Showing papers presented at "Conference on Computability in Europe in 2003"

Video games and education: (Education in the Face of a “Parallel School”)

Abstract: Fully integrated into the everyday lives of millions of young people throughout the world, video games are a vital part of contemporary culture and society. But the reaction of many authorities and the majority of educators has been to discredit video games by assuming their negative effects. After more than two decades of research, however, many studies have been published that have gradually led to a more complex, nuanced, and useful understanding of video games. This article focuses on one of the most interesting alternative perspectives--that of their educational potential as teaching and learning tools. After justifying this point of view, we offer a critical review of previous research on the subject; and finally reach some conclusions on the advantages of using video games for educational purposes.

Entering the education arcade

Abstract: Responding to social, economic, and technological trends which make games the most powerful medium for reaching young learners, The Education Arcade project, based in the MIT Comparative Media Studies Program, seeks to prototype games that teach, develop curricular materials which support existing commercial titles, and help prepare teachers to use games in the classroom This article reports on the first three prototypes that are producing -- Supercharged! (electromagnetism), Environmental Detectives (environmental science) and Revolution (American History)

Towards digital narrative for children: from education to entertainment, a historical perspective

Abstract: Narrative is central to human experience, and a key way that experience is made meaningful. Education and entertainment have both played a significant part in the evolution of children's narrative. In its liminal state during the 1500s, children's print narrative was primarily educational. Locke's theories of education in the 1700s encouraged "children playing and doing as children," and narrative slowly moved towards being entertaining as well as educational. Not until the 1800s, with the stories of Lewis Carroll, was narrative created solely for the entertainment of children. Throughout its development it has provided a way for shaping children's experience, reflecting how they fit into their society, and helping them construct meaning for themselves. As narrative evolved to find its rightful place in the mix of technology, education, and entertainment within children's print culture, so it is evolving within the rapidly developing digital environment. Authors, publishers, and producers are responsible for understanding how children respond to a digital environment, and for making the digital narrative a positive experience. This paper presents the history of children's literature as it has developed from oral tradition through print and now into digital environments. It draws parallels, particularly between education and entertainment, in children's print narratives and similar (but more rapid) developments in the evolution of digital narratives. In doing so, it aims to encourage a more positive attitude to the significant opportunities new technologies offer for reshaping the way in which narrative for children is conceived and presented so that it continues in its time honored role of constructing meaning in their lives.

ACM Queue

Abstract: I am the Editor of Queue (http://www.acmqueue.org), ACM's recently launched magazine geared towards practicing software developers and architects. We have a great editorial advisory board, including industry giants such as Steve Bourne, Eric Allman, and Jim Gray.We have a special report on "Gaming Technology and Issues" coming up. We are looking for people who might be interested in writing for this issue.We would be entirely open on article ideas for this or upcoming issues. Queue is not a "here's the latest product from company X" magazine -- we are more in-depth, focusing on core technologies themselves, how they affect software developers. Obviously gaming is an area that has a huge impact far beyond just the gaming industry. We want to share what is happening at the cutting edge with our audience.

Educating via entertainment media: the Sesame Workshop approach

Abstract: Sesame Workshop was founded 35 years ago to investigate whether entertainment media could be used to educate children. At that time the medium in question was television. As the Sesame Street television show prepares to celebrate its 35th year on the air, the television programming schedule now includes a wide variety of other educational programming for young children, and researchers are in almost universal agreement that television can be used successfully for educational purposes. In recent years, the Workshop has faced the same challenge with a variety of interactive entertainment media (including videogames, DVD, and interactive television); i.e., these media all might have potential for educating children, but neither the platforms themselves nor the typical programming for these media are being planned with any particular thought toward education. This paper describes how the Sesame Street "experiment" has been continued and extended, by adapting interactive media platforms designed for entertainment so that they can be used to deliver educational experiences to young children. The paper also outlines Sesame Workshop's educational philosophy and approach, as applied in the interactive arena, and identifies some of the challenges and solutions in designing interfaces and interactive educational experiences that can be used and enjoyed by preschool-age children. Two specific research projects are described as examples of this approach: one details the development of an adapted software interface to make console videogame systems accessible to young children and the other evaluates a new approach to creating interactive television programming for young children on a DVD platform.

Kids and the internet: a developmental summary

Abstract: When planning and developing successful internet programs for children, it is vital to clearly understand and carefully consider kids' innate developmental capabilities and proclivities. It is necessary to keep in mind that children of different ages have vastly different physical, cognitive, and psycho-social characteristics, as well as disparate interests, likes, dislikes, and fears. A four-year old child may not posses the manual dexterity to operate a complex internet game; an eight-year old's growing ability to reason logically gives him the opportunity to take part in strategy-based activities and contests; twelve-year old preteens may be put off by a topic they believe to be "uncool." The following article provides a brief summary of the developmental stages of children and young teens -- from age two to age fourteen -- and the relationship of these stages to kids' use of electronic media. This summary is based on research in the areas of child development, psychology, education, and technology.

Building a massively multiplayer game for the million: Disney's Toontown Online

Abstract: This paper presents an overview of the lessons learned building Disney's Toontown Online, a 3D massively multiplayer online game (MMP) for children ages seven and older. The paper is divided into three main parts. The first presents design highlights of Toontown Online and focuses on the challenge of building an MMP for kids. In particular, we discuss ways of incorporating kid-friendly socialization into an MMP. The second part of the paper presents an overview of Panda-3D, the VR Studio's open source 3D graphics engine. We focus on the aspects of Panda-3D that helped to facilitate the development of Toontown. In particular, Panda's expressive, platform-agnostic scene graph architecture, and flexible scripting language tools for distributed storytelling. We finish with an overview of Toontown's server architecture and present our nothing-but-net strategy for downloading a full-featured 3D online game.

