Can Flight Simming Get Anymore Serious Than This?

This is an Australian home made cockpit replicating the 747!

More info and photos at http://www.hyway.com.au/747/

Flight Simming is Serious Stuff!

These photos are of my mate's home made cockpit for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004. The photos don't show it clearly, bu the pilot wears 3D glasses to actually put them in the cockpit, instead of looking at the laptop screen...

Software Focus: Kahootz

Kahootz is a powerful set of 3D multimedia tools that allows students and teachers to be creators, designers, inventors and storytellers. Kahootz is also an active, online community. Kahootz students and teachers can publish their work and exchange, share, collaborate, de-construct and explore with other schools in the Kahootz community.

More info at-
http://www.kahootz.com/kz/

Google for Educators

From the website, "Google and teachers have a similar objective: to help people build knowledge by providing greater access to useful information. Google recognizes the central role teachers play in breaking down the barriers between people and information, and we support educators who work each day to empower their students and expand the frontiers of human knowledge. The Google Teachers' Newsletter is one of the ways we're working to bolster that support and explore how Google and educators can work together. "

Further info at-
http://www.google.com/educators/index.html

ICT Curriculum Integration Workshop Day

This annual event is now in its third year. Promising to be better than ever, the event will draw on suggestions and requests from the ICT Learning Innovation Centre Community to offer a wide range of diverse workshops catering for all levels from beginner to advanced. The day will consist of a number of hands on and information sessions designed to equip teachers with the knowledge and skills required to effectively integrate ICT into their daily classroom practices.

More info at-
http://www.learningplace.com.au/events/event.asp?pid=26305&calid=95

Games Making Workshop

The ICT Learning Centre in QLD is offering a 1 day game making workshop.

The sessions will be hands on and explore both Gamemaker and Klik and Play. Software skills and classroom applications will both be covered.

More info available at-
http://www.learningplace.com.au/events/event.asp?pid=26305&calid=268

PhD award (CAST) on e-learning and children’s thinking

Whislt the closing date has now closed for this, I think it's an intersting bit of food for thought that gaming and learning is being seriously looked at....

More info at-
http://www.psych.qub.ac.uk/pg/phd/applicants/cast.aspx

Website Focus: Pre-Hospital Care/EMS Simulator

This is abit like the MD Choice I focussed on earlier but a bit more fun.

In the scenario I fiddled with, I rode the elevator with "Death" who was coming to pick up my patient! I'm also partnered with a complete moron who knows next to nothing about EMT work! (Check out the fine looking male specimens on the homepage!)

Makes for an interesting simulation.

Check it out at http://www.lessstress.com/simulator/sim.htm

Website Focus:NASA Solar System Simulator

Now this is apretty cool site!

It's part of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and basically you can view any part of the solar system from anywhere! (ie: you can view the earth from the moon)

Check it out at http://space.jpl.nasa.gov/

Website Focus: MD Choice- CyberPatient Simulator

Can you save the patient?

Test your skills with their award-winning interactive simulators:

• Acute Coronary Syndrome Case Simulation Series
• Acute Leg Swelling Case Simulation Series
• Cardiac Life Support

Check them out at http://www.mdchoice.com/cyberpt/cyber.asp

Website Focus: Ballistics Simulator

This virtual experiment is designed to let the student measure the relation between muzzle velocity (which determines projectile energy), gravitational potential and the effects of frictional drag caused by wind speed blowing opposite to the direction the projectile is moving in.

Check it out at http://www.csm.ornl.gov/java/book/applets/Cannon/

Website Focus: Voltage Circuit Simulator

An interesting site that teaches Ohm's Law.

Check it out at http://jersey.uoregon.edu/vlab/Voltage/

Website Focus: Orgasmic Simulator

This is without a doubt the most important and most educational simulator I have ever come across! It taught me a thing or two....

Check it at http://viral.lycos.co.uk/attachments/3939/Orgasmic_Simulator2.htm

Software Focus: Ship Simulator 2006

Ship Simulator 2006 has nine different playable ship types.

You can steer them in three different environments: Rotterdam Harbor, Hamburg Harbor, or the tropical paradise islands of Phi Phi, Thailand.

The game contains 31 predefined missions, in which you need to navigate to waypoints or rescue swimmers.

Moreover, the game has a built-in scenario editor, which you can use to create new scenarios yourself. You can exchange these with other players on the Ship Simulator Internet forum.

Check it out or download the demo at http://www.shipsim-secure.com/index.php?id=2

Developed by VSTEP (Virtual Safety Training And Education Platform) at http://www.vstep.nl/index.htm (They've got some really interesting simulations developed, especially for the emergency services...)

