Candice Musso

School
Job Title, Location

Science and Gateway to Technology Teacher Pleasant View Middle School Pueblo, CO

How will I introduce Scalable Game Design in my school?
I will... use Scalable Game Design with 8th grade students who are enrolled in an elective game design course. This class is intended to enhance STEM classes that are already being taught at PV. I will have approximately 17 weeks to implement the project but our school district runs on a 4 day/week schedule. During 50 minute class periods I plan to teach scalable game design in the following way:

Week 1 Collaboration with the art teacher on graphic art design and introduction to Agent Sheets

Week 2-4 Creation, debugging, and submission to the Arcade of the Frogger game

Week 3-5 Creation, debugging, and submission to the Arcade of Pacman

Week 6-8 Creation, debugging, and submission to the Arcade of Space Invaders

Week 9-12 Introduction to the use of game design as a way to produce science simulations and creation by students of simple science simulations

Week 13 -17 Agent Cubes and student created games

Project Journal
Day 1, Monday:

First day of class was very interesting. It brought back memories of last year and how totally overwhelmed at times I was. It was nice to be able to help others this year. I'm very anxious to see how people are using this in their classroom and gain ideas on how to use Agentsheets in the normal classroom. I am excited to see more STEM simulations.

Day 2, Tuesday: I thought I'd share some ideas for classroom management. Run about 5 copies of the tutorials and put them in different colored folders to identify the various games. When a student is absent you can give them a tutorial they can use to catch up. Students will return to these tutorials as they create different games to recheck programming they want to put into their games. Ideas I gained from teachers last year were to have kids write on the board at the start of class what problems they are encountering. We then discuss the problems as a group and see if their peers have answers for them or can help them. I also showcase one student's game at the start of class each day. Students are usually very anxious for others to see their games and it gives other students a chance to see projects of kids they may not normally associate with. I also allow students to help each other but the rule is they can't move someone else's mouse. This makes students help other students think out the process and not just do it for them.

Day 3, Wednesday: Troubleshooting session was very beneficial. The debugging samples really gave participants hands on experience with problems they will see in student games. Thanks for putting the Jeopardy Game on the Wiki.

Jeopardy Video Clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfebpLfAt8g collision, transport, hill climbing, seeking

Contact Information

 * [mailto:name@youremail.com Email]

cmusso@district70.org