encouraged, as is the posting of articles on gaming. It's a nice place to do a little research.

Vote for Your Favorite Video Game

Spike TV is presenting the 1st Annual Video Game Awards scheduled to air on Thursday December 4 at 9PM ET/PT. You can even vote for your favorite games in a number of categories. While the competition includes categories for online games, PC games, handheld games and many others; sadly, it does not include a category for educational games. The web site itself might win an award for an annoying use of Flash, but it does have clips from a number of games that might be fodder for ideas about what's popular among game players.

Math Game Website

Sure, they're drills. But still, here is a resource for the K-12 classroom: scweb4free.com has designed math games in Flash for elementary and middle school students. I like the fact that students can set their own goals before starting by selecting a time limit (from 1 to 8 minutes) and the number of problems to complete in that time (from 1 to 8). I played around with the Order of Operations game shown here.

Game Empire

Last weekend I stumbled across a great game store here in San Diego. It is called Game Empire and is located in Clairemont off the 805 freeway. Billing itself as “Land of a Thousand Games,” Game Empire has a tremendous selection of games of all kinds: chess, backgammon, mahjong, independent board games, educational games, puzzles, and casino supplies. Not only do they sell the products but they also offer to teach people how to play. In an adjacent 2000 square foot room, gamers play in ongoing leagues and tournaments.

If you love games, or just want to see what is out there on the market, I suggest that you check this store out. Its location is 7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., Suite 306, 92111.

A Colossal Waste of Time

BBC Learning has a simple game they use to promote their training development services. The game actually encourages the user to wad up their notes from training (Gasp!) and toss them into a wastebasket. Of course, there's a wonderful twist that makes this a very engaging game to play.

Give it a try!
This game links to a very good, rich resource site. Begin playing at your own risk!!!

Hacking the Xbox

And you thought your Xbox was only for games…According to Andrew “Bunnie” Huang, a recent MIT grad, you can get around the many security features in an Xbox console and take control of the device, essentially converting it into a computer that costs less than $200. He has written a book, Hacking the Xbox, which outlines the steps.

In an interview in the current issue of Giant Robot [a magazine], Huang describes some of the cool ways people are using hacked Xboxes. He has a few that are configured to run Linux; his hacked Xboxes do everything computers can do—web, email, word processing, and spreadsheets. He’s read about people in third-world nations who are retrofitting them for educational purposes. One of the oddest things he has seen is people making a “Beowulf cluster,” chaining Xboxes together to make them into a supercomputer.

For more information, check out the Hacking the Xbox website. Or go to the bookstore and read pages 83-84 of Giant Robot Issue 30.

Help for California's Budget Crisis

This simple simulation is a great exercise for those who need to experience the feel of the trade-offs which policy makers need to make in creating federal budgets and dealing with deficits. The National Budget Simulation, asks you to adjust spending and tax expenditures in the the 2004 budget proposed by the White House in order to achieve either a balanced budget or any other target deficit.

The Simulation also allows you to adjust the costs of the 2001 and proposed 2003 tax cuts, either cutting or cancelling them to raise revenue, or increasing them to create larger tax cuts. It also allows you to increase or decrease tax expenditures, also known as tax deductions, credits or "loopholes."

Considering the current crisis faced by the state of California, I think this simulation may provide valuable information toward their decision making process. Additionally, this is a powerful tool within an economics course or any course that teaches how governments make the decisions that keep them financially solvent.

No matter where you go, there you are

It looks like the producers of the newest sims-like online role-playing game, There.com are hoping that the Lizzy McGuire set will flock to this virtual getaway and once they ARE there that they will shell out real cash to buy virtual things like “hip” clothes or floating surfboards.

Admittedly, this sim looks very cool. QuickTime tours linked off of the home page reveal a graphically rich world with lots of places to hang out and chat with your friends. You can also partake in dune buggy races, attend concerts and, of course, travel around There on your floating surfboard. One interesting feature that I think we will see more of in the future are the chat balloons. This allows players to see conversations comic book style instead of having to read the chat window used by many MMPRG.