Website Focus: DIGRA

DiGRA is the association for academics and professionals who research digital games and associated phenomena. It encourages high-quality research on games, and promotes collaboration and dissemination of work by its members

http://www.digra.org/

Website/Software Focus: Hurricane Landfall

Disaster Dynamics-Hurrican Landfall
http://www.dd.ucar.edu/home.html

From the website-
The Hurricane Landfall game teaches players about interactions between natural hazards and human decisions in a Gulf Coast barrier island community. It is a strategy and negotiation computer game intended for use in undergraduate classes, and is designed for four players who are connected to one another via the Internet.

And an interview with the developers is at the Serious Games Source web site (Link on the right)

What's wrong with serious games?

Interestin artcile titled, "What's wrong with serious games?"

http://news.com.com/ (CNET News)

What's wrong with serious games?

By Daniel TerdimanStory last modified Wed Mar 22 13:32:12 PST 2006

SAN JOSE, Calif.--So-called serious games have a serious problem.
Serious games usually have a message promoting education, science, health care or even the military. They're meant to educate people by simulating real-world events and are often created with the best of intentions.

Problem is, education, science and health care aren't exactly the stuff of exciting entertainment, let alone video games. While the military provides plenty of fodder for gamers, cosmologists like Carl Sagan or famous physicians like Jonas Salk aren't exactly the stuff of the multiverse.
So what to do about it? A Tuesday morning panel at the Serious Games Summit, an adjunct event to the Game Developers Conference here, took the question on. The panel, titled "What's wrong with serious games?" was led by Ben Sawyer, Serious Games Summit content chair, who was joined by James Gee, a professor of learning sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Henry Kelly, president of the Federation of American Scientists.

Serious games may even have their second annual standalone conference scheduled this fall. But even as the buzz around the genre grows, Sawyer said there's a major problem: A lot of people think the whole concept is a failure and a joke.

Part of that perception, Sawyer said, comes from the fact that the genre has not produced a particularly large library of finished games, or much in the way of revenue or profits. As a result, serious games are still little more than "a rounding error" to a larger game industry that is often said to be bigger than the film industry.

To Kelly, a chief problem is that much of the serious-games genre is aimed, in one way or another, at government-funded institutions such as schools or the military. But the government is often skeptical about projects that have abstract goals such as furthering education or teaching military tactics, he said.

"The (federal Office of Management and Budget) has tough managers," Kelly said, "and they want to see (concrete) results and large-scale statistical success."
Further, he said, the government currently has more than 200 separate programs aimed at spurring innovation in science, technology, education and medicine, and therefore there is significant competition for scarce resources that serious-game developers could benefit from.
"There's no tradition of research and systematic improvement in this industry."
--Henry Kelly, president, Federation ofAmerican Scientists

Another problem, Kelly argued, is that serious-game developers have not arrived at any easily measurable standards for growth and success, and thus outside observers have a hard time judging whether projects work or not.

"There's no tradition of research and systematic improvement in this industry," Kelly said. "Everything is a cottage industry."

To Gee of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the problems facing the genre are complex and serious enough that it must grow beyond its still-nascent state quickly, or it risks collapsing altogether under the weight of unmet promise.
Part of the problem, Gee said, is that the serious-games industry has yet to seriously define itself. Therefore, he said, those in the industry must concentrate on locking down what it is about.

"We have to really confront the central questions and fight over them," Gee said, "so that there might be some central convergence."

But one thing favoring serious games is the very power of games themselves, something which can promote fundamental change.

"The power of games is that they put you inside a world," he said, "and you see that world from an inside-out perspective, and you have to solve (games') problems from that perspective."
And that dynamic is powerful, Gee suggested, because it is something common to all games and something that almost anyone evaluating the success of serious games could understand.
Gee also pointed to a lack of commitment to strong game design principles in the genre, and argued that it is not necessary, as some believe, to put huge resources into flashy graphics in order to make a successful game. Rather, he said, game play mechanics are more important, and a more efficient use of resources--and that is where the industry should concentrate as it seeks the kinds of titles that will generate widespread attention.

Of course, while games like "SWAT 4" or "Diner Dash" can teach players about special police tactics or the demands on waitresses, respectively, Gee said, he feels that the serious- games genre needs a big hit title to break through in the popular consciousness.
And once that happens, the industry will also have to struggle to prove how they promote learning, Gee said, something that the genre has yet to achieve outside its insular community.
Sawyer said he believes there are plenty of existing serious games that already are helping society, but that without good public relations, most people will never know about them.
"We shoot ourselves in the foot because we don't talk about it," Sawyer said.

Role Playing Games and Activities Rules and Tips

An interesting article on the use of role plays

http://www.businessballs.com/roleplayinggames.htm

Software Focus: Incident Commander

INCIDENT COMMANDER:A CRISIS TRAINING SIMULATION
http://www.incidentcommander.net/

Don't wait for a critical incident to discover what you don't know about crisis management.
The day after is one day too late.

