Great post by Ben Allen! Ben Allen will be a regular contributor to KinectEDucation. This is his first post, which outlines his plans for a game that would engage learners in new and profound ways. His enthusiasm is reflected in his writing and is an extension of his passion for innovative instruction.
Want to become a contributor? Share your voice and vision.
Ben Allen is a student from the UK, where he crafts websites, software and apps. He has been passionately running the business (pixelblast.co.uk) for over a year now, with a quickly growing portfolio. Self-taught in C#, Java, PHP and HTML, to name a few, Ben actively gets involved in new projects to see what he can bring forward. His enthusiasm continues outside of work, where Ben enjoys playing the drums, mountain biking and reading.
Wouldn’t it be great if we could simply have physics lesson in space? Or roam up the tallest mountains for Geography lessons? Yes, it would be great, but unfortunately that’s not practical for many! But, I believe that using the Xbox Kinect we can do so much better, or at least try!
Now, there are many things that we could do to improve the education system to benefit the students, but I think one of the biggest areas where the Kinect could make a massive impact is to aid student revision. Revising the same topic over and over again is boring but making informative, yet fun games can really help with revision. I found this after some research and it definitely explains how beneficial it will be:
As we can see from the pyramid ‘Simulating the real experience’ is one of the best ways to remember information. 90% of what you say and do is remembered by your brain; I think you’ll agree with me to say that is an extortionate amount. So in comes the Xbox Kinect with the ability to simulate pretty much anything! For my project, I would have to match the criteria of a game students can use to revise from in the class environment. It must be engaging and fun, yet still maintain the fact of being very informative. After some brainstorming, I came up with the idea of a spaceship flying through space, with questions asked and the possible answers (A, B or C) in circles. The students would have to use their heads to direct the space ship into one of the circles. I have decided to make the game for two players instead of the whole class. But an idea for use in the lesson would be to separate the players into two teams (Boys vs Girls is always a good idea!) and they can then rotate around for each question. The game would be ideal on a projector allowing the whole class to see how their players are getting on.
The game will be able to store the player’s scores so you can see who is winning out the students year or class, but will also have the ability to upload the score onto an online leaderboard where multiple schools can compete. The game will consist of random questions appearing with a set time limit. As of the space theme, the questions will be physics related. It will be who can last the longest and not get any question wrong. Teachers will also have the option to add the own questions and contribute to the project. So these are my plans, if there is anything you’d think we be a good idea to add, let me know. Once completed, I will have it open on the KinectEDucation website for use! So, contribute as much as you can and get the comments going!
Tags: ben allen, education reform, educational ideas for kinect, game ideas for kinect, kinect education, kinect in education