If you want to check it out, There offers a two week free trial that doesn’t require a credit card for collateral.

Are You Living In a Computer Simulation?

I ran across this web page while performing a Google search looking for computer troubleshooting simulations. The Simulation Argument is both a web page and a hypothesis by Nick Bostrom, a Philosophy Research Fellow at Oxford University. Dr. Bostrom posits that it is likely that we either are, or soon will be, living within a computer simulation rather than actually participating physically in what we’re mentally experiencing.

This website includes ‘scholarly investigations’ into the idea that we are living what we watched Keanu Reeves ‘acting’ through in the Matrix Trilogy, as well as a link to Dr. Bostrom’s homepage, which discusses a number of other hypotheses, all of which are best considered when one is really, really, really stoned.

Vanished Planet

This game is pretty interesting! Vanished Planet is a cooperative board game, meaning all players work together to win. Either all the players win or they all lose. The object of the game is to strategically plan ship movement, resource management, and technology building while trying to delay the creature from destroying your world. Not only is it a cooperative board game but they have designed it such that the difficulty levels are scalable. This allows them to target children as well as adults.

Check it out. It's actually on the web and can be downloaded for free.
http://www.vanishedplanetgames.com/main/index.php?page=Game

Site for "All Your Game Development Needs"

GameDev.net has news, tutorials and all kinds of information related to game development, including the ever popular job offers. Information ranges from tutorials on C++ to news of a bachelors degree in game development to articles on many aspects of game design.

Sim History

It might make more sense to the kids if they could role play some of the important events in the history as part of their learning experience. Here is a website presented by Distance Simulation Group, a Division of Historical Learning Foundation (HOLF).

They have two simulations for now: (1) Civial War OnLine - a military, economic, and political simulation of the American Civil War with both wargaming and roleplaying aspects. It is played by using the Shot and Shell, Captialist Patriots and Greed and General Quarters programs; (2) Napoleonic Wars OnLine - a multiplayer simulation of combat and diplomacy during the Wars of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars.

Explore Learning

If you are a science teacher for grade 6-12, you can't miss the chance to surf on the website of explore learning. This is a site with a whole collection of educational simulations and games for subjects in science: Maths, Earth and Space, Life Science, Biology, etc. You name it!

Virtual Labs & Simulations

This is a great collection of a variety of educational simulations - Virtual Labs & Simulations. They have hundreds of links to simulations on different subjects, from light simulations to wave simulations, from color theory to maths and computers.
This is a good resource for teachers at schools.

Colony of the Future

Wanna take a trip to the future? There is a simulation site called "The Fourth Planet: A Colony of the Future", where you could find a very unique community of students who are making their new homes on Mars, virtually.

They chose to relocate in Mars mostly because of environmental issues. So they started building a new home on the fourth planet. Certain missions will be assigned to a colonist, such as demonstrate willingness to both scientific and social science research topics; help establish government system and policies; and the most intersting task - "keep personal logs of your experiences for the benefit of future Martian colonies to learn from" - there is another function of blog ;-) Enjoy your trip to the future!

Not Yer Typical Boring Video Game Class

Our neighbor down the road, UCSD, is offering a video game programming seminar for anyone interested in learning about the software involved in creating video games. It covers graphics, collision detection, physics simulation, character animation, 3D sound, special effects and for those who are way into it, artificial intelligence.

Definitely worth checking out!

Plimoth Plantation

Are you interested in becoming a Historian? If so, Plimoth Plantation is the place for you. Come join Sarah and Dancing Hawk as they guide you through what really happened at the harvest festival in 1621. This is also referred to as "The First Thanksgiving", but is this true?

You will need Macromedia Flash Player 6 to view this site.

Once the participant enters the site they are able to choose from 6 activities. At the bottom of the screen there is a glossary, visit the expert, and teacher's guide tabs.

1. Fact or Myth - A series of pictures is shown on the screen. The participant drags the proper description to each picture. If the participant is wrong, there will be a sound and they can try again. If the participant is correct, the description will snap to the picture.