Incident Commander is a PC-based software simulation that models real-world situations within a community, allowing for training at the management level to a critical incident.

The simulation offers a realistic representation of crisis management with realistic scenarios, realistic time delays and realistic resource limitations all set in the arena of the players' local region.

Focusing on smaller (less than 500,000 residents) jurisdictions, players can experience a school hostage situation; a natural disaster and a possible terrorism incident, while you fill the shoes of the "incident commander" and his or her Operations team.

Multiple simultaneous roles for player interaction will be available allowing independent action in any role or as a part of a group of players over the Internet or on a local network. Solo play is also possible.

The manufacturer also has some other intersting simulations under development- check them out at http://www.breakawayltd.com/

Website/Software Focus: Gotham Gazette

Intersting site from New York, Gotham Gazette features two games/simulations-

Plan Your Future Park http://www.gothamgazette.com/parksgame/
Our newest interactive game lets you plan your own park, making choices that communities all over the city have been facing.

Breakdown (save the city from kaput!) http://www.gothamgazette.com/breakdown/
New Yorkers rarely think about the hidden systems that keep the city running, until something breaks down. But those who monitor these systems say it is not just events like September 11 or the 2003 blackout that pose a threat to the city. The biggest threat may be the everyday wear-and-tear on the city's systems, and fixing New York City's underground infrastructure takes foresight, planning and billions of dollars.

Software Focus: Building Homes of Our Own

Although American, this might be of interst to some....

From the website- http://www.homesofourown.org/default.asp

Building Homes of Our Own is an interactive teaching tool for the middle and high school classroom environment. The simulation presents a macro view of the entire home building process from site selection to final sale. Students collect information, solve problems and make choices as they build a 3D home against a budget, then review credit applications and sell to the buyer of their choice.

The new program is part of the National Association of Home Builders' (NAHB) ongoing educational outreach initiative, in partnership with the National Housing Endowment, Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters and Freddie Mac.

Software Focus: Real Lives 2004

Here's a simulation with a difference! http://www.educationalsimulations.com/products.html

From the website-
Educational Simulations presents Real Lives 2004, the life simulation that gives you the opportunity to learn how people really live in other countries.

Real Lives 2004 is a truly unique, content rich and empathy-building real world, real life simulation that challenges your life skills (not your hand-eye coordination) as you make difficult, high-stakes choices that lead to your success, or failure.

You might be born anyone, anywhere on Earth. You might die as an infant, you might make it to old age. You might be able to marry the person of your dreams, and have a rewarding job, or you could be stuck in poverty. Be born, live an exciting life, and die. Then do it again. And again. Learn about the world as you live your Real Lives around the world, one life-altering decision at a time.

Both a fantastic opportunity and an incredible challenge, Real Lives 2004 makes the world come alive on a personal and global level, one life at a time, right on your desktop!

Software Focus: Monkey Wrench Conspiracy

Check this link out to what appears to be a really fascinating learning tool for engineers...

http://www.games2train.com/site/html/tutor.html

From the website-
The Monkey Wrench Conspiracy "mod" puts you in the role of an intergalactic secret agent dispatched to deep space to rescue the Copernicus station from alien hijackers. It is a complete tutorial for a complex technical product, designed to teach industrial engineers how to use new 3-D design software.

games2train.com's "videogame tutorial" concept combines all the learning of a standard, dry tutorial with an exciting state-of-the-art videogame. The concept can be adapted and customized to any product and industry. OVER 1 MILLION COPIES DISTRIBUTED!!!

To succeed in the game, you must design everything you need for the job, starting with a simple trigger for your gun. Along the way there are spacewalks, bad guys and booby traps.

Videogame mods are a natural for engaging a younger, technology-oriented population. They employ a “Discovery Learning” approach that can include any combination of questions and performance tasks,with backup to reference manuals and videos as needed. They also include non-game alternatives to accommodate learners who do not like games or do not want to play at a particular time.

Software Focus: Virtual U

From the website-

Virtual U is designed to foster better understanding of management practices in American colleges and universities.

It provides students, teachers, and parents the unique opportunity to step into the decision-making shoes of a university president. Players are responsible for establishing and monitoring all the major components of an institution, including everything from faculty salaries to campus parking.

As players move around the Virtual U campus, they gather information needed to make decisions such as decreasing faculty teaching time or increasing athletic scholarships. However, as in a real college or university, the complexity and potential effects of each decision must be carefully considered. And the Virtual U Board of Trustees is monitoring every move.

Virtual U models the attitudes and behaviors of the academic community in five major areas of higher education management:

• Spending and income decisions such as operating budget, new hires, incoming donations, and management of the endowment;
• Faculty, course, and student scheduling issues;
• Admissions standards, university prestige, and student enrollment;
• Student housing, classrooms, and all other facilities; and
• Performance indicators.

