I spent yesterday afternoon seeing the final stage of a Falkirk Guitar Hero Transition project led by Stacey Collier-West. The project brought together children from Maddiston, Shieldhill, Avonbridge and Whitecross Primary Schools who have been using the game as a context for learning since the Easter holidays and yesterday bringing all of the children from the schools for a parent showcase.
The emerging transition model for this project that continues to develop since we first conceived it back in 2008 continues to outstand me. Children are captivated by the learning involved and in the worlds of one parent that I spoke to today:
“He is not board of school anymore”
and another….
“It is the first time that she has spoken about school like this since Primary 4”
What I really liked about the showcase today (and we will post video and more details on the Consolarium Blog) is that the all of the children (apart from two and they were off sick!) got up on stage and performed for their parents and the wider school community.
There were at least 50 people in the audience in the afternoon and the evening performance was standing room only! The assembly hall had been decorated by the children and you could buy ‘band merchandise’ and a CD of all their songs that had all been deigned by the children. It was wonderful.
The performance was spectacular for a number of reasons including:
Everyone performed (some were nervous - but they still performed)
Some groups sung live and other mimed (with style!)
Each group had re-written the lyrics to well know songs
The lyrics were fantastic (they were mostly about their primary schools!)
The groups all had a great dance routines
As the children performed they played animations that they had written (it was very school of rock!).
The animation included a record of all the other work they had done (photographs, writing, numeracy, enterprise, social studies, science… the lot!)
There were wonderful ‘band names’ and some fabulous costumes. My favorite being RoboPOP!
Overall a great afternoon and another wonderful evolution of the project!
BETT is the largest education technology show on the planet and I was delighted that so many people turned out for my presentation (it was a sell out) and was just sorry that not everyone was able to to get a seat. I promised that I would post the slides and links from the talk, so here they are:
The sides that I used during the presentation are embedded below:
The Consolarium - The Scottish Centre for Games Based Learning and Innovation in Education (an LTS funded project).
Wordle – Create fantastic Word Clouds to brighten
up your lessons and look at text in a different way.
2) Home Learning
I think that sometimes it is very appropriate to set children the task of playing good educational computer games as a home learning activity. Obviously, this may depend on home Internet access but in my experience many children have the Internet at home and if not then provision can be provided by other means (library, after school club etc…).
Some examples of games suitable for home learning might be:
Classic
Sim City – Useful for teaching about towns, cities and settlement.
The Guitar Hero Project is a good example of using a commercially available computer game as a contextual hub for learning. A number of secondary schools in Scotland are currently using other games within this context.
These games include:
Professor Layton
Mario and Sonic at the Olympics (and winter Olympics)
Myst
Wild Earth African Safari
4) Partnership
with Parents:
Any school games based learning strategy must include consultation with parents. During the Guitar Hero Parents Showcase at Wallyford and Whitecraig Primary school work was displayed to show the parents that both the advantages and disadvantages of games based learning had been discussed as part of the children's project.
We have done a lot of work on the use of the Nintendo DS console and how it can be used to improve levels of numeracy with young people. In particular we have used the following games:
We have also used a number of other
resources including SUMS Maths, Buzz the Schools Quiz for the Playstation and
as part of our work with the Consolarium we are doing some work with Manga High Maths in ten Scottish Schools.
6) Literacy
Games such as Endless Ocean can provide a powerful stimulus for creative writing and are really empowering for young people. Other games designed to improve your vocabulary include My Word Coach for the Nintendo DS. We are about to start and extended project on this with Drummond Community High School in Edinburgh.
The consolarium has also done some work using narrative driven computer games to encourage reading and also to act a springboard for other learning activities. Most of this work has been based around Hotel Dusk - the quality of the writing in this particular hand-held interactive detective story is excellent.
We have successfully used My French Coach for the Nintendo DS in the secondary context and will be looking at this in more detail after Easter.
8) Health
Exergaming seems to be a really big 'buzz word' at the moment. There are a number of games that encourage exercise at my school we made good use of the wii and also dance mat technology.
Please feel free to get in touch if you have any questions about the presentation or if you require more information about anything.
The 2009 K-12 Conference has been as successful as ever and now its my turn to contribute to this years programme. My presentation 'Using computer games to enhance learning and social interaction' goes live over on the K-12 site at 12.00h (GMT) today. This automated post provides a bit more background on the project that I describe and also gives a few more links.
Please feel free to leave any feedback below or over on the K-12 Conference Ning. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can although I’m out and about a lot at the moment so it might not be straight away.
The idea behind the project is to use commercially available ‘off the shelf’ computer games that have been built for entertainment and then retrofitted for education. By their very definition commercially available games (due to their high production budgets) tend to be more engaging and cheaper than games that have been build solely for education. The challenge is finding the right games that are suitable for use in the classroom.