2. The Evidence - The participant is given part of an article to decipher. The participante can hear how Edward Winslow would have read this blurb out load in 1621. At the end of this piece, some sections are highlighted. The participant can click on the color and it will explain that section better.

3. The Wampanoag People - A series of rocks is placed around a circle. The participant is to choose one and listen to what it was like for the Wampanoag people in 1621. A movie clip is shown at the conclusion.

4. The English Colonists - Explore where the colonists lived. Enter a house and answer some multiple choice questions (responses included).

5. The Path to 1621 - Here the participant will explore how the Wampanoag and colonists might have felt about each other at the 1621 harvest festival.

6. Share what you've discovered - The participant can choose to write an exhibit label about one picture or design a museum exhibit.

I didn't feel like the participant was interacting enough. All information was given. The graphics and presentation were wonderful. The site is definitely worth a visit.

Happy Turkey Day to all!

Hidden Agenda Contest

The Liemandt Foundation, a non-profit foundation focused on promoting technology-enabled education, is hosting a college student video game development contest to challenge students to build entertaining games that "secretly" teach middle school subjects. Games will be judged in May for a chance at the grand prize of $25,000. Advising the contest are Richard Garriott and Marc Prensky. They hope the contest will enable college students to understand the importance and potential of "stealth education." The final judging of the games is based on 70% entertainment and 30% educational value because, as program director Lauren Davis says, "Children will only learn from the games they want to play."

For more information on the contest go to the Hidden Agenda website.

Astronomy Simulations

Here is a website for the amateur astronomer. It appears to be a website for an introductory astronomy class. It contains various simulations that include measuring the stellar parallax, eclipsing binary stars, a binary star system and Stellar Evolution. When you click on one of these simulations you view each in motion. Underneath each simulation is a description of the simulation and an explanation of what is occurring. Finally, if you so desire, you can enter in different values and then see how those different values change the simulations. An interesting website for people just beginning their studies in astronomy.

Simulating Real Lives

This is actually a simulation game from educational simulations. The name of the game is called "real lives". It is an interactive life simulation that enables you to live one of billions of lives in any country in the world. Through statistically accurate events, Real Lives brings to life different cultures, political systems, economic opportunities, personal decisions, health issues, family issues, schooling, jobs, religions, geography, war, peace, and more.

Net Frog

Frog dissection has been an indispensible part of biology class. However, back in 1994, a program called "Net Frog" was first created by Richard Strauss, Jean Foss, and Mable Kinzie and later developed into an online tutorial as a valuable preparation tool or even a useful substitute for laboratory dissection.

This may not be anything today, but back to 1994, when many softwares did not exist, this was quite something at that time! Actually, the "Net Frog" was one of the first educational simulations on the Internet.

The site has been much improved with advanced multimedia softwares in 2002 and now becomes "Net Frog: The Digital Dissection" with movies, images, texts, interactive exercises, and relevant research findings.

Mystery of the Doppler Effect

It is said that the doppler effect is comparatively easy to be recognized than explained or simulated. Here is an interactive lesson with vivid wave simulations. You can learn about the doppler effect by playing several different simulations on this site, watch mini-movies, and get further resources recomended by SMEs. This is really an educational and fun site!

Tips for Becoming a Game Designer

In an article on the TechTV website, Paul Reiche III, a game designer at Crystal Dynamics provides a series of tips and a "course catalogue" for would-be game designers. Not surprisingly, he points out that game design is a "mongrel discipline" that involves a broad range of skills. While most designers have a core skill like programming, art or writing, most have dabbled in many areas. In addition to programming, art and writing, valuable competencies include math, science and history. He also provides a list of the programs most commonly used in game design.

Educational Educators

Yikes. Zounds. Another disappointing teachers website. This one is called Educational Educators, and is sponsored by About.com. It purports to be Your guide to hundreds of educational web sites. And it is, if you define ‘Your guide’ as ‘A series of hyperlinks to hundreds of sites with little input as to the purpose or usefulness of those sites’.

