Deciding on a Knowledge Area

1. Decide on a Knowledge Area and explain why you're interested in making games on this topic.
Play with multimedia - upload a video, picture, and hyperlink to your post.
2. Update your blog elements (blogroll, design, etc) to reflect your Knowledge Area


I originally thought that I would like to create games that dealt just with Math (duh? I teach math). But I have changed my mind. Today while I was waiting for everyone to get 'on the same page' I kept playing the "Third-World Farmer" and became addicted. I found out that the game was much more involved than I thought yesterday. It was great. You had to watch the 'health' of your people (or else they might die). I built a clinic so it was cheaper for me to give them medicine. You could add a road and communications. I had the wife have another baby and let the daughter get married and move to another farm. I really got into it. I think that it would take a very long time to create such a game, but it would be so much fun. The resulting game would be much more fun to play.


I think that I could create a real life/strategy game that is in the STEM Knowledge Area. There are a lot of issues that deal with Science that also deal with real life - such as using a robot to help fix BP's broken oil well. (You can watch a live video link.)




I taught Robotics for 4 years to 5 graders at Sacred Heart Grade School in Charleston, WV. It was fun, but a challenge. After talking with C.K., I thought that a game that involved robots would be fun. I'm not sure exactly how it would proceed, would the player build a robot, then use it, would they learn about different kinds of robots and different uses and then play games based on this new knowledge? Not sure yet.

I know that when I was teaching Robotics, the kids learned a lot - again, due to the hands on, just dig in and learn. I went to a NECC (National Educational Computing Conference) in San Antonio and met two gentlemen who taught Robotics to a students from a high school in Arizona. The kids were labeled "from the wrong side of the tracks". If you want to see an awesome video about how constructive learning can take our "kids" far, you need to watch this!


So I think that I will focus on Robotics.

Why am I interested in this? I have discussed this a little. I am interested for many reasons. I used to teach it and I saw first hand how excited my kids would get. This excitement made them WANT to learn. I saw how the hands-on learning made them begin to be real problem solvers rather than number crunchers. I know the need to robots in the real world. I was a programmer, contracted to the military for 16 years - I know what robots can do.