Another underlying principle of the project is that in order for quality learning to take place there must be a combination good pedagogy from the classroom teacher combined with activities that are either interesting or engaging. There is a distinct difference between what I mean by interest and engagement. Learning will quickly blossom if a child’s natural interest in a topic is combined with good teaching. Unfortunately many global education systems require children to have specific knowledge or specific skills that they find un-interesting. This is where teachers need to find engaging ways to deliver the content. Technology including computer games can provide this engagement.
For example the project described below has successfully used the game Guitar Hero as a stimulus to teach literacy, numeracy, art, physical exercise, science and lots of other curriculum areas.
This particular project was also designed to help children have a really positive end to primary school and a really positive start to secondary school during their time of transition. In Scotland (and in many other parts of the world) at transition the children move from having most of their teaching from a single teacher to a system of timetabling in the secondary school where they will be taught by perhaps 8 or 9 different teachers. It is widely recognised that transition and movement between primary to secondary school can be problematic for many pupils and can lead to conflict. Appropriate computer games can provide the ideal medium to reduce conflict within schools at they are competitive but in a non-threatening environment.
Further information about the project is below:
Thinking out of the xBox (Using Guitar Hero in Schools)
Purpose
The purpose of the project was to improve the process of transition for pupils moving from primary (elementary) to secondary (high) school through the medium of a three stage innovative computer games based learning project.
Aims
The aims of the project were:
To improve the process of student transition between primary to secondary school.
To develop relationships between cluster staff, students and parents.
To use Guitar Hero as a context for learning within the seven Musselburgh primary schools during the summer term.
To hold an innovative transition morning at the secondary school based around the game Guitar Hero.
To use the theme Guitar Hero as a stimulus for discussion when the children moved to the secondary school.
To develop a different way of updating primary teachers on individual student progress after they moved to the secondary school.
To prove that school and learning can be fun!
Structure of the project
The learning for the project was structured in three main stages:
Stage One – Guitar Hero is used as a context for learning in primary seven (P7).
This learning took place between the Easter holidays and the summer term 2008. Every primary school was given ownership of the project and a number of learning activities occurred. An example of the types of learning that took place are summarised below in this mind map from Stoneyhill Primary School. The mind map was created at the start of the project by the classroom teacher and their class.
As a result of this planning, a number of worthwhile activities took place across the cluster. Some of these activities can be viewed in picture gallery.
Stage Two - All of the Primary 7 children visit the secondary school for a transition day to participate in a number of Guitar Hero related activities.
The day was launched and concluded in the school assembly hall. During the day all of the children got to participate in three workshops using a ‘round robin’ rota system.
Workshop One - The Battle of the Bands in the School Hall (1)
There were 10 games consoles set up in the school hall. The children had to compete against someone who they had not met before. The collaboration during this activity was amazing. Senior students supervised the event so there was also an opportunity for new students to ask them questions about life at the school.
Workshop Two - The Guitar Hero Challenge
These workshops were facilitated by the school’s Guidance Staff. In Scotland secondary school guidance staff have the main pastoral / welfare responsibility for children.
The first task was to ask the question, ‘tell me and your class what you have been learning about during the Guitar Hero Project’. As each school took the project in its own direction, it was a chance for the class to communicate with each other about a common interest, swap ideas and learn about the learning in each others’ schools.
The second task was to allow 20 minutes for the whole group to be split into smaller groups of 4/5 people and to come up with a band name, logo and jingle. One of the S6 students commented, ‘I can’t believe it, they have just come up with that in 5 minutes.’
Logos and jingles had to represent the interests of the whole team (eg: it was work about themselves). The finished products were photographed and videoed and the results were shown at the end of the morning.
Workshop Three – Peer Led Activity
Each practical set, for the following year, had an opportunity to participate in a different activity. All of the activities had a different theme related to rock music or to the game. The idea behind this was to make the most of the senior pupil expertise from the secondary school, but also to capitalise on the peer led experience. The senior students were briefed to speak to the young children about the sorts of things that they might be embarrassed to ask adults. Things like where the toilets were, how much money to bring to the school, if they would be allowed out at lunchtime or not, etc...
The peer led activities included:
Guitar Hero Orienteering – using maps of the school to navigate around the school grounds to find the name of rock bands and answer the bonus Guitar Hero Questions.
Deigning a CD Case – using Microsoft Publisher.
Designing a guitar – using Photoshop
Rock Drama – mime and improvisation to rock music in this workshop. It was great to see four different schools collaborating and working together in almost perfect sequence.
Rock Dance – Led by S6 Student.
Meet the Band – Working with an S6 band and learning how to play ‘Smoke on the Water’ on the guitar as well as getting a tour of the MGS recording studio.
iTunes Challenge – A numeracy related quiz using Activote.
Displays - During the day there was also an opportunity for schools to display some of the Guitar Hero Work that they had produced over the last few months. It was all outstanding!
Stage Three – Guitar Hero in the Secondary School
The final part of the project took place between the start of term and the October break 2008. The children were tasked with designing Guitar Hero Postcards and then sending them back to their old primary school teacher. The postcards were produced in CDT and the content was written in English.