Interview with Alan Kay

Abstract: The legendary Alan Kay and Roy E. Disney have graciously appeared on camera for interviews and joined the ACM Computers in Entertainment magazine's editorial board. Alan and Roy are two of the nicest people to talk to and work with. Alan talked about soft fun versus hard fun, and his research on Squeak for enhancing and amplifying learning in children's education. Roy told us about educators versus entertainers, and his views on traditional and CGI animations. The video clips of the interviews are available at http://www.acm.org/pubs/cie/oct2003/index.htmlAlan Kay, HP Fellow and President of Viewpoints Research Institute, is best known for the idea of personal computing the conception of the intimate laptop computer, and the inventions of the now ubiquitous overlapping-window interface and modern object-oriented programming. His deep interests in children and education were the catalyst for these ideas, and they continue to be a major source of inspiration. In the past, Alan has been a Xerox Fellow, Chief Scientist of Atari, Apple Fellow, and Disney Fellow. More information is available at http://www.squeakland.org/community/biography/alanbio.html and http://www.viewpointsresearch.org/alan.html

Active learning systems

Abstract: Advances in science and technology are creating new opportunities to rethink how we teach and learn. Emotionally-driven, interactive content can help tomorrow's leaders master important core subjects while developing critical thinking and learning skills required in a rapidly changing world. This paper explores new insights into how we think and learn, and hence envision new ways to educate our kids by employing advanced technologies.

Building a business simulation for kids: the making of Disney's hot shot business

Abstract: This paper presents an overview of Hot Shot Business, a simulation game designed to teach basic business concepts and encourage entrepreneurship. It begins with a high-level discussion of the experience, and goes on to describe how the educational content is presented to the player as the game progresses. Special emphasis is placed on the important of play testing in the development process.

Wildlife rescue as a framework for learning

Abstract: Nickelodeon Online has designed and deployed two versions of "Wildlife Rescue", an online game that allows kids to take on the role of a Wildlife Ranger. Rangers are charged with the responsibility of attending to animals who have become sick or injured in locales such as the Serengeti or an island in the South China Sea. We feel that this game which is part simulation and part real-time strategy presents an effective and popular framework for learning about animals, biodiversity and conservation and we describe some of the cognitive instruments used to engage our audience about these topics.

Breaking into the universe: computer science is interactive entertainment

Abstract: High quality interactive entertainment is educational and beneficial for children. It transports our children through fantasy to understanding, inspires them and helps them survive in a world of growing complexity.Creativity is one of the most important skills a child can learn. Just like math, language arts, and science, creativity is teachable and essential to a well-rounded personality and tolerant view of the world. More creative thinking in every sphere will go a long way towards improving our lives. So let's design games that teach creativity and computer science bound together in that unique new art form called "interactive entertainment."

Java Games Technologies

Abstract: Sun Microsystems has formed a new Games Technologies Group. Playing on Sun's strengths in network and high performance computing, the Games Technologies Group is working with industry leaders to provide an end-to-end architecture and set of solutions for developing and deploying networked games. More information on the Java technology that you can use now to develop games is available at http://community.java.net/games/ We will have an in depth article detailing the work of this new group.

Liemandt Foundation launches hidden agenda contest: university students vie for a $25,000 prize by building video games that secretly teach middle school subjects

Abstract: The Liemandt Foundation, a nonprofit family foundation focused on promoting technology-enabled education, launched on September 18, 2003 a college student video game development contest with a twist -- students are being challenged to build entertaining games that "secretly" teach middle school subjects.The contest, online at www.hiddenagenda.com, focuses on the notion of "stealth education" in gaming, pushing students to create primarily entertaining games that also teach science and math topics such as forces, statistics, or the solar system. Students have complete freedom in their game designs. They may work in teams of up to eight people, can build the games on and for any platform, and may use existing engines if they choose. Games will be judged in May 2004, with five finalist teams flying to Austin, Texas for their final shot at the $25,000 prize.Advising the contest are experts such as Ultima creator and gaming legend Richard Garriott and educational game visionary Marc Prensky, and the project is affiliated with the Digital Media Collaboratory at the University of Texas. "There is no doubt in my mind that college students can create the next breakthrough educational video game," says Garriott. Prensky agrees, "I look forward to watching these motivated and creative students break through the barriers of historically boring learning games." Among the many benefits of challenging college students to build the game is the notion that once these students enter the professional game development community, they will understand the importance and potential of stealth education.While all submitted games must fulfill teaching and technical requirements to be considered, final judging is based on 70% entertainment and 30% educational value. The uneven split in judging criteria is crucial. In the past, educational games have failed because no matter how well they taught, kids just weren't motivated to absorb information. Children will only learn from the games they want to play.

Squeakers: a report on real kids using real computers to learn real math

Abstract: What have Alan Kay and his research team been up to for the past few years? Our Spring issue of ACM Computers in Entertainment will include a report from Alan and his colleagues on their work with children and adults around the globe.In 2001 Kay founded Viewpoints Research Institute, Inc. -- a non-profit organization that serves as the umbrella for further research and development of new learning and media development systems. In 2002 Kay joined the Hewlett-Packard Company as a Sr. Fellow at HP Labs while maintaining the non-profit organization.Alan and his team have been working in their Labs and in classrooms, community-learning centers, and with universities worldwide to continue R&D of Squeak and other collaborative, online learning environments. Look for a report on their work and findings this Spring!For a sneak peek, visit http://www.squeakland.org/sqmedia/movies/html/clips.html