Worse still, all of the input that Educational Educators provides about a site is positive. They’ve never seen a website that they don’t like, which serves as an indictment of their objectivity, and suggests that the site is merely a set of advertisements for those web sites that have curried favor with Educational Educators, in the form of advertising dollars or complementary hyperlink exchanges.

There are no actual reviews of educational sites here, only a set of categories and a number of sites under each topic with glowing words about how students love them, or how incredibly useful they are.

The online forums and chats are poorly attended with little insight into the fundamentals of good educational web site content development, and it is generally believed that our online hostess, Beth Lewis, exists only within the confines of the Educational Educators web server.

buzzcut.com

Buzzcut.com is a really awesome site that discusses everything about video game theory and critcism. Edited and produced by David Thomas, it features an open forum on a variety of topics including critical writing, games and society, books and articles, etc. On this particular page, David features video game vocabulary and a poster that describes the 20 aspects of what it feels like to play video games. You can download this poster for free.

Fantasy Stocks

Have you ever wanted to play the stock market with someone else's money? Well here's your chance. FantasyStocks.com, in it's fourth year, will generously give you $100,000 (fantasy dollars) to build your portfolio. All trades will cost you $25.00 from your fantasy dollars. Sounds interesting to me.

This on-line challenge is a FREE educational tool that can enrich your students' understanding of financial economics through a Web-based NYSE/NASDAQ stock market simulation. Students can learn how to do independent research on companies and industries, understand real financial charts, buy and sell stocks, and manage a portfolio of investments in a realistic setting without monetary risk. Students under 18 can participate, but they won't receive any prizes.

Each participant will be able to trade stocks from the NYSE, NASDAQ, AMEX, TSE, MSE, and other exchanges if available. I would be learning something just by knowing what each of these stood for.

Our eighth grade mathematics class investigates the stock market using Newspapers in Education (NIE). I think this site will bring a whole new meaning to the game. Students can now be actively involved on the computer and see what is happening daily.

Simulation Classification System

Chris Musslewaite, CEO of Discovery Learning, proposes a system to classify the levels of complexity in simulations in an article in ASTD's Learning Circuits Magazine. The goals of the sytem are to help trainers and facilitators become more confident in using simulations by giving them tools to describe their functionality and complexity when talking with clients and developers. The article includes matrices that map different criteria of simulation to trainer competencies and participant interactions.

Funbrain.com via Elementary Educators

I’ve worked as a computer support technician at a handful of elementary schools in the Cajon Valley Union School District; each school has a teacher designated as the Site Lead Technology Teacher, whose responsibility it is to help deal with technology issues on campus, including computer problems and, to a somewhat lesser extent, to attempt to help other site teachers incorporate technology into the curriculum.

Many of these teachers have done a good first pass over the net to locate decent sites for educational games and development of lesson plans. One site for educational software games that they virtually all point to is Funbrain. It seemed like a good idea to go to this site and see if it’s game software warranted all of the attention.

As it turns out, it really doesn’t. Virtually all of the games are of the ‘drill & kill’ variety (aka drill & practice, considered by most research to be the least effective type of educational software). Instructions on how to play the game are minimal, and always in text, never vocalized and/or animated via a PDA. As a result, for early elementary learners (K-2 or so), a teacher would have to mentor each student through the initial stages of each game.

I was mostly interested in games that worked on 1st and 2nd grade vocabulary. The available vocabulary games on funbrain are minimal; most of the games are mathematical in nature. There are far fewer in other lesson areas, such as history, science or language arts. I navigated through a few of the language arts and math games, and they all followed pretty much the same path. Given a small set of instructions, the player attempted to answer questions correctly. After each answer was submitted, the student was informed visually whether they answered right or wrong. The number of questions they answered correctly and incorrectly was recorded at the top of the browser window.

The problem had to do with the nature of the lesson design and the usability of the system. No lessons incorporated anything but rudimentary coaching (In the form of ‘pointers’ on where the student might be going wrong, or what they might focus on for optimal improvement). Of the little coaching that there was, all of it was textual in nature, never animated or via audio output. This seemed like a typical case where a conventional drill & kill paper and pencil lesson was dumped verbatim into a software game, instead of development of an alternative approach that made use of the inherent tools within the medium. From a usability standpoint, displays of questions and responses and scores were inconsistent between windows within a lesson, and between lessons within each area.

