4 ways schools use video game design to spark interest in computer science

Districts can hook students with existing enthusiasm, helping them build technical and soft skills while also broadening STEM diversity.

GoldenCasinoNews

By Lauren Barack

Dec. 9, 2020

In the Lewisville Independent School District in Texas, video game design and programming courses typically get 200 students a year to sign up — but only about 150 can enroll. That interest, and the subsequent waiting list, is a sign of how eager students are for these courses that Technology Exploration and Career Center East Director Adrian Moreno, along with teachers Billy Carter and Kevin O’Gorman, shepherd in the district.

While most of these students may never have designed or coded a video game before, nearly all have held a controller or navigated a game, as 90% of children ages 13 to 17 play video games on a computer, game console or cellphone, according to the Pew Research Center.

That fact isn’t lost on the teachers at Lewisville ISD.

“In the 1960s, everyone wanted to be a filmmaker. In the 1970s, they wanted to study broadcasting, and video gaming is the current hot one,” O’Gorman told Education Dive. “Today, all the kids have grown up with the internet, wireless devices and streaming video. Here, they get their finger on how to create that world and want to make [games] or mess around with them.”

For districts looking to build more science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) connections into curriculum, game design and programming can serve as an immediate gateway by tapping into students’ interests, strengthening their connections to what they’re learning, and even build additional skills to help them in school as well as their professional life.

Students build foundational technical skills

In Lewisville ISD, students who get a spot in one of the classes work on top-of-the-line Macs and Alienware PCs — computers that professional game developers use. Classes also mirror, in some ways, how professional game companies work, too. For example, the students are expected to place some of their finished games into the hands of reviewers to get feedback on what works, and what doesn’t.

In Lewisville, reviewers come in a pint-sized form — the district’s kindergarteners.https://www.youtube.com/embed//hzkNqn4Zzh8

Students are tasked every year with designing an edutainment game, delivering a lesson in an entertaining way. They can choose the subject and the lesson they want to deliver, but when the kindergarteners get their hands on the games, they’re not just playing for fun, they’re giving feedback, said Carter. That way they can tell the high school students whether the games are too hard or too easy — and if they’ve actually learned something.

“After the kindergarteners leave, we sit and discuss their feedback,” said Carter. “As for the kindergarteners, the principals says the students look forward to it every year.”

Seeding STEM skills into elementary grades

While Lewisville ISD hands the role of video game reviewers over to its kindergarteners, the classes are for high school students. But video game design and programming can be taught to very young students, as well — a push staffers at New York Hall of Science are making, looking at how to engage elementary school students in building, creating and writing video games.

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The science museum, based in Queens, New York, holds summer classes, trains teachers and runs student workshops at schools. Typically, they’ve worked with middle and high school students, but are now “trying to engage younger audiences in these concepts,” said Anthony Negron, NYSCI’s manager of digital programming. The organization shifted to online during the pandemic, doing fewer programs.

Classes for younger students start with Scratch, a simple drag-and-drop programming language developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab. The first project with Scratch is to typically build a maze challenge, said Negron, which not only helps them learn the programming language, but gives them a project or goal rather than a set of rote lessons to complete. That proves to be more engaging, with a wide variety of projects produced in the end.

“We’ve seen kids use Scratch to build out the narrative of a story they’re reading,” he said. “And we’ve seen them use Scratch to build out games to address a community issue.”

Soft skills aren’t omitted

While the teachers in Lewisville are aware not every student will go on to be a video game designer or programmer, they believe the skills they learn can help them succeed in any work environment. These include soft skills like knowing how to write a strong resume or build a presentation, abilities employers state they want to see in young job candidates.

“We have business partners, and we’ve asked them if we are teaching students the right curriculum,” said Carter. “And one of the things they talked about was how important these soft skills were.”

Sharon Lambert, a teacher at Florida’s Dunnellon High School, also helps her game design and programming students develop soft skills. After piloting the courses several years back with free resources from the web, Lambert has seen Marion County Public Schools expand the program to where students can now take multiple courses and learn programming languages including Python, Unity and C-Sharp, in addition to other digital tools including Blender.

“I’m making sure that kids know there’s a lot more to game design than just playing a game,” she said. “And they may not realize that.”

