Endless Ocean for the Nintendo Wii was one of those games that immediately caught my eye. A wonderful world in which the player can become immersed in a rich, vibrant and somewhat hypnotically therapeutic  underwater world. I’ve written about how I thought it might be used to drive learning before but my initial ideas have been put into place and extended beyond recognition by some really creative teachers.

Last week I went with Margaret Cassidy from Stirling Council to Cowie PS to see a teacher that was using Endless Ocean with her class:

Mrs Bullivant and her class of P.6 children treated me to an afternoon of sheer joy. I walked in to a class that had been turned into an underwater world that was awash with a tide of enthusiastic and industrious learnning.

•  Streamers of various shades of blue were hung from two lines that criss-crossed the class.From these lines also hung starfish, sharks and other underwater creatures that the children had made.
• The Wii was hooked up to the whiteboard and the gameplay was integral to the learning.
• The children were divided into ‘dive teams’ and their ‘dive leader’ had to manage certain aspects of how the children worked together.
• Children were engaged with a teacher led leson that investigated buoyancy.
• Children were searching the web to find out more about some of the creatures that they discovered in the game.
• A spreadsheet activity detailing the range of creatures that they had discovered was in place.
• A shipwreck (created by the janitor) was sitting in the class. This helped drive much of the creative writing work.
• The children created treasure maps and were using these to look at grid references.
• Mermaids were created in art and design and very lifelike they were too!
• Reference books were in great demand when I was in the class and the initial stimulus of the game appeared to drive a real interest for what could be found in the complementary resource that was the book.
• Children actively encouraged to measure exactly how long 7 metres is as a result of finding out that that was how long a Great White Shark was.

This was just a wonderful visit and an example of what learning in class can be. Yes we need creative teachers to lead this but isn’t that what we are meant to be. The work that was in evidence in this class was delightful to witness and further cemented my ideas of the possibilities of sandbox games such as Endless Ocean.

Categories: Stirling Council
Tags: Consolarium, Endless Ocean, games based learning, Wii

I am delighted to see that Anna Rossvoll from Aberdeenshire Council has been selected as one of the three finalists for the Primary Practitioner award at this year’s Handheld Learning Conference in London. This is truly an accolade and excellent recognition of the work that Anna does. Anna has been a particulalry strong supporter of the work of the Consolarium does and in relation to the development of Glow in her authority. Her nomination entry included this description of her:

“We need leaders in education who are prepared to take informed risks, leaders who can see the relevance of new ideas and technologies but who can embed them in sound principles for teaching and learning, leaders who can build relationships with teachers in order to take new ideas and practice forward. Anna Rossvoll is an example of this. She has proved to be a particular creative and dynamic colleague of the Learning and Teaching Scotland’s Consolarium initiative. An initiative that aims to take games based learning forward. She has been very influential in supporting and promoting this work but also has her own ideas. She approached the Consolarium to ask if we would support an idea she had to put Nintendogs in a P.2 class. We teased this out and agreed to fund this initiative. Anna put the equipment in two schools and worked with the teachers to help plan what they might do. It must be said, and Anna will say this too, that both teachers who were involved in the project did all the work but without her initial idea, her passion for teaching, the relationships that she has built with teachers in Aberdeenshire this initiative would never have started. “

If you need reminded of the Nintendogs project that Anna has been nominated for then have a look at this link.

If you wish to vote for her then text ANNAROSSVOLL to : +447786203140

Good luck Anna.

The voting for this is by text message and if

Categories: Aberdeenshire
Tags: Anna Rossvoll, Consolarium, HHL08, HHL2008

To celebrate the impact that this work has had in Scottish schools and to test the ability of teachers and pupils alike we decided to have the Dr Kawashima (how fast can you do your sums) Challenge at this year’s Scottish Learning Festival? This event was supported by Nintendo and they kindly donated 30 DS plus games to us to offer as prizes in this competition. We asked the delegates at this years conference if they were the fastest sums expert in Scotland! We were unsure if teachers would avoid this because they might have felt a little compromised because they couldn’t quite remember things like 7 x 8 under pressure.

Over the course of both days the LTS stand was extremely busy with teachers undertaking the x20 challenge in the game in order to get on the leaderboard so that they had a chance of getting in the top eight that would compete at the Gamezone Challenge at the end of the day.

The final involved the top 8 teachers directly competing against each other in the x30 download challenge. The teachers that did compete did very very well and they contributed to a great session at the end of both days., The winners were:

• Wednesday: Steven Beattie, Dens Road PS, Dundee (15 DS plus games)
  
• Thursday: Vicky Mackenzie, Lairdsland PS, Kirkintilloch (15 DS plus games)

Well done to both winners and we hope that you enjoy and make good use of your newly acquired games/learning devices.

