STATES GIVE STAMP OF APPROVAL TO GAME CURRICULUM
A growing number of schools across the country offer video game design courses, which provide their students with instruction in traditional academic subjects as well as career preparation. Now, as more teachers and school administrators recognize the value of these courses, state education officials are beginning to standardize and approve game design curriculum for statewide use.
Earlier this year, the Texas State Board of Education approved curriculum standards for five new high school technology courses, including Game Programming and Design. The new standards require students to gain an understanding of the fundamentals of game development by creating their own computer game. Throughout the course, students will research the various dramatic elements of games; create a game design concept document and storyboard; write game rules and instructions; and develop game software. Students must also test their games and incorporate feedback from their classmates and teachers. In addition to designing their game, students must research the roles of developers, publishers and marketers within the game industry, and study the intellectual property and copyright laws related to technology use.
In June, the North Carolina State Board of Education approved Game Art and Design and Advanced Game Art and Design courses. The beginner course introduces students to principles of game design and emphasizes areas such as game art, history, ethics, plot development, 2D visual theory and interactive play technologies. The advanced course focuses on the use of audio and visual effects, animation techniques, 3D visual theory and legal issues, and requires students to compile a game portfolio. Both courses encourage schools to offer students mentorship, service learning and job shadowing opportunities to reinforce skills learned.
Bob Gantt, director of career and technical education for North Carolina’s Guilford County School District, which already offers both game design courses, applauded the move. “This has been a good thing for our students and a good thing for Guilford County,” Gantt told Converge. “And it’s going to be a great thing for the state of North Carolina.”
Both the Texas and North Carolina standards go into effect for the 2012-2013 school year.
These and similar courses in states across the country offer students an engaging way to gain knowledge of subjects such as math, science, technology and writing while also starting them on the path toward a promising and lucrative career in the video game industry. State approval of video game design curriculum will further encourage school districts to offer these courses, providing more students with an opportunity to learn the skills necessary to succeed in this growing field.
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STUDY SHOWS VIDEO GAMES CAN EXERCISE YOUR MIND
Video games can give your brain a real workout, according to researchers at the University of Michigan. A recent study, authored by Susanne M. Jaeggi, a Michigan postdoctoral fellow, found video puzzle games that exercise children’s working memories can enhance their abstract reasoning and problem-solving skills. The results, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, add to the accumulating body of evidence that game play can improve cognitive performance and have long-term benefits on educational and occupational success.
Jaeggi’s study tested the effects of video games on the working memory – which involves mentally retaining information while you solve a problem – of 62 elementary and middle school children. Thirty-two participants trained for 15 minutes, five times a week for one month with a video puzzle game that engaged working memory by testing data and spatial retention. The game flashed a series of graphics on a computer screen and instructed participants to later recall where the images originally appeared. Researchers tested the other 30 participants on vocabulary and general knowledge using a game that did not engage working memory.
At the end of the study, researchers found that the puzzle video game had the greatest impact on cognitive performance. Participants who trained using this game demonstrated continual improvement on memory tasks, as well as evidence of enhanced skill sets that are crucial for acquiring new knowledge and thinking critically. These developments persisted three months after game play, revealing that a good video game workout can go a long way.
With such evidence of the benefits that game-based learning can have on cognitive performance, it is clear that video games have many applications beyond entertainment. The University of Michigan team is now developing similar software for implementation in schools, which will add to the growing number of video game resources in classrooms around the country. |
BALANCING THE BUDGET: GAME LETS AMERICAN PUBLIC DECIDE
So you think you can balance the national budget? Well now, virtually, you can.
 Last month, American Public Media, in cooperation with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, released an updated version of their popular Internet game Budget Hero. The new version, Budget Hero 2.0, brings today’s budget debate to gamers’ computer screens, empowering players to make the difficult choices necessary to bring our nation’s fiscal house in order.
While the budget battle rages on Capitol Hill, Budget Hero 2.0 allows players to manipulate the federal budget themselves, implementing major policy initiatives such as cutting foreign aid, eliminating tax cuts, expanding health insurance coverage and reducing entitlements. Ultimately, the game’s main objective focuses on keeping the government from going broke, while also making necessary investments in infrastructure, defense, health and education.
Most importantly, the game educates players on the complex issues surrounding the current budget debate and provides the factual – not politically spun – consequences of each policy initiative. Based on calculations from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the player experiences both the positive and negative consequences of each budget decision for the American people and our nation at large.
As former California congresswoman and current Director of the Woodrow Wilson Center Jane Harman states, "Budget Hero provides facts - not spin or ideological talking points - such as exactly how much we spend on foreign assistance, the military budget, health care and on entitlements, and what difference it would make to cut or eliminate them, or to increase them. At a time when the congressional conversation about the budget has all but broken down, we are here...to provide a teaching tool to the American people...That way, the American public can become the heroes we need."
Since its inception in 2008, the original version of Budget Hero has been played more than 830,000 times. Its creators hope to place the new version in schools and universities by fall 2011.
Budget Hero 2.0 underscores the critical role that video games can play in expanding and enhancing the general public’s understanding of politics and current events. The game also demonstrates how video games can function as a powerful education tool, empowering individuals and encouraging them to explore today’s policy challenges in innovative and fun ways.
Budget Hero 2.0 is free to play and available at http://www.budgethero.org. |
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Quote of the Month
"If Beethoven were alive today, he’d be a video game composer."
— Tommy Tallarico, video game composer and co-creator of the Video Games Live concert series, on the musical artistry of video games
Did You Know?
Last week, The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City hosted a special evening of interactive game play with gamer magazine Kill Screen. The museum invited guests to play a selection of games in a variety of spaces throughout the museum. The event was part of MoMA’s “Talk to Me” exhibit, which explores how people communicate and interact with objects and devices such as video games, websites and computers.
Statistic of the Month
U.S. consumers spent approximately $5.9 billion on video games, hardware and accessories during the first three months of 2011, according to a July report from The NPD Group.
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