While she wants students to master these professional tools, she also wants them to leave with soft skills so they’re not just fluent in how to code a game, but how to navigate a professional work environment.

“Games and programs are not built by one individual usually,” she said. “It takes a team, and learning how to work on a team is an important skill that students learn. From … communication, time management, integrity, organizational skills and others, soft skills are important to them so they can be able to compete and function successfully in the job market.”

Gateways to broadening computer science diversity

Video games not only tap into students’ interests, they can also help bridge excitement for computer science classes. Yet while most teens have played a video game, most high schools in the nation don’t have computer science in their curricula, said Jake Baskin, executive director of the Computer Science Teachers Association in Chicago, Illinois.

But for those schools looking to use video game design and programming as a gateway to new CS courses, Baskin said they should be clear about what the courses will entail — both to students who want to sign up, and to the educators about what they want to convey.

“It’s important that video game development does not mean free range to play video games as much as you want,” he said. “When video game development is taught in a way that includes vigorous [computer science] education, that’s a wonderful way to ensure students engage in high-quality content.”

Baskin also believes game design and programming courses can give schools and districts an opportunity to think intentionally about equity and inclusion, ensuring they’re welcoming all students, as women and students of colors are historically “dramatically underrepresented in CS courses,” he said.

And where districts have been “thoughtful from the start,” Baskin said, there’s been increased engagement in CS courses and also increases in young women taking AP exams in computer science, as well.

“I think there are opportunities to integrate [computer science] in almost any curricula,” he said. “And for principals who say they don’t have funding, I would ask them to think creatively where they have resources, and where they can be integrated.”

AI Applications In Education

Forbes

Ron Schmelzer 

 

AI becoming an increasing part of education industry

PIXABAY

As artificial intelligence becomes an increasing part of our daily lives, it’s no wonder that educational institutions are racing to catch up with the need to develop more talent to keep the engine of AI development running. However, not only is education being transformed as far as science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) curricula, but the education industry as a whole is being transformed by AI. Increasingly, educational institutions from elementary to higher education as well as adult and professional learning are being transformed by intelligent systems that are helping humans learn better and achieve their learning objectives. One of the greatest challenges with regards to education is that people learn differently and at different rates. Students go through the education system with differing levels of learning ability and aptitude. Some are more adept at “left brain” thinking with skills for analytical thought, while others are more skilled at “right brain” thinking with creative, literary, and communicative ability. Others are challenged in different ways with physical and mental disabilities, or skill sets that differ from one region of the world to another, facing challenges in re-learning new languages and alphabets.

AI-Enabled Hyperpersonalization

AI systems are being used to tailor and personalize learning for each individual student
. Through the power of machine learning based hyperpersonalization, AI systems are being used to develop a custom learning profile of each student and customize the training materials for each student based on their ability, preferred mode of learning, and experience. It is expected that by

2024 upwards of 47% of learning management tools will be enabled by AI capabilities
. Rather than requiring teachers to create a single curriculum for all students, educators will have augmented intelligence assistance that provides a wide range of materials leveraging the same core curriculum, but cater to the specific needs of each student. These

AI-enabled e-Learning tools will reach over $6 Billion in market size by 2024

Hyperpersonalized and on demand digital content is also created with the help of AI and machine learning which is changing the way things are done in education. Big textbooks providers now have their information broken down or condensed into smaller study guides, chapter summaries, flashcards, as well as short smart notes for better reading and understanding. Learning is therefore getting paperless with time and soon there will be less or no use of hard copy textbooks for learning. AI systems also have an online interactive interface which aids in feedback from the students to their professors for follow up purposes in areas where they might be struggling or have not yet fully grasped.  In addition to customized materials, AI systems are being used to augment tutoring with personal, conversational education assistants. These autonomous conversational agents can answer questions from students, provide assistance with learning or assignment tasks, and reinforce concepts with additional materials that can help reinforce the curriculum. These intelligent assistants are also enhancing adaptive learning features so that each of the students can learn at their own pace or time frames.