Subject teachers were also tasked to use ‘Guitar Hero’ as a context for discussion with their new classes. This simple activity not only put closure on the project but was also a very powerful learning experience. It also developed increased communication between the primary and secondary school.
The quality of writing on the postcards was also outstanding as the children were writing with a real purpose. This was able to be used by the high school staff to provide formative feedback to students.
Evolution of the Project
Local Scale
The evaluation of the 2008 Guitar Hero Transition project was so positive that East Lothian Council decided to copy the model and roll the project out across the education authority. During the summer term of 2009 all six clusters (that’s a total of 46 schools and over 70 xboxes in classes!) were involved in a new phase of the project based on the original Musselburgh model.
The Musselburgh Cluster staff were involved in training the new P7 teachers and working with each of the secondary schools to promote games based learning as a context for transition.
The project will continue in 2010 this time adding an international dimension to the work by networking xboxes. We hope this will provide an interesting way for children to learn about life in other countries, contribute to the breaking down of cultural difference and introduce an exciting way to learn about other topics such as time zones, location and place. Agian this new section of the project will have a strong literacy focus.
Wide Reach
The project blog have been successful that now other schools elsewhere in Scotland, UK and internationally have started to mirror the project and adapt it for local need. An additional project website was set up to support the larger 2009 project and web stats for both sites show that lesson material has been downloaded all over the UK and a number of other countries including the USA, Australia, Sri Lanka and Hong Kong.
Awards and Recognition
The project has won a number of awards including:
Winner Microsoft UK Innovative Teacher Forum - Feb 2009
1st Place Microsoft European Innovative Teacher Forum (Innovation in the Community) - April 2009
2nd Plave Microsoft Worldwide Innovative Teacher Forum (Innovation in the Community) - November 2009
If you have further information about the project then please get in touch.
I’ve been back from Brazil now for about 24 hours –I have to admit trying to think at work today was a little bit taxing at times. I will be posting my observations and thoughts on the conference over the next week or two as well as trying to up-date a back log of promised blog posts.
But in the meantime I was delighted that East Lothian (particularly Musselburgh Grammar) was recognized during the Microsoft Worldwide Innovative Teaching Awards ceremony and that we were able to pick up second place in the Innovation for Building Community Category.
We were 1st in this same category in the European Awards earlier this year. The project is about using computer games to help children learn and to also provide a context for social interaction as children move between primary to secondary school.
I had a great time in Brazil and met loads of interesting, inspiring and motivated teachers from all around the world.
Merlin John has written about the UK success here.
The K-12 International On-line Conference is now in its forth year and it’s a great example of the concept of drip feed CPD that I was mentioning in a recent post.
All of the conference presentations are available on-line and are released over a series of two weeks while the conference in live. Participants are encouraged to collaborate with the conference presenter by leaving comments, emailing or participating in illuminate sessions.
I will be presenting on our East Lothian Games Based Learning Guitar Hero Project during the ‘kicking it up a notch’ strand of the conference during the final week.
In
East Lothian we are rolled out this project to all P7 classes across
the county. The 2009 version of the project will used Guitar Hero World
Tour for the XBox. World Tour is particularly good as there is more
than one instument, which provides more choise of students.
Hotel Dusk - A good narative driven game to encorage reading and provide a context for other work
Nintendogs - A great game to provide a context for learning (Aberdeenshire have been doing some fantastic work using this game in P2)
Drawn to Life - Being used in P3 to develop writing and storytelling skills
The Use of the Sony PSP
Lots of good information on how the PSP can be used for education on the ConnectEd website. Hot Brain for the PSP is a similar to lots of the Brain Training title you can get for the DS.
Also have a look at SUMS Online - they make great software for computers and other handheld devicces includeing the PSP.
Before I was directed to the article I had never heard of Smarta before but its 60 second interview ideas seems like a great way to find out more about UK start ups.
The website also contains a wealth of information, advice and interviews for small business. There is even a section on how to do the killer pitch or presentation. This website and the resources within would be a great resource for anyone teaching business education or enterprise in schools.
Following my longest ever commute
to work. (Got up in Vienna at 4.45am, taxi to train
station, train to airport, flight to London, flight to Edinburgh, bus to car,
drive to Livingston - I finally arrived at the conference venue a whole hour
before my presentation was due to start.)
Jenny MacNair (Whitecraig Primary School) and I had been asked by Veronica Brunton (our East Lothian Curriculum
for Excellence Development Officer) to present on some of the work we had been
doing in the Musselburgh Cluster on Games Based Learning.
We concentrated on some of
the philosophy behind computer games in education, web-based computer games for
home learning and our Guitar Hero Transition Project. I also briefly spoke
about some of the work we have been doing with Nintendo DS’s in maths and
modern foreign languages.
The slides that we used in Fridays presentation are embedded below:
In
East Lothian we are rolling out this project to all P7 classes across
the county. The 2009 version of the project will use Guitar Hero World
Tour for the XBox. World Tour is particularly good as their is more
than one instrument, which provides more choice of students.
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