The actual play time
For this video game assignment, I chose an educational computer game from PBS Kids. There is a series of games for older children–perhaps a middle school age–called the “odd squad”. I started playing a game called “pienado” (pies hurling at the audience like a tornado). https://pbskids.org/oddsquad/games/pienado/
There are lots of “odd squad” games for the older kids, but I started with pienado.
The game is narrated by young kids who look like they are dressed up for a secret agent mission. They are your guides who help you as you play along and save the school from being destroyed by the tornado of pies.
This particular game was a math game, teaching students about geometric shapes. In each stage of the game, you were given the silhouette of a larger shape (which represents a hole in the school’s protective force field). Your mission is to fill in the silhouette with the smaller shapes provided.
At times, it may be required for you to rotate, divide, or manipulate your manipulate in some way so that it fits in your silhouette. This is similar to reflecting a shape across the x-axis on a coordinate plane. It tests your visual and spatial knowledge in a subtle, yet meaningful way.
You must be careful! Work quickly before you get smothered with pies!
My Reaction
I felt that this game was quite user friendly.
The kids have quick and funny tutorials which succinctly explain why you must complete this task. As you play, the secret agent narrator kids tell you which shape you should grab or how to click the mouse to make a change to your shape. The narrators do not patronize the audience with any further instructions or corrections. They only give positive feedback after a level has been completed. The sound effects are also not so obnoxious.
I find this to be important because the audience does not want to be constantly interrupted with useless comments such as “hmmm maybe that’s not right…try again!” That just makes me want to exit the game. I would much rather get a quick, “Nice job, agent! On to your next mission!”
Most importantly, I like how the graphics are not super precise. In some games, I find myself getting frustrated when I know the correct answer, but it is hard to control the mouse in such a way. At first, I was trying to be very accurate with the placement of my shape into the silhouette to plug my force field very efficiently. However, I realized that you are only required to drop in the shape near it’s rightful spot. If you get the shape close enough to it’s wanted target, it snaps into place for you. This also makes the game go by faster so that you can easily fill the holes before you get smothered with pies.
According to the Mindshift text, this game would be classified as a puzzle game because it involves finding patterns and implementing rules over and over into play. This entire game consists of putting shapes in a box. It’s a more sophisticated version of that bucket with the shapes carved into the lid. I’m just sitting here looking at my shapes and trying to figure out how I can get this triangle to fit into the hole.
However, I did feel genuinely engaged in this game. I wanted to cut my square into triangles so that it would complete the shape and save the school from the flying pies. There were times where I had to think of a way to best fill the spaces required with the shapes provided. At times, I questioned the legitimacy of my bachelor’s degree.
Benefits of playing computer games
Video games and computer based games are wildly transforming the way the youth choose to pass the time. It has become so ingrained in our system that students have become influenced by them completely. Naturally, the teachers want to take this natural attraction to video games and implement them into a fun, safe, and productive learning environment. According to the textbook, “Across the country, teachers are already using gamification in their classrooms every day. They “gamify” learning by replacing grades with levels and merit badges; or, rather than delivering lectures and then testing
for retention, teachers create project-based units where completion, or the demonstration of mastery, is what allows the student to move on,” (8). This can be seen as a huge benefit to students who suffer from mental disabilities or low self-esteem. Rather than provoke a student’s school-phobia by overwhelming them with high-stakes exams and graded evaluations, let them play a game. It’s relaxing and enjoyable (or at least, even more so than a test!) Rather than getting caught up in the stress of studying to achieve an A, the student is more motivated to play the game to win. The student might just learn something in the process.
Likewise, this system could help students who are unable to come to school due to illness. Instead of missing school, they could play the game from the comfort of their own home on a personal device. They are still getting the same experience as their classmates, only now it is on a flexible schedule. One benefit of Google Classroom is having an online forum for uploading classroom documents and homework assignments for students. This way, students can easily turn in work or retrieve missing work while absent.
One of the biggest struggles that teachers face–especially today with all of the rigorous standards from the government–is teaching students to pass standardized exams. This is commonly known as “teaching to the test”. Rather than get the kids outside, or giving them real life scenarios, or at the very least letting them control their educational experience, teachers are shoving information down students’ throats without a second thought.
Will they need to know this beyond June? No. Who cares? They need to know it in April!
Naturally, teachers and administrators hesitate to implement gaming tools into the academic classroom because there will not be flying pies on a standardized test. However, we must counteract this mentality and think more positively.
In the Mindshift text, Gilbert says, “…it can be hard to integrate games into the curriculum when the focus is overwhelmingly on standards and state tests,” (31). This hesitancy towards online gaming during school hours makes sense because teachers infer that the computers are stealing their jobs. Why would you have a human doing a job when the computer can do just the same? Teachers are being evaluated like crazy, and they do not want to risk their jobs. Even if the game is highly engaging and entertaining for students, from an outsider’s point of view, the students are goofing around on the computer all day. For the small percentage of teachers who do not know how to use technology, this is daunting because they are now being expected to teach someone how to do something that they themselves cannot do.
Even though there are clear benefits to incorporating computer games into the classroom, there are some down sides as well. Of course, the educational experience cannot fully rely on games. But it can supplement the curriculum in a healthy way to balance fun and academics at school.
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