Virtual U players select an institution type and strive for continuous improvement by setting, monitoring, and modifying a variety of institutional parameters and policies. Players are challenged to manage and improve their institution of higher education through techniques such as resource allocation, minority enrollment policies, and policies for promoting faculty, among others. Players watch the results of their decisions unfold in real- time. A letter of review from Virtual U's board is sent every "year," informing players of their progress.

Check it out at http://www.virtual-u.org/index.asp

A Productive Approach to Video Games, Learning & School

A possibly interesting seminar is coming up in Melbourne titled, "A Productive Approach to Video Games, Learning & School", Saturday 19th August, 2006


James Paul Gee is the Tashia Morgridge Professor of Reading at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He received his PhD in linguistics in 1975 from Stanford University and has published widely in linguistics and education.

His book Sociolinguistics and Literacies (1990) was one of the founding documents in the formation of the “New Literacies Studies”, an interdisciplinary field devoted to studying language, learning, and literacy in an integrated way in the full range of their cognitive, social, and cultural contexts.

His book An Introduction to Discourse Analysis (1999) brings together his work on a methodology for studying communication in its cultural settings, an approach that has been widely influential over the last two decades.

His most recent books both deal with video games, language, and learning. What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy (2003) offers 36 reasons why good video games
produce better learning conditions than many of today’s schools. Situated Language and Learning (2004) places video games within an overall theory of learning and literacy and
shows how they can help us in thinking about the reform of schools.

His new book, Why Video Games Are Good for Your Soul, shows how good video games marry pleasure and learning and have the capacity to empower people.

The Macarthur Foundation is awarding a major grant to Gamelab and the Academic Co-Lab at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. The $1 million+ award will fund the research and development of Game Designer, innovative educational software that will teach junior high through university students about game design by letting them create and modify games. The Academic Co-Lab, headed by leading game scholar Jim Gee, will work closely with Gamelab throughout design and production

Entry free. rsvp: prue.madden@education.monash.edu.au

Other enquiries to : Tony Forster, 9796 8161, forster@ozonline.com.au

Website/Software Focus: Flood Ranger

Flood Ranger is an educational flood management game.

From the website-
Welcome to Flood Ranger, the game that tests your strategic skills.

You will have to anticipate the effects of climate change, meet the demands of different world models, and balance the needs of people and the environment by building flood defences, houses, businesses and infrastructure.

It is aimed at flood defence practitioners, local authorities, insurers, universities and schools.

The objective of the game is to defend urban areas and sites of special scientific interest while maintaining levels of housing and employment for an expanding population.

The game uses a virtual terrain loosely based on the east coast of England. The user can select between two world future scenarios in combination with four climate change scenarios taken from the UK Hadley Centre for Climate Change.

For more info-
http://www.discoverysoftware.co.uk/FloodRanger.htm

The help file gives some more detail on how things work-
http://www.discoverysoftware.co.uk/FRHelp/title.htm

Flight Simulator Follow Up

I've been contacted by a few people recommending a few more add ons and extras for Microsoft Flight Simulator....

Check out some of these-

Active Sky (Realistic weather add ons)
http://www.hifisim.com/

FSGenesis (Realistic terrain mesh)
http://portal.fsgenesis.net/

Flight1 (Downloadable aircraft) It's been suggested that these planes leave Microsoft's own for dead!!!
http://www.flight1.com/



Flight Manuals
Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge
http://www.faa.gov/pilots/training/handbook/

Airplane Flying Handbook
http://www.faa.gov/library/manuals/aircraft/airplane_handbook/

Instrument Flying Handbook
http://www.faa.gov/library/manuals/aviation/instrument_flying_handbook/



Australian Content
Vista Australis- Colours of the Great Southern Land
http://www.vistaoz.org/

Fly Away Simulation (Search for Australia)
http://flyawaysimulation.com

FlighSim.com (Search for Australia)
http://www.flightsim.com/cgi/kds/main/menuchoo.htm

AVSim
http://www.avsim.com/

Website Focus: Human resources skills: Learning through an interactive multimedia business simulation

Interesting discussion paper on the use of an interactive business simulator.

http://smi.curtin.edu.au/ijet/v2n1/klassen/index.html

Rationale For Educational Simulations

Food for thought from Robert E. Morgan

http://www.creativeteachingsite.com/edusims.html

The use of simulated activities in education is widely becoming recognized as an important tool in schools. Schools are finding that activities that promote learning tend to meet the following criteria:

1. They are "real" or virtually real. They simulate some activity so well that real learning takes place. In fact, the term "virtual reality" is now a widely recognized term and one whose implications are important to education. Howard Rheingold's 1991 book Virtual Reality deals with the technology that "...creates the completely convincing illusion that that one is immersed in a world that exists only inside a computer." Rheingold details his tour through countless situations in which virtual reality is being explored -- from NASA simulators to university experiments that explore the outer edges of simulating reality. Educators are not known for having access to state of the art educational technology, but the principles of virtual reality, applied appropriately, are within the grasp of most educators who are serious about the work they do. Using the principles of virtual reality doesn't have to involve the headpieces and the 3-D glasses described by Rheingold, but the concept of simulating reality far educational purposes is an important one.

