The Activities
Below
is a complete list and summary of each of the activity ideas that are featured
in Playing to Learn. The full book descriptions for these activities
include: 1) introductory information that sets up the context of each activity;
2) step-by-step instructions on leading each activity in class; and 3)
extension and modification ideas for adapting each activity.
In
addition to the activities
listed below, Playing to Learn features
- a
dozen "activity quickies"
- eighteen
thought-provoking discussion articles
- dozens
of Web links, data tables, and video game screenshots.
Advertising
Campaign
The
students design a full-fledged advertising campaign for an upcoming or newly
released video game.
Alternate History
The students write an alternate history of the world that starts with a decisive
change in the outcome of a historical event.
Arcade
vs. Video Games
The students
compare and contrast the social experience of playing video games in an arcade
versus playing them at home on a video game console or PC computer.
Artistic
Rendering
The students
create an artistic representation of a real-world scene.
Battleship
The
students assemble the materials for a classic game of Battleship,
which they then play in pairs.
Best
Kids’ Game
The
students rank and review their favorite kid-friendly video games.
Body Image
The
students discuss the relationship between body image and the physiques of both
male and female video game characters.
Book Review
The
students review an academic or instructional book about video games.
Branding
the Box
The topic
of branding is introduced to students who then compare and contrast the packaging
of two or more PlayStation 3, Wii, or Xbox 360 titles.
Bully
The
students discuss the ethical issues surrounding RockStar’s school-based
video game titled Bully.
Car Commercial
The
students create a car commercial using in-game footage captured from a driving
game.
Car of
the Future
The students
design and outline the specifications for a tricked-out new car (or flying machine)
of the future.
Chart
Toppers
The students
track the video game sales charts over a one- or two-month period. They analyze
and draw conclusions about the statistics they have collected.
Cheat
Code Central
The students
review a game's cheat codes. They propose a revised set of cheat codes that would
make the game easier and more fun to play for novices and recreational gamers
alike.
Choose
Your Own Adventure
The students
write a choose your own adventure story, a narrative with multiple pathways that
can then be adapted for use in an adventure video game.
Composer
Discography
The students
research the discography of an established video game composer.
Critiquing
the Controllers
The students
compare and contrast the gamepad controllers that ship with the Microsoft Xbox
360, Nintendo Wii, and Sony PlayStation 3 gaming systems.
Deadpan
Dialog
The students
write a review of a video game focusing solely on the elocution of one or more
characters’ dialogue.
Design
Your Own Racetrack
The students
use arts and crafts supplies to design a racetrack that features five or more
geographic landforms.
Design
Your Own Racetrack (Take Two)
The students
use a city map to design a sanctioned street race through an urban center. They
identify road hazards, plot positions where protective barriers should be erected,
and mark off cross streets that should be closed to traffic.
Do You
Recognize This Voice?
The students
play a teaching game in which they listen to recorded excerpts of dialog from
several video games. They attempt to guess which celebrity’s
voice they are hearing.
Don’t
Believe the Hype
The students
compare and contrast the previews and reviews of a video game. They look for
evidence of hype in the previews for games that didn't quite fulfill expectations
upon their release.
ESRB Ratings
Review
The students
review the ESRB ratings system and suggest what changes (if any) they would propose
making.
Ergonomic
Audit
The students
conduct an ergonomic audit of the school’s computer lab.
They present their findings to the student council, principal, and school staff.
Fact vs.
Opinion
The students
analyze and parse one or more reviews of a video game for statements of fact
and opinion.
Fine Motor
Count
The students
tally the number of times one or more gamepad buttons are pressed during a gaming
session. They then transfer this data onto a chart for further analysis during
math class.
Fitness
Regime
The students
propose a series of fitness exercises for a leading video game or comic book
character.
Foley
Effects Artist
The students
become Foley artists as they replace the sound effects in a video game with their
own sounds derived from materials they have collected in and around their school
and home.
Foley
Effects Artist (Take Two)
The students
add Foley effects to their game creations and video productions.
For How
Long Do I Play?
The students
track the amount of time they spend playing video games over a two-week period.
They then analyze and perform calculations on the data they have gathered.
Game Invention
The
students design a real-world game or sport that they then teach others to play
in a physical education class.
Gaming
Budget
The students
perform a cost-benefit analysis of the practice of buying versus renting video
games.
Gaming
Station
The teacher
sets up a PlayStation 3, Wii, or Xbox 360 gaming station in the classroom that
is to be used for educational purposes in the instructional program.
Graphical
Analysis
The students
conduct a graphical analysis of a video game. They critique the models, textures,
lighting, shadows, and other graphical features of the game.
Historical
Campaign
The students
propose a new mission for an existing World War II– or
Vietnam-based wargame. They draw their idea from an actual historical campaign
or scenario that occurred during the war.
Historical
Place Analysis
The students
compare and contrast historically accurate video game environments with photographs
and descriptions of the same real-world settings.
Historical
Weaponry
The students
research the history of a weapon that is featured in a World War II– or Vietnam-based video game.
I Beg
to Differ
The students
write a response to a negative review of a video game they enjoyed.
I Believe
The
students write an I Believe poem about video games that comprises ten belief
statements.
Kid-friendly
Grand Theft Auto
The students
take back the streets as they design a vibrant, kid-friendly city in which there
are lots of things to do.
