Guitar Hero
Pupil motivation
School should be a place where children want to come and where they are motivated, engaged and challenged. They should enjoy learning and experience contexts that enable them to achieve to the best of their ability. The professional perception of this project from authority management to class teaching was that Guitar Hero went a great way to make these aspirational aims a reality.
Why not download Adobe Flash Player and watch the video online?
Engagement
Imagine a resource that energises, excites and engages children, and keeps them focused and on task, even in the last few weeks and days of their final term in P7. According to the children in this school Guitar Hero is a resource that can do this. We also hear the teacher talking about the engagement, commitment to and standard of work from her children at this stage of their school career being unlike anything that she has witnessed before.
Why not download Adobe Flash Player and watch the video online?
Fostering relationships
A surprising outcome of this project was the effect that it had on relationships within the class. It seems that the game created a climate where everyone was supported in their playing of the game, even if they were not particularly good at it. The children also talk about how it has made them more appreciative of other music and how this has helped break down barriers and attitudes of identity, in their eyes, such as being a rocker or a ned.
Why not download Adobe Flash Player and watch the video online?
Hand to eye
In order to be successful at Guitar Hero you need to work hard at improving your hand-to-eye co-ordination skills. In fact, you can’t really look at your hands when you are playing the game because you would quickly get lost and lose the thread of your playing. It seems that the children are aware of this …