Categories: Nintendo, SLF08
Tags: Consolarium, Nintendo, SLF08, SLF2008

The Consolarium’s attempts to bring games based learning to the Scottish Learning Festival culminated in the final of the Sonic and Mario at the Olympics competition at the Gamezone Challenge. The past month has seen Scottish schoolchildren attempting to qualify for the finals by playing the trampolining game and their expertise left me with a little bit of egg on my face… I had thought long and hard about which game to set as the qualifier and after much deliberation I chose the trampolining because I thought it was far too difficult to get a perfect 10 and that the children’s efforts would be a real spread of scores that would allow me to get my 8 qualifiers for the final. Great thinking on my part because on the final day of qualifying no less than 19 children had registered a perfect 10 on the leaderboard! As a result of this four of the qualifying schools had their own play-offs to select the two children who would represent their school at SLF ‘08.

The event itself was brilliant. Children from Lairdsland PS & Woodhill PS (East Dunbartonshire), Clepington PS (Dundee City) and Cathkin HS (South Lanarkshire) came to compete and compete they did. A large crowd had gathered to see the competition and they gave superb backing to all the competitors with Simon Tait from Cathkin HS just taking the title in the last game. Simon won an Xbox 360 with Guitar Hero plus a Nintendo Wii with Mario Kart and a Wii Fit for his school.

The Gamezone Challenge proved to be a real hit and hopefully it will become a fixture of the Scottish Learning Festival in years to come. Well done to all who participated.

Categories: Dundee City, East Dunbartonshire, SLF08, South Lanarkshire
Tags: SLF08, SLF2008

LTS Dr Kawashima Summary Report

As a result of a small scale intervention that we carried out in some classrooms last year we managed to fund an extended study to explore further the findings that we identified in relation to mental maths attainment and academic self-concept as a result of playing Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training for the Nintendo DS in the primary school.

As a result of this extended study, carried out by Learning and Teaching Scotland in partnership with the University of Dundee and HMIE, we now have some concrete evidence of learning gains that can be attributed to the use of a games console in the primary classroom. But it has also raised a series of questions in our minds; there is a lot more we need to learn…

Although our research does indicate significant gains by the Nintendo group we feel that two things are particularly important for those with an interest in Scottish education. The first is that even the control group children showed measurable improvements in performance; this reflects very well on hard-working Scottish class teachers. The second point is important when thinking about the implications of our findings: because of the research design, we can feel confident that these findings are likely to be typical of what we can realistically expect across the board in Scotland.

We attach a summary paper that gives an outline of what we have found. We intend to submit a fuller paper for full academic review hence the summary nature of the information that we are sharing with you. The results will be discussed and shared with a wider audience for the first time at the Scottish Learning Festival in Glasgow.

Categories: Nintendo
Tags: Consolarium, Derek Robertson, games based learning, LTS, Nintendo, SLF2008

Congratulations to David Whyte from Baldragon Academy in Dundee who yesterday swept all challengers aside to become the Scottish Schools Guitar Hero for 2008. Congratulations also to Craig Davidson, Shaun Caldwell and Lewis Bayne for making it to the semi-finals and for giving such a spirited and skilled performance at the Gamezone Challenge.

David thoroughly impressed the viewing delegates at the conference with his expertise at the game. Whilst playing the song: When We Were Young by The Killers he managed to hit a 500 note streak on expert level. Superb!!!

Thanks to all who supported this event by either participating over the course of the last month or by coming along to the venue to support the boys and to support the unusual addition of something like the Gamezone Challenge at an educational conference.

Thanks also to Microsoft and Nintendo for the donation of prizes for the competitions that we are running in the Gamezone Challenge.

Categories: SLF08
Tags: Consolarium, Guitar Hero, LTS, SLF08, SLF2008

As part of this year’s Consolarium inspired Gamezone Challenge at this year’s SLF we have the DR Kawashima Challenge: How fast can you do your sums? Delegates are invited to take the x20 challenge within this game and see if their score gets on the leaderboard! If a score features in the top eight by 3:30pm on the Wednesday or 2:30pm on the Thursday then the talented delegate will be invited to take part in the x30 download challenge to see if they are the fastest sums expert in Scotland! This title will come with 15, yes I said 15 Nintendo DS plus Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training for the DS.

Categories: Glow, Nintendo, SLF08
Tags: Consolarium, LTS, SLF08, SLF2008

Established in 2006 The Consolarium was Learning and Teaching Scotland’s initiative to explore the potential, worth and manageability of games based learning in nursery, primary and secondary classrooms. Last year’s Scottish Learning Festival allowed a number of these projects to be shared and celebrated and it is with great delight that I can say that this year’s event, SLF ‘08 has given us the opportunity to show what has continued to happen in Scottish classrooms.