Overall, I found funbrain.com to be a poor website and a poor site name; it wasn’t very much fun, and I don’t believe that it will do much to stimulate a student’s brain.

Collective Detective

The Collective Detective is one of the newest forms of online communities. They participate in what are known as ARGs or Alternate Reality Games. These games can involve many elements both from the real and virtual world. These may include real world clues, phone calls, voicemail, email, and real people playing roles in real life. The Collective Detective collaborates to solve challenges and win prizes presented by other websites. Their track record shows that they are able to solve online puzzles at a fraction of the time of individual contestants. This “think tank” environment offers members an opportunity to learn together from experts in a variety of different fields. It also shows the types of productive social dynamics that are possible.

http://www.collectivedetective.org/

War Games

This website is an add on to the original Ghost Recon game. It is has been improved. What ghost recon is a simulation war game. People experience this game and get the feeling of what it is really like to be in a war-time situation. The creator of this website says military people who have been in combat say this is the most realistic war game they have ever played because you play against other people. The military is looking at using simulations similar to this to help train soldiers for combat. For those of us who have never been or even plan to be in combat, this game or simulation is perhaps the most realistic experience we can have.

Stupid Research Questions

In an article in the October, 2003 edition of his on-line newsletter, Play for Performance , Thiagi writes about the effectiveness of instructional games compared with other training methods. His response to the question of which is better can be summed up by the title of the article, “Stupid Research Questions.” He says that comparing training games and other training methods is like comparing apples and oranges. Both are “better” in certain situations and less appropriate in others. In comparing different training methods, it is critical to consider the purpose of the training and the nature of the participants, something to remember in any type of instructional design project.

Canadarm2 Astronaut Training System

Canadarm2 is a 35-foot crane-like machine aboard the International Space Station. Among other things, it is used to capture satellites and other free-flying objects in space. This is a difficult task that requires training in manual and visual dexterity. However, no practice was available once the astronauts arrived at the station. Through collaboration between Russian and Canadian space researchers, a simulator system has been developed that has the processing power to recreate the functions of the Canadarm2 and its interaction with other objects in space. The System for Maintaining and Monitoring Performance (SMP) On-Orbit Astronaut Training System consists of a small laptop computer which can interface with the station’s hand-controllers. It also uses a new simulation software tool known as SYMOFROS which was developed by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). The system was launched on-board the Soyuz Progress Transport on February 2, 2003.

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/iss-03o.html

WhatIfSports.com

http://www.whatifsports.com/locker/default.asp

Here's one for the sports fans out there. This site provides inquisitive or wager-oriented sports aficionados with SimMatchup™ and SimLeague™. These simulations allow fans to pit teams against each other in simulated games based on team and individual player stats. Users aren't just limited to past teams either, since current and future teams can be compared.

The system provides play-by-play (for certain sports) and scoring breakdowns for simulated games and complete player stats, as well. It can even run a pair of teams against each other many time to create win/loss and point margin probabilities.

eLearning with Disney

Not surprisingly, Disney Online has a graphically rich selection of "learning" games for younger kids on their site. Actually, once you get through the very commercial sections promoting the latest movies and theme parks, these games and simulations seem to offer a nice variety of creative activities for younger kids. There is also an overview page for grown-ups describing the activities. Some of these activities include games about spelling, the alphabet, good manners, music, playing with clay and more. They seemed to incorporate a lot of interactivity - not just passive observation. While a few of them had some tie-ins to Disney products, most of them did not. The games I viewed seemed to load a bit slowly on my reasonably fast computer with cable modem, which could cause problems with the "short-attention-span" crowd. However, once a given activity or game loaded up, the animations and response times were pretty impressive.

24 Game

Do you want to brush up on your mental mathematics? Then, this game is for you. You are given 4 numbers that you must add, subtract, multiply, or divide to get the result of 24. Look at the example to the right. Can you get 24? How long did it take you? Can you get 24 using another sequence?