In addition, educators are making increased use of voice assistants in the classroom environment. Voice assistants such as Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Apple Siri, and Microsoft Cortana are giving students a chance to interact with educational material without the interaction of the teacher. These devices can be used at home or similar non-educational environment to provide conversational interaction with teaching material and additional educational assistance. In the higher education environment, universities and colleges are giving students voice assistants instead of the traditionally printed student handbooks or hard-to-navigate websites for help with a number of campus-related informational needs.
Arizona State University gives many of its incoming college freshmen an Amazon Alexa
as a way to give them much more timely and focused information about their campus needs. These voice assistants can help answer common questions about campus needs as well as be customized for each student’s particular schedule and courses. This greatly reduces the need for internal support and decreases the cost of wasteful college handbook printing that can quickly get out-of-date. The use of voice assistant systems is very much exciting and interesting to most students and is expected to gain broader adoption in the coming years.

Assisting educators with organizational tasks

In addition to education-oriented duties, teachers are also faced with having to manage the classroom environment and handle various organizational tasks. Educators are often required to handle many non-teaching responsibilities such as essay evaluation, grading of exams, filing necessary paperwork, HR and personnel related issues, ordering and managing classroom materials, booking and managing field trips, responding to parents, assisting with conversation and second-language related issues, dealing with sick or otherwise absent students, and otherwise facilitating the learning environment. Educators often spend up to 50% of their time on non-teaching tasks. AI systems are particularly helpful at managing these back office and task related activities. These AI systems can assist with grading activities and provide personalized responses to students. They can also handle routine and repetitive paperwork, deal with logistics related matters, and other personnel issues. AI systems can even provide a first-line interaction with parents and guardians and give access to resources or provide feedback as needed for routine matters giving teachers more time to focus on things that require a personal touch with the students.
Education administrators are also reaping the benefits of AI
with administrative tasks by using intelligent assistants to help with a range of administrative needs including budgeting, student applications and enrollment, course management, educator HR related issues, purchasing and procurement activities, expense management, and facilities management. Using intelligent AI-powered systems can greatly improve the efficiency of many educational institutions, lower their operating costs, give them greater visibility into income and expenses, and improve the overall responsiveness of the educational institutions. On the higher education side, college admissions officials are looking at using AI systems to improve the fairness and quality of the admissions process. AI systems that are trained in a way that eliminates much of the human bias are starting to be used to provide a credible and fair admission using a given criteria when compared to humans. Recent college admissions scandals have increased oversight and governance on admissions processes, and the use of machine learning systems to provide a more systematic way of handling admissions is proving to be fruitful. In the not too distant future, you can expect that AI and machine learning will be a core part of all educational experiences. AI is starting to show its benefits and application to a wide range of educational needs, and the hope is that it will greatly improve overall learning outcomes for all.

The Two Codes Your Kids Need to Know

The New York Times

The College Board came up with a surprising conclusion about keys to success for college and life.

By Thomas L. Friedman

Opinion Columnist

• Feb. 12, 2019

Image

Ninth graders in a computer class in Brooklyn. The College Board has said that to be successful, students need to master computer science.CreditCreditSarah Blesener for The New York Times

A few years ago, the leaders of the College Board, the folks who administer the SAT college entrance exam, asked themselves a radical question: Of all the skills and knowledge that we test young people for that we know are correlated with success in college and in life, which is the most important? Their answer: the ability to master “two codes” — computer science and the U.S. Constitution.

Since then they’ve been adapting the SATs and the College Board’s Advanced Placement program to inspire and measure knowledge of both. Since the two people who led this move — David Coleman, president of the College Board, and Stefanie Sanford, its chief of global policy — happen to be people I’ve long enjoyed batting around ideas with, and since I thought a lot of students, parents and employers would be interested in their answer, I asked them to please show their work: “Why these two codes?”

Their short answer was that if you want to be an empowered citizen in our democracy — able to not only navigate society and its institutions but also to improve and shape them, and not just be shaped by them — you need to know how the code of the U.S. Constitution works. And if you want to be an empowered and adaptive worker or artist or writer or scientist or teacher — and be able to shape the world around you, and not just be shaped by it — you need to know how computers work and how to shape them.

With computing, the internet, big data and artificial intelligence now the essential building blocks of almost every industry, any young person who can master the principles and basic coding techniques that drive computers and other devices “will be more prepared for nearly every job,” Coleman and Sanford said in a joint statement explaining their initiative. “At the same time, the Constitution forms the foundational code that gives shape to America and defines our essential liberties — it is the indispensable guide to our lives as productive citizens.”

