Making Games in Schools Workshop, 17th – 19th
March 2010 By Ray Mathias
As mentor * for MGiS I see my role as a critical friend (and
occasional adviser) to the project. As
well as seeking to support the success of MGiS, I am also interested in the
lessons that we can learn from it, which might inform similar projects in the
future. So I come to the project with
several questions, from ‘how does the Adventure Author software work?’ to ‘how effectively
can a making games approach be integrated into classroom teaching?’ to ‘how far
could we extend this approach across disciplines/the curriculum?’ It is self-evident that if learning to use the
software is not a barrier to using it, and the games it produces are good
quality, then it will engage some students. However, will engagement lead to deeper
learning and will the range of students who engage with game-making be wide or
narrow?
Judy and Catherin’s suggestion that I join one of the MGiS
teacher workshops seemed a good opportunity to experience the project at first
hand and maybe answer some of these questions.
The workshop was extremely well organised and created a
professional atmosphere in which the teachers felt they were ‘valued’ and being
offered a high quality training experience.
The course was well structured and the content was very comprehensive. I especially liked the way that the course
was embedded in the broader context of professional development, learning
theory etc., but without detracting from the core tasks of understanding how to
use the software in the classroom.
A particularly valuable activity was meeting a teacher (and
19 of her students) who had been part of the first training cohort. The students and teacher were convincing
advocates for the MGiS model. It was
clear that the approach had done much to enthuse and engage them. Generally, the students reported that MGiS had
changed their approach to story-telling and this was supported by the teacher
who reported that students had been motivated to write much more, and more
creatively, in essays. The only real
criticism seemed to be that some students would prefer a more modern game
environment. The teacher had ‘no buts’
about the MGiS approach.
Participating in the workshop allowed me to understand how
the software works and to appreciate the flexibility and power of the MGiS model
when engaging students. The
participating teachers were very impressed with the course and the potential of
the project. MGiS is clearly an
excellent opportunity for cross-curricular working in schools.
The ‘hidden questions’ in the project (does a games making
approach increase student’s logical and computational thinking skills) will
only be answered once the in-school phase of the project is completed and all
the feedback and evaluation is completed.
If MGiS delivers evidence that game making has a positive effect across
disciplines (benefitting both literacy and computing skills) this will support
the argument for more gaming (and more cross-curricular working) in schools.
*MGiS is funded by the
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council as part of their Public
Engagement programme. Each project
funded under this programme is allocated a mentor to support and advise the
project team.