Lay of
the Land
The students
create a topographic map of a fictional battlefield that features several of
the landforms they have studied in class.
Map
of the World
The students
use a wall map of the world to plot the real-world locations in which their favorite
video games are set.
Music
Critic
The students
critique the licensed musical mix that is featured in a video game.
|
New
Multiplayer Mode
The students
brainstorm new multiplayer modes that comprise sets of gameplay rules and scenarios
for a popular online wargame.
Newscast
Production
The students
study the structure of a traditional television newscast. They then apply what
they have learned to the creation a live newscast of their own that reports on
the video game news of the day.
Next
Generation Console
The students
pick a name and design a model for a next-generation gaming system. They also
brainstorm a list of cutting-edge features that the system will support.
Open
World Directions
The students
write out the directions for getting from Point A to Point B in an open world
driving game.
Playing
to Learn
The students
brainstorm and lead their own video game learning activities.
Poor
Posture
The teacher
teaches a lesson on ergonomics in which a student volunteer demonstrates the
proper posture for sitting at a computer.
Race
Relations
The students
discuss how different cultural groups are represented in video games.
Repetitive
Stress Injury
The teacher
presents a formal lesson on repetitive stress injury to the class.
Researching
the Credits
The students
research a specific video game–related job and its role in the development
of a video game title.
Researching
the Credits (Take Two)
The students
browse the credits for one or more video games as a way of helping them to organize
their own in-class game development studio into assigned roles and tasks.
Review
Roundup
The students
compare and contrast two or more reviews of a video game. They write a review
roundup that sums up the views of the critics plus their own insights.
Review
of the Real World
The students
turn the notion of a video game review on its head and instead review the real
world as if it were a video game.
Scary
Stories
The students
discuss what makes a story, movie, or video game scary. They then write their
own scary story.
Scooby-Doo
and the Laws of Physics
The students
watch a half-hour Scooby-Doo Mysteries episode and count and/or categorize
the number of times the characters—both friends and foes—do the impossible.
Serious
Games Brainstorming
The students
brainstorm ideas for a new serious game that teaches the knowledge and skill
set required by a particular profession.
Spelling
Dictation
The teacher
compiles a spelling list of video game-related terms.
Statistical
Analysis
The students
analyze and discuss a number of video game–related statistics.
Strategy
Guide Review
The students
write and then publish a review of a video game strategy guide.
Strategy
Guide Writing
The students
author their own strategy guides for a full video game or a single mission from
a favorite game.
Study
of the Future
The students
write an essay that predicts what our world will look like in the future.
Superhero
Design
The students
design an original superhero character for a video game.
Surround
Sound Map
The students
go outside and draw a directional sound-field map that plots the location of
natural and human-made sounds coming from the front, rear, sides, and overhead.
Tactical
Analysis
The students
write about one or more tactics they have successfully used in a video game.
Technological
Progress
The students
review the graphical features of three video games, respectively published this
year, three years ago, and six years ago.
Television
Technologies
The students
research the science behind the four major television technologies: CRT, LCD,
DLP, and plasma. They report on the pros and cons of each.
Test
Drive
The students
design a science experiment in which their peers take the cars in a racing game
for a test drive. They report on which cars have the best and worst control and
handling according to the participants in the study.
The
Gaming PC
The students
design the casing for a custom gaming PC that optionally features a custom paint
job, decals, neon lights, tattoos, and other embellishments.
The
Interview
The students
interview their peers about their video game playing habits. They then draw tentative
conclusions from the data they have gathered.
The
Obituary
The students
write an obituary that recounts the life of a lead video game character who has
died.
The
Pitch
The students
prepare a proposal for a brand-new video game, which they then pitch to the class.
The
Rewrite
The students
rewrite the dialog for a cutscene in a video game that is in desperate need of
improvement.
The
Rewrite (Take Two)
The students
rewrite a video game user review in an effort to improve its clarity and sentence
structure.
The
Stunt
The students
capture some in-game footage of their characters performing insane stunts on
foot or in vehicles.
The
Survey
The students
design a video game survey, which they then administer to other students in the
school.
Ultimate
Gaming Bundle
The students
design an advertisement for the ultimate gaming bundle, consisting of a PC or
console system and third-party hardware and games.
Urban
Planning
The students
choose the location for a new city, which they then design from the ground up.
User
Interface Review
The students
apply the principles of user interface design to their review of a game’s
user interface, menu system, and/or heads up display (HUD).
Video
Game Addiction
The students
research the topic of video game addiction. They decide on a list of criteria
for determining whether someone is addicted to video games.
Video
Game Database
The students
design a database for storing information about video games. They pretend they
are opening a video game rental store and need to keep track of their inventory.
Video
Game Debate
The students
debate a controversial issue related to video games.
Video
Game Reenactment
The students
reenact a key scene from a video game that boasts a strong storyline.
Video
Game Review
The students
write a review for a video game they are currently playing.
Virtual
Journal
The students
write a series of journal entries that chronicle their virtual life in an online
role-playing or open world video game.
Website
Design
The students
brainstorm ideas for a video game website that features content not typically
found at existing websites.
Well-Balanced
Diet
The students
propose a set of four video games that provide a desired gameplay balance and
variety of play.
World
without Music
The students
reflect on the perceptual experience of playing a video game without music.
World’s
Best Gamertag
The students
are challenged to come up with the most creative Gamertag they can think of. |
