Play to cure : The Cancer Research Game

Just came across this game whilst browsing online. This a cause very close to my heart and I thought it was quite interesting considering we have been talking about gaming and education, and this incorporates both.

Description from the Cancer Research website: 

Play to Cure™: Genes in Space is the world’s first free mobile game that uses the collective force of players to analyse real genetic data and help beat cancer sooner.

The game

The mission of Genes in Space is to collect a fictional substance dubbed Element Alpha. This represents genetic cancer data, which might underpin certain types of cancer.

As a recruit of the game's 'Bifrost Industries', your mission is to collect the valuable and tradable substance Element Alpha and rise through the employee ranks by:

• Mapping your route through the densest areas of Element Alpha.
• Following your route as you fly through space collecting as much Element Alpha as you can, destroying asteroids along the way.
• Avoiding and shooting asteroids to get to the next level of Element Alpha collection.
• Upgrading your ship to become more powerful and trading your Element Alpha for more points.

http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/support-us/play-to-cure-genes-in-space?utm_source=affiliate_window&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_name=online_retail&utm_content=www.facebook.com

Lesson Planning / Educational Gaming Day

We had a games day in university, where we were able to try different games consoles and see for ourselves how educational these games can be. We used computers, Xbox's, Wii's, Ipads, and Lenovo All in One Touchscreen PC. On each console there was a different game and it was interesting to see the difference between both console and educational purpose. I particular found the Xbox connect a good way of learning, although it could be developed to have a game with more educational purpose, I think it would allow the student to be psychically active whilst learning and therefore hold their attention longer. The Xbox Connect also allows you to either play alone or with a friend, so both independent learning and teamwork can be incorporated. This is a brief lesson plan created to show how an Xbox can support learning. 

Lesson Plan

Learning Objective:

To be able to work both individually and as a team and communicate well with each other. 

Key Skills:

Communication and Teamwork.

Outcomes:

Improvement of communication skills

Confidence to work both in a team and alone

Hopscotch

Programming using Hopscotch

Hopscotch is programming for everyone and anyone. It is available on the IPad and is very similar to Scratch. You can make games, animations, stories and other interactive programs by using the various commands on screen to drag and drop blocks of code together. Having the software on Ipad allows you to shake and tilt the ipad to control your characters in your animation. I found this easier to use than Scratch as it seem likes complicated. In this session, we made a house using the characters to draw the lines of the house.

My Scratch animation

My Scratch Animation

This animation was created using the program 'Scratch'. We started using Scratch in our sessions before Christmas. Scratch is a free programming software which allows you to create your own interactive animations. Firstly, it was confusing, as this software was completely new to me, but once I got into it, it was easy to pick up! To get to terms with our software, we had to create a maze on the screen for our 'Sprite' to move through. Then after creating our maze, we then moved on to creating our own animation. I choose the 'Africa' theme and used a Lion and Elephant. Here is a screenshot showing how I created my animation. 

In my animation, the lion is chasing the elephant. This was difficult to begin with, as trying to get all the commands in order was very time consuming but after working hard I created my animation. 

My opinion of gaming

In my opinion gaming plays a major role in people's lives. Gaming is not necessarily online or using a games console, it can range from games such as jigsaws and puzzles to board games. The gaming industry is worth millions of pounds and computer games are becoming more and more popular.

On the other hand, there are a lot more games made just for fun. A lot of people's hobbies are playing computer games, but there can be problems, such as people becoming too addicted to playing games and spending far too much time on them and games encouraging people to be violent towards other characters in the game.

These days people spend more and more time gaming. But is it a good thing? Games can be educational, such as BBC Bitesize and other online games for children. These types of games are beneficial because not only are children learning how to use a computer but also learning a topic related to what they learn in school. Learning using a computer, I think, engages children more as they are keen to learn using something fun like a game on a computer.

Another point is we are all going to become couch potatoes if we are constantly sitting inside gaming, games are so addictive now people seem to forget about the outside world or getting some exercise.

So in conclusion I think gaming is good for an activity when you have spare time but it can be too addicting and expensive.


Em :)