2. They are "hands-on" so that students become participants, not just listeners or observers.

3. They are motivators. Student involvement in the activity is so great that interest in learning more about the activity or the subject, matter of the activity develops.

4. They are age appropriate. Since simulations are designed, they can take into consideration developmental age requirements.

5. They are inspirational. Student input is welcome and activities are designed to encourage students to enhance the activity through their own ideas.

6. They are developmentally valid. Simulations take into account the developmental level of the students.

7. They are empowering. Students take on responsible roles, find ways to succeed, and develop problem- solving tools as a result of the nativity.

The use of simulations puts the teacher into a new role -- a role that is the inevitable result of the evolution of the role of the teacher in education. Most teachers recognize that their role is no longer that of a presenter of information and that students are no longer sponges for facts.

Put More Fun Into Teaching & Learning: Ron Gross

Ron Gross wrote an interesting article which talks about the use of games and simulations in adult education.

Get the article at-
http://adulted.about.com/od/teachertoolkit/a/games.htm

When I have something new to teach, or to learn, my first thought is: How can I create a "structured experience" around mastering this knowledge or skill?

"Structured Experiences" are games and simulations which make adult learning more enjoyable, more relevant, and more powerful.

Just remember how involved you got in playing Monopoly as a kid. "Puleeeeeeeeze don't let me land on Boardwalk with two hotels...!" "How about trading my two railroads for that third green property you've got?" "You can't build on that - it's mortgaged!"

How readily you learned new skills of negotiation, of calculating advantages and disadvantages, of estimating probabilities ("Should I build now -- what are the chances that he'll land on me in his next turn...?").

You have probably had other experiences of learning through structured experiences, both in school and in your work-life.

You may have engaged in a mock UN in high school - or a mock court in Law School. If you studied Business, you probably played the legendary, "Game of Business" which hundreds of thousands of B-School students have gone through (but did you know there's a version for Marxists, titled "Class Struggle"?).

In adult life, you may have participated in "war games" in the military, or in simulated drills as part of Civil Defense readiness. Even when not motivated by threats, thousands of people take part in re-enactments of famous battles of the Civil or Revolutionary Wars, for fun-filled learning. "There's no way you can get a sense of what those battles were like, from a book," says Dick Sheffield, a "re-enactor" in Lexington, Kentucky.

All these structured experiences - from our childhood Monopoly games to a simulated CD drill -- exemplify the benefits and advantages of using games and simulations in adult learning.

Most important: you can concoct your own structured experiences to address your own learning needs - or those of your students if you're a teacher.

Here are the four principles to follow in creating your own learning games and simulations - for yourself or others.

1. INVOLVEMENT: Make your structured experiences participatory. Give everyone a role in which they can contribute throughout the game. Encourage them to use their creativity to enliven their part.

2. RELEVANCE. Reflect the real-life circumstances as much as you can, through references and details.

3. EXCITEMENT. Make your simulation exhilarating. Generate energy and commitment with whatever's appropriate, such as some simple costuming, costuming, music, placards, etc.

4. BONDING. Games provide a common experience from which you and your co-players can reflect on the challenges you've been through together. Debrief afterwards to share learnings.

Here's an example of how I used these four principles recently to create such a learning situation. As you read it, think about how you might use similar approaches to turning one of your upcoming learning or teaching experiences into such a game.

A group of meeting planners -- the folks who design those gigantic annual conventions for professionals in every field, from law to telecommunications -- needed to learn better ways to handle the challenges they face. They were from widely diverse groups, including the American College of Physicians, the Society of Petroleum Engineers, the Illinois Institute for Continuing Education, and the Cable TV and Marketing Society.

They invited me to give a session at their annual conference. They had in mind the usual thing: a lecture format with a hundred chairs pointed north, and a podium facing south. In the business, they call this a "sage on the stage" presentation.

But I asked myself: how might I turn this into a structured learning/teaching experience? How might I get the participants more active, and become a "guide at your side"

So I sat the attendees at round tables seating ten -- with a flip-chart adjacent to each table.

I announced that each group was a start-up firm in their industry - a brash new company that was determined to make its mark in the field.

