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Blog, Math Games

Remedial Algebra Game

I often have trouble thinking of meaningful games to play in my remedial algebra class. These are the students who are most disengaged with traditional teaching, but they are often also the hardest to play games with … the same things that made them not-so great students, make them not-so great at listening to the rules of a game, or at playing it correctly without supervision.

But last class they had to do some tough solving of equations with fractions, and then today there was a quiz at the end of class… they looked so bored, and so unengaged. I had to try to think of something out of the ordinary to do to lift their spirits a bit.

We were doing the intro to translating word problems into algebra, and instead of putting up a table of all the operations and “key words,” I made it into a game.

I put up “addition” and in groups, they had to think of as many words as they could that tell you in a word problem that there is going to be addition. They got 1 point for everything they thought of that I said yes to and *two* points if they thought of one no other group had. Then we did subtraction, then we did multiplication, then division. I played against the class for multiplication, convinced that none of them would think of  “product” and”double” and “triple,” but I was beat out my two of the groups who thought of those and more.

Then we did the usual “Three more than twice a number is 13” and they had to translate that, and they were much more into it!

At the end of class, when when they had to take the quiz on solving, they did much better than usual. I like to think that being in a good frame of mind helped.

 

Blog, What We're Reading Now

Oh, the Things You Can Do (with Videogames)

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I’ve just finished reading How to Do Things with Videogames by Ian Bogost, and I can heartily recommend it to anyone interested in games-based learning or game studies more broadly. Bogost is a prominent games scholar from the Georgia Institute of Technology and founder of the game design company Persuasive Games. I’ve read many of his articles and shorter pieces, though I’ll admit that I may be the only Games Network member who hasn’t yet read Persuasive Games: The Expressive Power of Videogames. While a seminal text, it’s quite lengthy, and I haven’t yet found the time to devote to reading it thoroughly. At just over 150 pages, How to Do Things With Videogames is a faster read and a great introduction to Bogost’s thinking on games.

Bogost examines videogames as a type of media and the many, varied ways that videogames have been, are, and could be used and integrated into our lives. He calls this approach “media microecology,” and aims

to reveal a small portion of the many uses of videogames, and how together they make the medium broader, richer, and more relevant. I take for granted that understanding games as a medium of leisure or productivity alone is insufficient. Instead, I suggest we imagine the videogame as a medium with valid uses across the spectrum, from art to tools and everything in between.

The book consists of of 20 short essays in which Bogost examines individual themes that videogames can address or incorporate. Some of the essay themes will be familiar to anyone with at least a passing interest in videogames, like exercise, promotion, and branding. Other themes may be of particular relevance to Games Network members as they seem to fit naturally with games-based learning, like empathy, drill, and work. And then there are themes that speak to aspects of videogames that are perhaps less obvious: disinterest, pranks, snapshots. Each essay includes multiple examples of games that address the theme, some more successfully and some less, and invites the reader to consider how these themes might be addressed in the future.

To take one example, how are videogames used for promotion or advertising? Some corporations have created entire games to promote a product or brand, while others have embedded advertising in the form of billboards or product placement within videogames. But why should we care about promotion and advertising in videogames? Considering the use of promotion and advertising in videogames can add to the critical conversation about their roles in other media: TV, movies, magazines, billboards, etc.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading How To Do Things with Videogames. As I read the book I found myself wondering whether it might be a useful brainstorming exercise to think on ways that each of the themes could be employed in an educational context. I also found the examples and discussion in each essay to be great inspiration for thinking about ways to incorporate games into my instruction — perfect timing, with the new semester right around the corner.

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The Best of Raph Koster’s Web Site

If you’re interested in game design, you should know Raph Koster. Full stop.

Koster made his reputation working on Ultima Online and augmented it through his work on Star Wars Galaxies (where he worked as Chief Creative Officer). To my mind, though, some of his greatest contributions come via his writing on games and game theory. His deceptively simple A Theory of Fun remains, IMO, one of the best ways to introduce game design to neophytes. But on his personal web site, he has written over a quarter-million words, most of it devoted to elucidating some large or small idea about game design. It’s accessible to non-specialists, well-written (he double-majored in Creative Writing and Spanish, the second of which must have taught him excellent grammar!) , and smart without being precious. Most importantly, it’s content-rich. I could imagine using his blog to supply many readings for a graduate class on game design.

Koster’s done would-be game designers a service by selecting some of his best posts on game theory and design and collecting them under a single heading, which you can access by clicking the link below:

http://www.raphkoster.com/2012/03/15/the-best-articles/