What’s on then you may be asking? A full Games pathway brochure is available but as a quick ready reckoner here’s what’s going on over the two days:

Wednesday 24 September

11:30am Please Miss, my Nintendog needs fed! Cross-curricular learning in P2 with virtual pets: Anna Rossvoll, Aberdeenshire Council Education Village

12:30pm Using the Sony PSP as a learning tool in the primary classroom, Tess Watson & Alicia Macfarlane, East Lothian Council seminar code N1B

1:30pm Scotland’s Got Game: How Scotland has embraced games-based learning: Derek Robertson, LTS seminar code N1C

1:30pm Thinking out of the Xbox: if a picture really did speak a 1000 words: Ewan McIntosh, LTS seminar code C2C

4:00pm Consolarium Challenge: Derek Robertson, Education Showcase

Thursday 25 September

9:30am Can Nintendo’s Dr Kawashima impact on mental maths? An extended study: Derek Robertson & Dr David Miller, LTS & University of Dundee seminar code N1F

10:30am Get in training for the Mario Olympics on the Wii (and get enthused about writing too!): Jo-Anne Bell, Dundee City Council seminar code N1G

12:15pm Wiimbledon, anyone for tennis? Using Nintendo’s Wii Sports as the contextual hub for a cross-curricular project: Vicky Mackenzie, Lairdsland PS Education Village

1:30pm The Winning Game: Can a computer game contribute to the development of a culture of success and self-improvement within a school?: Jim Scott, Perth & Kinross Council seminar code N1G

3:00pm Consolarium Challenge: Derek Robertson, Education Showcase

We hope to see you there and at as many events as possible. They promise to be very interesting and I’m sure worth your while.

Categories: SLF08
Tags: Consolarium, LTS, SLF2008

Rock and Roll is helping the Scottish Learning Festival ’08 turn it up to eleven this year in the form of the Scottish Schools Guitar Hero Challenge! If you think that your pupils have the potential to win this then get involved in this year’s Game Zone Challenge at SLF’08. All you need is one of the following: a PS2, PS3, XBox360 or Nintendo Wii along with a copy of Guitar Hero III (with a guitar).

Over the next few weeks we are asking you to let your children play When We Were Young by The Killers. Pupils validated scores should be emailed by their teacher to consolarium@ltscotland.org.uk and we will then upload this to the leaderboard The competition heats will end on Friday 12 September when the top four on the leaderboard will be identified and invited to Glasgow to compete in the Game Zone Challenge. Travel costs will be covered by LTS. This event will take place at the SLF’08 on Wednesday 24 September, 4:00pm.

It promises to be quite an event what with the finals being held on a stage with a PA, large screens, lights AND a dry ice machine…eat your heart out Spinal Tap! Oh, and the champion can win computer games goodies for their school.

We have established a Guitar Hero Glow Group for schools to share the associated curricular work that can go on around a game such as a Guitar Hero but if your school is not yet in Glow don’t worry you can still participate…send your high scores to me and I’ll add it to the leaderboard. If you like you can send me any other material your class may have done in relation to Guitar Hero and I’ll post it in Glow.

The song that we want you to play does not immediately appear in the game so you have two ways of accessing it.

1. Play the game until it opens the song
2. Use a cheat. If you don’t know how to do this then follow these instructions:
   1. To enter cheats, from the main menu in Guitar Hero III go to Options -> Cheats -> Enter New Cheat. For each code, you have to strum while you press the given buttons. Notes in parenthesis are held together while you strum .i.e. (RY) denotes Red and Yellow buttons held at the same time and strummed once.
   1. The cheat code is as follows: GRBO, GRYB, GRYO, GBYO, GRYB, RYBO, GRYB, GYBO, GRYB, GRYO, GRYO, GRYB, GRYO

Please contact us if you have any difficulties with this. Good luck and maybe we’ll see you and your pupils at SLF’08!

Categories: Consolarium, SLF08
Tags: Consolarium, games based learning, Glow, Guitar Hero, LTS, SLF2008

Do your pupils have what it takes to be the Scottish Schools Sonic and Mario at the Olympics Champion for 2008? If so, then get involved in the Mario Olympics Challenge at this year’s Game Zone Challenge at the Scottish Learning Festival ‘08. All you need is a Nintendo Wii, a copy of the game and up to four Wiimotes (the handset that you use to play the Wii).

Over the next few weeks we would like your pupils to enter the trampolining heat. They must try to get the highest score they can on the trampoline event in the game. Their validated scores should then be emailed by a teacher to consolarium@ltscotland.org.uk and we will upload this to the leaderboard.

The competition heats will end on Friday 12 September when the top eight on the leaderboard will be identified and invited to Glasgow to compete in the Game Zone Challenge. Travel costs will be covered by LTS.

One school in Dundee has already piloted this game and not only was this great fun but it led to enthusiastic learning around the associated curricular areas. This work will soon appear on the Consolarium’s website in case study format.

We have established a Glow group for those who want to collaborate and share their work and experiences in this venture. If your school is not in Glow then please do still feel free to join in and compete….

Please note that the finals will comprise of the 100m sprint, the swimming and the trampoline so get cracking with it. They will be held on a stage in the Education Village (Thursday 25 September, 3:00pm) so that an enthusiastic audience can cheer on the competitors. The champion will win some computer games goodies for their school and this prize will be presented by one of Scotland’s best rugby players of recent times, Gregor Townsend MBE who now works with the Winning Scotland Foundation.

Please contact us at consolarium@ltscotland.org.uk if you have any queries about this. Good luck and maybe we’ll see you and your pupils at SLF’08!

Categories: Consolarium, SLF08
Tags: Consolarium, LTS, Nintendo, Scottish Learning Festival, SLF2008, Sonic and Mario at the Olympics, Wii