One possible solution ... give the last step first and then tell your solution
You can only use each number 1 time from the card.

24 ÷ 1 = 24
4 • 3 = 12
12 • 2 = 24
24 ÷ 1 = 24

The 24® game helps students reinforce problem solving and critical thinking. You can also play the First in Math® online math program.

My students loved to play this at the end of the period. There are 3 levels (1 dot, 2 dot, 3 dot) for each game. The cards with 1 dot are supposed to be the easiest. When I first began this game, I even found the 1 dot cards challenging. Encourage your students to find other methods of getting to 24 on each card.

There is a tournament every year in May at the Aerospace Museum. The atmosphere is unbelievable! Who ever thought kids would have FUN doing math?
 

QuarterMile Math Program

I have used this drill and practice math program in summer school to test the speeds of incoming sixth graders. QuarterMile Math is appropriate for grades K-9. The problems are randomly generated and the user receives plenty of practice. There are a variety of topics to choose from at each grade level.

I have mainly used this to help the students with their times tables. The program allows you to practice up to 12 x 12. If a student is having difficulty with a certain number, say 7's, he or she can practice that particular number until they feel confident.

The students enjoy the ability to choose between a horse or race car for their race. The students are in constant competition with themselves, and other classmates, to beat their personal best time. The program keeps track of the top 5 average for each category. This allows for benchmarks for every topic. The goal is to answer the questions correctly as quickly as possible.

QuaterMile Math is appropriate for both genders and has the capibility to build confidence quickly.

Encyclopedia of Propaganda

While researching the many flavors of wiki on the net, I came across a spin-off on Wikipedia. Disinfopedia is the home of the encyclopedia of propaganda. This site was started in March of 2003, and is now home to nearly 2,500 articles. The site is laid out like the Wikipedia site but has a stronger political stance. prwatch.org is the sponsor of the disinfopedia.

I enjoyed articles on 'doublespeak' learned the difference between "martyrs and suicide bombers," but particularly enjoyed an entry entitled "Weapons of Mass Deception."

Museum of Jurassic Technology

The Museum of Jurassic Technology is located in Los Angeles California and is an educational institution devoted the advancement and public appreciation of the lower Jurassic. It is geared not only to the academic looking to do scientific research, but also the general public. It gives visitors a “hands-on” view of Jurassic Technology. It puts an emphasis on the strange and unusual.


It tells the story of the Stink Ant of Cameroon. It sniffs in a fungus spore from the jungle floor which causes it to grow a large tubular formation on its back which in turn causes it change its behavior. It climbs trees, something its never done before, and sits on end of the limb of a tree until it dies. We also hear stories of bees which symbolically represent a person’s soul. Plato’s notion of the transmigration of souls holds that souls of quiet, sober people untinctured by philosophy come back to life as bees. Later, Mahomet, admitted bees, as souls to paradise. There are also several more modern stories to the same effect. The museum is chock full of such weird creatures and legends.

Degrees for Gamers

http://gamerschool.com/



So, you want a job in the video game industry? Well, you need a degree first. This university offers just that.

The University of Advancing Technology has tracks in game design and game programming for those who want to create games for a living. The courses available range from 2D and 3D game design to the "Psychology of Creativity" and "Applied Game Theory".

It will be interesting to see if more well known universities begin to follow suit, as the video game industry continues to prove itself a profitable industry and more game designers are needed to keep up with the demand.

Maryland Public Television education site provides more sizzle than steak

I came across this news release announcing Dollars and Sense, a new fun educational site produced by Maryland Public Television aimed at helping teenagers better understand money issues. Boy was I excited!

While the press release claims that Dollars and Sense was "developed in collaboration with educators and economic organizations, incorporates a hip design with interactive activities and tools to engage middle and high schoolers," the site falls way short of its billing. One "fun activity" in particular, All About the Benjamins, promises to teach teenagers about the history of money. In actuality, the lesson consists of four very trivial questions about money (e.g. Some coins are pickled before they're made.) and then a bunch of links to external sites.