To start them off, I asked them to name their firm, and to give it a catchy motto. Within six minutes, they'd concocted such monikers as, "Marathon Meeting Managers: We stay with you all the way to the finish line!"

Now, each firm got its first contract - to provide Speakers, Facilities, and Services for a major national meeting. I gave them 30 minutes to formulate their presentations.

My strategy here was to free up their thinking. We could have all sat around and talked about real problems which each of them were experiencing in their organizations. That would have had some value - but they could do that on their own. I wanted to jack them out of their specific situations ("My boss would never go for that!") By turning their common challenges into a shared experience, I provided a fresh playing field. That enabled them to be more creative, and to compare their solutions with those from other groups.

Mid-way through their work, I introduced a fresh turn in the game. "You have just gotten a call from Donald Trump's office. He's responding to your proposal that he keynote your conference- but he wants to know what advantages are in it for him, and he wants a call back so that he can make his decision, within six minutes. Prepare your script for that conversation!"

Through this simulation, I was easily able to "work in" 70% of the material I would have covered in a lecture - but with much more involvement and much more impact. (The other 30% I provided in hand-outs.)

"We really sharpened our thinking that morning," said Charles Bingaman afterwards. "Structuring the time together as a game got us involved, active, and imaginative. This is a great way to learn to perform in your field."

Additonal Resources for GameMaker

Mark Piper sent through the following link today to access more resources for the use of GameMaker in senior years at school- might be of interest....

http://www.groups.edna.edu.au/mod/forum/view.php?id=9653

Sim City 2000 Project

Check out http://kls.monroe.k12.fl.us/TECHTOYS05/sim_city.htm

It features lesson plans and grading cards for the use of Sim City in a school education environment....

From the website-
SIM City 2000 provides the basis for a unit in which students learn about the infrastructure of a small city. Students are charged with the responsibility of creating a city of at least 50,000 people. I throw in some other requirements to increase the difficulty, such as the mountains and water must be set at level two (on the editing bar), there must be a coastline, seaport, airport, highway, and a rail or subway. They must demonstrate obvious planning of their transportation system and city development. There must be green areas separating sections of the city.

The city Grading Sheet is based on the 2001 National Future City Competition grading criteria. Half the grade requires that students keep a journal entry of each day's progress on the 10 parameters. I don't remind them. The other 50% of the grade is accumulated by gaining 5 points for each grading criteria they meet on the grading sheet.

Most importantly, they must use "clean" power that actually exists. This limits them to Solar, Wind, or Hydroelectric sources. This provides the basis for the Power Point they must create.
The Power Point presentation incorporates internet research on the current (no pun intended!) technology of energy production. Topics are open to Energy Production in general, or specific topics such as the above clean sources, or attempts to make fossil fuels more efficient and less damaging to the environment. Emerging technologies and sources may be explored, such as Bio-mass Energy, Hydrogen fuel cells, Bio-fuels, and the latest in Fusion technology.

This leaves a lot of room for creativity and personal interest in the presentations and the resulting Power Points have been absolutely impressive.

Website/Software Focus: Food Force

I've only just downloaded this software today and had a quick play but it certainly looks interesting.

Food Force is an educational video game teaching users about hunger and humanitarium aid in third world countries.

In this game you play a number of missions including air reconnaisance, air drops, food & nutritional formulation and others.

To date there have been over 4 million players and there are huge world wide competitions to see who can get the highest scores, with prizes to win and so on.

I'll post up more when I've had a chance to have a proper play....

In the mean time, check out the links below-




For teachers, check out- http://www.food-force.com/index.php/teachers/

Check out the flyers-
Page 1 http://www.food-force.com/downloads/food-force-flier-front.pdf
Page 2 http://www.food-force.com/downloads/food-force-flier-back.pdf

Website/Software Focus: Game Maker

Got a linkto this site today and had a quick look- might be of interest....

http://www.gamemaker.nl/

From the website-
Have you ever wanted to be able to design computer games, but didn't want to spend countless hours learning how to become a programmer? Then you've come to the right place. Game Maker is a program that allows you to make exciting computer games, without the need to write a single line of code. Making games with Game Maker is a lot of fun. Using easy to learn drag-and-drop actions, you can create professional looking games within very little time.

You can make games with backgrounds, animated graphics, music and sound effects, and even 3d games! And when you've become more experienced, there is a built-in programming language, which gives you the full flexibility of creating games with Game Maker. What is best, is the fact that Game Maker can be used free of charge.

You can do anything you want with the games you produce, you can even sell them! Also, if you register your copy of Game Maker, you can unlock extra functions, which extend the capabilities of the program.

Game Maker comes preloaded, with a collection of freeware images and sounds to get you started; there are also a number of games to help you out.

Guidelines for the classification of films & computer games

Ever wanted to get an understanding of how the Office of Film and Literature come about their classifications?