So rather than have SAT exams and Advanced Placement courses based on things that you cram for and forget, they are shifting them, where they can, to promote the “two codes.”

In 2016, the College Board completely revamped its approach to A.P. computer science courses and exams. In the original Computer Science course, which focused heavily on programming in Java, nearly 80 percent of students were men. And a large majority were white and Asian, said Coleman. What that said to women and underrepresented minorities was, “How would you like to learn the advanced grammar of a language that you aren’t interested in?”

Turned out that was not very welcoming. So, explained Coleman, they decided to “change the invitation” to their new Computer Science Principles course by starting with the question: What is it that you’d like to do in the world? Music? Art? Science? Business? Great! Then come build an app in the furtherance of that interest and learn the principles of computer science, not just coding, Coleman said. “Learn to be a shaper of your environment, not just a victim of it.”

The new course debuted in 2016. Enrollment was the largest for a new course in the history of Advanced Placement, with just over 44,000 students nationwide.

Two years later The Christian Science Monitor reported, “More high school students than ever are taking the College Board’s Advanced Placement (A.P.) computer science exams, and those taking them are increasingly female and people of color.”

 

Indeed, the story added, “the College Board reports that from 2017 to 2018 female, African-American and Hispanic students were among the fastest growing demographics of A.P. computer science test-takers, with increases in exam participation of 39 percent, 44 percent and 41 percent, respectively. … For context, in 2007, fewer than 3,000 high school girls took the A.P. Computer Science A exam; in 2018, more than 15,000 completed it.”

The A.P. U.S. Government and Politics course also was reworked. At a time when we have a president who doesn’t act as if he’s read the Constitution — and we have a growing perception and reality that college campuses are no longer venues for the free exchange of ideas and real debate of consequential issues — Coleman and Sanford concluded that it was essential that every student entering college actually have command of the First Amendment, which enshrines five freedoms, not just freedom of speech.

Every student needs to understand that, as Coleman put it, “our country was argued into existence — and that is the first thing that binds us — but also has some of the tensions that divide us. So we thought, ‘What can we do to help replace the jeering with productive conversation?’”

It had to start in high school, said Sanford, who is leading the “two codes” initiative. “Think of how much more ready you are to participate in college and society with an understanding of the five freedoms that the First Amendment protects — of speech, assembly, petition, press and religion. The First Amendment lays the foundation for a mature community of conversation and ideas — built on the right and even obligation to speak up and, when needed, to protest, but not to interrupt and prevent others from speaking.”

This becomes particularly important, she noted, “when technology and democracy are thought of as in conflict, but are actually both essential” and need to work in tandem.

One must observe only how Facebook was abused in the 2016 election to see that two of the greatest strengths of America — innovation and free speech — have been weaponized. If they are not harmonized, well, Houston, we have a problem.

So the new A.P. government course is built on an in-depth look at 15 Supreme Court cases as well as nine foundational documents that every young American should know. It shows how the words of the Constitution give rise to the structures of our government.

Besides revamping the government course and the exam on that subject, Coleman and Sanford in 2014 made a staple of the regular SAT a long reading comprehension passage from one of the founding documents, such as the Constitution, or another important piece of democracy, like a great presidential speech. That said to students and teachers something the SAT had never dared say before: Some content is disproportionately more powerful and important, and if you prepare for it you will be rewarded on the SAT.

Sanford grew up in Texas and was deeply affected as a kid watching video of the African-American congresswoman Barbara Jordan arguing the case against Richard Nixon in Watergate. What she remembered most, said Sanford, was how Jordan’s power “emanated from her command of the Constitution.

“Understanding how government works is the essence of power. To be a strong citizen, you need to know how the structures of our government work and how to operate within them.”

Kids are getting it: An A.P. U.S. Government and Politics class at Hightstown High School in New Jersey was credited in a Senate committee report with contributing content to a bill, the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection Act, which was signed into law last month.

Sanford cites it as a great example of her mantra: “‘Knowledge, skills and agency’ — kids learn things, learn how to do things and then discover that they can use all that to make a difference in the world.”

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Thomas L. Friedman is the foreign affairs Op-Ed columnist. He joined the paper in 1981, and has won three Pulitzer Prizes. He is the author of seven books, including “From Beirut to Jerusalem,” which won the National Book Award.