One of the best "interactive" features was simply a graphically enhanced, interest rate calculator that revealed the true cost of purchases charged to a credit card.

While the graphics and web design are terrific, this site is seriously lacking in activities, real interactions or even intelligent content. I posted this to the blog because this is typical of a lot of sites that I have come across that promise interactivity, simulations and games but offer nothing close to it. It is clear that Maryland Public Television spent some money on this site (at least on graphic designers) and I'll go out on a limb a say that it was a complete waste of time and resources.

Candystand.com - the Teacher's Alternative

As teachers search for new ways of rewarding appropriate behavior and increasing student motivation, Candystand.com may serve as an effective tool. This website is so visually appealing that one visit there may cause your students to never crave the "real thing" again (not). The reverse may actually be true however, as this site's design could be blamed for creating hunger pangs. While a variety of games are available at this site, the line created around popular candy brands may be the game of choice. Candystand.com offers sports games, action games, card games, and puzzles.

So the next time you teachers want to break out that bag of candy, consider offering a coupon good for a free visit to Candystand.com. The dentist will love you and so will the teachers who firmly believe that sugar and hyperactivity have a direct correlation.

FlatWorld

FlatWorld is a project at the University of Southern California that mixes reality with an immersive virtual environment. Using rear projection screens and motion tracking, a specially designed room displays computer animation and graphics that change based on the position of the user. With stereoscopic technology, elements can even appear to move into the room. Surround sound, props, wind, and room vibrations add to the experience. The installation was designed to be easily constructed using reasonably low cost materials and equipment for simulations in the educational, military, and entertainment industries.

http://www.ict.usc.edu/disp.php?bd=proj_flatworld

WomenGamers.com

Hey ladies (and gentlemen), here is a site worth checking out! WomenGamers.com, whose slogan is “Because women do play,” aims to inform its audience of the latest industry trends and offer product reviews, game reviews, and informative gender-focused articles written by gamers for gamers. The “Reviews/Previews” portion of the site analyzes video games and gives them overall ratings of 0 (disaster) to 10 (awesome). Each review concludes with a “Marketing Efforts Toward Women” section which examines the game’s appeal to women gamers, including the effectiveness of the female characters and whether or not sexist themes are apparent. While you’re here, you might want to check out some women-and-gaming statistics.

Vortex for Windows

This simulation allows players to learn about PVA- Population Viability Analysis- a method that lets students study the process of extinction without having to travel to the far regions of the world to do so. Simulations have been run on the Florida Panther and Key Deer, Bairds Tapir, Sumatran Tiger, and Puerto Rican parrot. The variables that determine the survival of animals are population, environment, catastrophes, and harvests. Players can manipulate these variables then analyze the results. The results will detail population, extinction, gene transmission and inbreeding effects. Biology teachers could use this simulation to get students involved in learning and caring about animals and the environment.

Fun and Challenging Philosophy Games

This is a website created by the The Philosophy Magazine (TPM) and along articles on philosophical topics, it also has a section that contains 10 interactive games covering subjects as diverse as Ethics and Morality, Logic, Science and Religion. There is even a game entitled Shakespeare vs Brittany Spears. The most interesting games are the “Morality Play” and “So You Think You’re Logical”. In the former the participant answers a number of ethical and moral questions and when an answer violates the ethical consistency you have established by prior answers, the computer lets you know. At the end of the game, the computer gives you an analysis of your moral position and explains where your inconsistencies lie.

The Logic game is a set of four questions on which you test your reasoning ability. When you finish, you receive a report on how you did individually and in comparison with everyone else who has played. The computer also explains the correct answers when you finish playing.

Fun and Educational Online Games

Cooped up and don't know what to do? It can be a parents worst nightmare! Luckily, PBS Kids has a website designed to help (at least for a little while). The site offers games, music, stories, and coloring activities for all your child's (and maybe yours) favorite PBS cartoons. The best part is that children can learn while having fun. There are also links for parents and teachers. These links provide information related to the programming, and how to get the most out of it for children. Check it out with your little ones!