Check out the guidelines at-
http://www.oflc.gov.au/resource.html?resource=62&filename=62.pdf

On line information specific to computer games is at-
http://www.oflc.gov.au/special.html?n=271&p=190

Emerging Ideas in Instructional Design; Games in e-Learning

What could possibly be an interesting and thought provoking breakfast workshop has been scheduled in Melbourne, titled, "Emerging Ideas in Instructional Design; Games in e-Learning".

Read on....

Games are quickly becoming an effective and fun part of today's e-learning world, promoting creative and original instructional design, and an interactive training environment for learners. Here at The Learning Group, we're really excited to be at the forefront of this new e-learning experience, and we would love to share some of the great ideas we've seen emerging recently. We’ll be discussing this evolving trend in e-learning and addressing some interesting points:

- How can games create an effective e-learning experience?
- Who is using this new trend?
- What is out there now?
- How could this work for us?

Many organisations have recently implemented a game based e-learning solution; we'll discuss their motivation for doing this, the advantages and disadvantages of adopting such an approach, and discuss the type of organisations we've seen it become successful in.

This seminar is a great opportunity for any training professional or e-learning enthusiast to learn about great new strategies in the world of instructional design and e-learning, and also make you aware of an exciting and fun new training opportunity for your organisation. It's also a fantastic starting point for those considering e-learning for the first time, but don't know where to start.

When:
Thursday, 3rd of August
7:45am for an 8:00am start.
Concludes at 9:30am.

Where:
Cliftons, Level 2
440 Collins Street
Melbourne VIC 3000

This seminar is completely free of charge, and includes a light breakfast and coffee. To register, please RSVP by Wednesday, the 26th July to Daniel on (02) 9269 8000 or email Daniel.Wright@learngroup.com.au

Stop the sickos: keep the ban on R-rated games

In response to some of the information from the report listed below (Gameplay 2005) an intersting response from the Sydney Morning Herald-

http://blogs.smh.com.au/entertainment/

Stop the sickos: keep the ban on R-rated games
"The Punisher puts a man's head under a drill press and lowers the drill into the screaming man's eyeball, killing him."

That's how the film and video game censor described a scene from The Punisher, a game that was last year "refused classification", meaning it could not be sold in Australia. But this may soon change.

OK, stomping gang members to death in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, blasting zombies in Half Life 2 and lobbing grenades at other players in Battlefield 2 is amusing for a level or two. But it all gets dull very quickly.

Violent computer games are becoming boring. We desperately need fewer guns and more creativity.

Yet the computer game industry believes the opposite. They believe more violence is the way to sell more games.

What else can you make of the industry's relentless push to obtain an R(18+) rating for computer games in Australia?

At last week's release of the Game Play Australia 2005 report John Watts, president of the Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia, said the association had been on a ``crusade'' to convince the relevant state and federal authorities it was time for R(18+) computer games.

The industry believes an R(18+) would legitimise computer games as a form of entertainment like film.

But look at the report. Gaming is already mainstream. The average age of gamers is 24 and 38 per cent are female.

Watts says 88 per cent of Australians support an R(18+) rating for computer games.
So what? Only 27 per cent of respondents knew there was no R(18+) rating for computer games.
When asked why they wanted an R-rating the top answers were ``to deal with high level violence'' (47 per cent) and ``to protect children'' (45 per cent).

The best way to reduce ``high-level violence'' and ``protect children'' is to rule out R-rated games so they can't be sold in Australia.

The push for an R(18+) rating for games is a waste of time and resources for the industry. The only result will be games that make the industry look like it is catering exclusively for teenage boys.

The industry should instead focus on making games that everyone wants to play. That's how to expand the industry.

Sony's Buzz! The Music Quiz and SingStar and Nintendo's Nintendogs game are good examples.

Computer games need to get more creative and interesting - not even more violent than they are now.



UPDATE:Since 2000 the Office of Film and Literature Classification has banned 11 computer games. This document details why four of the games were banned. Download file.

UPDATE 2:Details of other games that were banned in Australia. Half of the games here were knocked back because of violence. The other half because of nudity.

Gameplay 2005: An independant study on the thoughts & habits of Australians in relation to computer & video games

Check out this report from the Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia

Gameplay 2005: An independant study on the thoughts & habits of Australians in relation to computer & video games
http://www.ieaa.com.au/doc/_3.pdf

Warcraft III and Google Earth on a Table

Can Google Earth be used while playing Warcraft III?

Check out the video at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3258368851377796496&pr=goog-sl

Website Focus: Apple: Digital Tools for Digital Kids

Apple have produced a very interesting site with some fascinating food for thought about the way kids are learning today....

Read on at http://www.apple.com/au/education/digitalkids/

High Score Education- Games, not school, are teaching kids to think.

