Designing Flash Games for Middle School Education

1
Designing Flash Games for Middle School Education

• Mark Smearcheck
• Ohio University
• Friday May 23, 2008

2
STEAM Project

• Science and Technology Enrichment for Appalachian
  Middle-Schoolers

• Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF)
• Engineering graduate fellows teaching science in
  local schools
• Engineering graduate fellows developing
  educational videogames
• Research effectiveness of educational videogames
  on learning
• Assist teachers in integration of technology
  into classroom activities

3
STEAM Graduate Fellows

• Goal of developing 4 educational games per year
• Spend 10 hours a week in science classroom
• Work with teachers to create tests used to assess
  the effectiveness of educational games
• Enrich lessons by providing real world examples
  of classroom science topics

4
STEAM Graduate Fellows

• Report classroom experience to STEAM project and
  NSF
• Improve communication and presentation skills
• Collaborate with other fellows and teachers to
  improve educational game design

5
Participating Schools

• 6 Participating Schools
• Located in southeast Ohio
• Most have similar academic performance, budget,
  and student demographic
• Science teachers interested in incorporating
  more technology into classrooms

6
Participating School Profile
7
Participating School Profile
State requirement is 75
8
Technology And Educational Games in the Schools
9
New Uses for Technology

• Power Point
• Introduce new topics
• Class notes
• Google Earth
• Explore geographic features
• Wikipedia
• Used by teacher to gather background info
• Used by students for further investigation

10
New Uses for Technology

• Online Science Games and Demos
• YouTube
• Teacher Webpage
• Made by teacher
• Resource for students
• Homework, school news, links
• Podcasts
• STEAM Games

11
Teacher Webpage
12
Flash Games
13
Flash

• Product of Adobe, formerly Macromedia
• Multimedia interactive 2D movies
• Commonly used for animation, webpage components,
  advertising, games, and streaming video
• Flash movies played in web browser
• Action Script scripting language similar to
  JavaScript
• Ease of use with HTML, XML, and Java
• Small file sizes
• Flash supplements include physics engines (Fisix
  and Flade) and advanced web applications
  development (Adobe Flex)

14
Why Flash?

• Cross platform
• Low system requirements
• Modules can be developed rapidly
• Students can play at home over the web

15
Furry Family
Description
Ohio Academic Content Standard
Learn Punnett Squares, dominant and recessive
genes, and traits for survival by creating a
family of bunnies.
Grade 8 - Life Sciences Benchmark B Indicator
2 Recognize that in sexual reproduction traits
are produced which may increase or decrease an
organisms chances for survival.
16
ForceIt!
Description
Ohio Academic Content Standard
Covers Newtons Laws of motion by allowing a
player to guide a ball though a dangerous maze by
placing fans at correct locations.
Grade 8 - Physical Sciences Benchmark B
Indicator 3 Explain that an unbalanced force
acting on an object changes that objects speed
and/or direction.
17
Velocity Park
Description
Ohio Academic Content Standard
Learn and practice velocity calculations as
players swing for the fence in this homerun derby
game.
Grade 8 - Physical Sciences Benchmark B
Indicator 2 - Explain that motion describes the
change in the position of an object
(characterized by a speed and direction) as time
changes.
18
Water Cycle Travels
Description
Ohio Academic Content Standard
Travel though the water cycle via an interactive
maze learning about each step along the way.
Grade 7 Earth and Space Sciences Benchmark C
Indicator 3 Describe the water cycle and
explain the transfer of energy between the
atmosphere and hydrosphere.
19
Ground Shakers
Description
Ohio Academic Content Standard
Discover fault lines and regions geographically
prone to earthquakes by constructing homes that
will stand up to the most severe disaster.
Grade 8 Earth and Space Sciences Benchmark E
Indicator 10 - Explain that most major
geological events (e.g., earthquakes, volcanic
eruptions, hot spots and mountain building)
result from plate motion.
20
Robo Rescue
Description
Ohio Academic Content Standard
Grade 8 - Science and Technology Benchmark B
Indicator 3 Design and build a product or
create a solution to a problem given more than
two constraints (e.g., limits of cost and time
for design and production, supply of materials
and environmental factors.
Rescue victims from dangerous buildings with a
customized robot built through constraint based
design. Answer questions about various topics to
navigate through obstacles.
21
Star Life
Description
Ohio Academic Content Standard
Grade 8 -Earth and Space Sciences - Benchmark B -
Indicator 7 - Examine the life cycle of a star
and predict the next likely stage of a star.
Guide a star through its life cycle by completing
various mini-games along the way. Play though
multiple life cycle paths.
22
Drift
Description
Ohio Academic Content Standard
Grade 8 -Earth and Space Sciences - Benchmark E -
Indicator 9 - Describe the interior structure of
Earth and Earth's crust as divided into tectonic
plates riding on top of the slow moving currents
of magma in the mantle.
Reassemble the continents to undo the phenomena
of continental drift in this enjoyable puzzle
game.
23
Impact
Description
Ohio Academic Content Standard
Protect Earth from bombardment by comets,
asteroids, meteoroids, meteors, and meteorites
with your cannon. Use space tools as power ups to
help mount a defense.
Grade 8 Earth and Space Sciences Benchmark A
Indicator 4 - Describe the effect that
asteroids or meteoroids have when moving through
space and sometimes entering planetary
atmospheres (e.g., meteor-"shooting star" and
meteorite).
24
Flash City
Description
Ohio Academic Content Standard
Build cities to massive sizes, keeping in mind
the amount of energy the buildings will consume.
Citizens will not be happy if there are not
enough power plants to provide sufficient
electricity.
Grade 6 - Science and Technology Benchmark B
Indicator 5 Design and build a product or
create a solution to a problem given one
constraint (e.g., limits of cost and time for
design and production, supply of materials and
environmental factors.
25
Where in the Rock Cycle
Description
Ohio Academic Content Standard
Find the mischievous Taterman somewhere in the
rock cycle by completing each stage of the cycle.
Answer relevant questions to find keys needed to
complete the level. Be careful of the dangerous
enemies also hunting for Taterman.
Grade 6 Earth and Space Sciences Benchmark D
Indicator 1 Describe the rock cycle and
explain that there are sedimentary, igneous and
metamorphic rocks that have distinct properties
(e.g., color, texture) and are formed in
different ways.
26
Metric Mover
Description
Ohio Academic Content Standard
Practice metric conversions of numerous units
with the help of in-game assistance.
N/A Used for review
27
Issues Address In Game Development
28
Hardware Issues