Very intersting article from Wired magazine
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.05/view.html?pg=1

The US spends almost $50 billion each year on education, so why aren't kids learning? Forty percent of students lack basic reading skills, and their academic performance is dismal compared with that of their foreign counterparts. In response to this crisis, schools are skilling-and-drilling their way "back to basics," moving toward mechanical instruction methods that rely on line-by-line scripting for teachers and endless multiple-choice testing. Consequently, kids aren't learning how to think anymore - they're learning how to memorize. This might be an ideal recipe for the future Babbitts of the world, but it won't produce the kind of agile, analytical minds that will lead the high tech global age. Fortunately, we've got Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Deus X for that.
After school, kids are devouring new information, concepts, and skills every day, and, like it or not, they're doing it controller in hand, plastered to the TV. The fact is, when kids play videogames they can experience a much more powerful form of learning than when they're in the classroom. Learning isn't about memorizing isolated facts. It's about connecting and manipulating them. Doubt it? Just ask anyone who's beaten Legend of Zelda or solved Morrowind.

The phenomenon of the videogame as an agent of mental training is largely unstudied; more often, games are denigrated for being violent or they're just plain ignored. They shouldn't be. Young gamers today aren't training to be gun-toting carjackers. They're learning how to learn. In Pikmin, children manage an army of plantlike aliens and strategize to solve problems. In Metal Gear Solid 2, players move stealthily through virtual environments and carry out intricate missions. Even in the notorious Vice City, players craft a persona, build a history, and shape a virtual world. In strategy games like WarCraft III and Age of Mythology, they learn to micromanage an array of elements while simultaneously balancing short- and long-term goals. That sounds like something for their r鳵m鳮

The secret of a videogame as a teaching machine isn't its immersive 3-D graphics, but its underlying architecture. Each level dances around the outer limits of the player's abilities, seeking at every point to be hard enough to be just doable. In cognitive science, this is referred to as the regime of competence principle, which results in a feeling of simultaneous pleasure and frustration - a sensation as familiar to gamers as sore thumbs. Cognitive scientist Andy diSessa has argued that the best instruction hovers at the boundary of a student's competence. Most schools, however, seek to avoid invoking feelings of both pleasure and frustration, blind to the fact that these emotions can be extremely useful when it comes to teaching kids.

Also, good videogames incorporate the principle of expertise. They tend to encourage players to achieve total mastery of one level, only to challenge and undo that mastery in the next, forcing kids to adapt and evolve. This carefully choreographed dialectic has been identified by learning theorists as the best way to achieve expertise in any field. This doesn't happen much in our routine-driven schools, where "good" students are often just good at "doing school."
How did videogames become such successful models of effective learning? Game coders aren't trained as cognitive scientists. It's a simple case of free-market economics: If a title doesn't teach players how to play it well, it won't sell well. Game companies don't rake in $6.9 billion a year by dumbing down the material - aficionados condemn short and easy games like Half Life: Blue Shift and Devil May Cry 2. Designers respond by making harder and more complex games that require mastery of sophisticated worlds and as many as 50 to 100 hours to complete. Schools, meanwhile, respond with more tests, more drills, and more rigidity. They're in the cognitive-science dark ages.

We don't often think about videogames as relevant to education reform, but maybe we should. Game designers don't often think of themselves as learning theorists. Maybe they should. Kids often say it doesn't feel like learning when they're gaming - they're much too focused on playing. If kids were to say that about a science lesson, our country's education problems would be solved.
________________________________________________________
James Paul Gee, a reading professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is the author of 'What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy'.

Website/Software Focus: Discovery Learning

http://www.discoverylearning.com/

Whilst I haven't undertaken delivery from this provider, it appears to be very interesting with a range of business simulations.

The simulations are located at http://www.discoverylearning.com/simulations/

They inlcude-
Awaka- Awaka explores assumptions and blind spots that individuals carry with them when initially encountering unfamiliar cultures.

Edgework- EdgeWork, set in the future, has participants assume managerial positions in two corporations that have very different organizational cultures, but are also partners in supplying an innovative technology to a specific industry.

OurTown- OurTown is a simulation set in a nonprofit agency that evokes participants' emotional response to unexpected changes in the workplace.

Paper Planes- Paper Planes, Inc., is an innovative business simulation that quickly reveals barriers to organizational success while providing insights into creative solutions and teamwork in business.

Paper Scrapers- Paper Scrapers is a fun, structured , small team experience that allows for the exploration of individual and team approaches to project development, design and implementation.

PressTime- PressTime, a computer-driven behavioral simulation, captures the fast-paced and diverse decisions that project managers and team members make daily.

The Acquisition- The Acquisition uses a real business case to promote group problem-solving, consensus decision-making and a better understanding of group dynamics.