• PC v. Mac
• Capability of computers
• Video cards
• RAM and processor
• Bandwidth
• Screen size (800x600)
• Number of computers in lab/classroom
• Working in groups

29
School Policy

• Schools IT Coordinator
• Installation of Flash Player plug-in
• Multiplayer games may require blocked network
  traffic
• Acceptable Use Policy
• Changes to computer administration settings

30
Menus

• Ease of use
• Force students to read through menus with time
  delays
• Color and Font
• Icons to represent actions
• Familiarity to traditional games

31
Instructions and Text

• Force students to read text and instructions
• Few instructions per screen
• Use graphical representations
• Audio
• Help menus throughout the game
• Explain vocabulary words
• Ask player questions about instructions to make
  sure they are read

32
Sound

• More immersive experience
• Headphones?
• Reading assistance
• Special need students
• Bind sounds to specific keys
• Background music - distraction?
• Too much sound in school computer labs?
• Rewarding sounds v. penalty sounds

33
Time and Difficulty

• Class periods as short as 40 minutes
• Game should take half of period to complete
• Need time to get students going
• Time to start over if they are unsuccessful on
  first try
• Lose interest if too short
• Need a good balance of difficulty (varying
  levels)
• Must take different student ability into account

34
Knowledge Inference

• Students gain knowledge by observing what is
  going on in the game, not by drill and practice
  techniques such as answering multiple choice
  questions
• Questions should be a way to move on in the
  game not the focus

35
Scoring and Enjoyment

• Include elements that students are familiar with
  into games
• Difficult to invent a new type of game base on
  existing genre
• Online scoring system database
• Students enjoy competing with themselves and
  others
• Contest for high score
• Competition leads to playing game outside of
  classroom

36
Assessment

• Assess effectiveness of learning through gaming
• Pre and post testing
• Official testing through control groups
• Results used for game improvements.
• Report results to National Science Foundation.

37
Testing
Type 1 Questions selected randomly from set Pre
and post tests given after topic has been
introduced Before and after scores compared
Type 2 Pre and post tests given before topic has
been introduced Questions selected randomly from
set Control groups only take the
post-test Experiment groups take the pre-test,
play the game, and then take the post
test Before and after scores compared
38
Student Feedback

• Enjoy competing with classmates
• 30 minutes is an appropriate time to play
• Would like to play at home
• Games that require intuition more than question
  asking are more fun

39
How Students Changed Games

• Less text directions
• Make more repayable
• Difficulty levels
• Track scores online
• Discussed ideas for game design.
• Student help

40
Results Furry Family
4.84
41
Looking Towards the Future

• Multiplayer Games
• Motion Sensitive Control
• Online student assessment and surveys
• Flash Physics Engine

42
Further Information

• Using these games in your classrooms
• Visit our website at http//steam.cs.ohiou.edu
• To contact us or provide feedback email us at
  VITALLAB_at_gmail.com

43
Questions?