Maker Project

PED 3119A
Professor: Dr. Michelle Hagerman

Submitted by: Ainley McNamee

Student Number: 8178009

March 31, 2017

Project Description and Contextualization

Grade Six students will be given the task of creating a math computer/video game at the

grade three curriculum level for their Learning Buddies. Students will also be

responsible for creating a media campaign to promote this game and develop

companion merchandise using 3D printing and/or laser cutting technology. This project

will be cross curricular across the Math, Language (Media Literacy), and Arts (Visual

Arts) Curriculum. There is a movement within the board at the directive of the Ontario

Ministry of Education to integrate digital technologies into the classroom and connect

the use of technology to the current curriculum. In 2014 the Ministry released a press

release announcing a $150 million technology and learning fund to develop 21 st century

skills in Ontario students. The Minister of Education at the time, Liz Sandals, made the

following statement,

Students today are growing up in a world where technology and digital resources are an
integral part of their everyday lives. We need to tap into that existing knowledge and familiarity
with technology to make learning even more compelling, and allow our students to become the
innovators, entrepreneurs and leaders of tomorrow.

This class project is meeting these initiatives by integrating technology and fostering

digital literacy across several curriculum.

Description of What the Students Will Create

In groups of two or three, students will be responsible creating their own computer/video

math game using Scratch or Blockly. Students will work in groups, for as we have

explored in our course that when working on projects, students are more successful

when sharing ideas. According to Complexity Theory, individual ideas and

interpretations [need to] be allowed to interact, or bump up, against one another,

creating the potential for novel, innovative, and insightful knowledge to emerge.
(McMurtry, 2008 pg. 278). For the purposes of this assignment the students will be

working in groups, implementing the pedagogical approach of letting student ideas

intersect with one another so they may scaffold their own individual knowledge and

understandings. This assignment will be introduced to the students using a screen cast

launching the Hour of Code in the classroom. Their math game will be designed for

their Grade Three Learning Buddies, so the math concepts will be restricted to the

grade three math curriculum. The student designers and creators of these games will

not be restricted to a specific strand to allow for greater design and creative freedom.

Students will be given copies of the grade three math curriculum so they may identify

what skills they choose to focus on. A check list will be used to assess this piece of the

assignment.

During the introduction of this assignment students will be asked to think about how to

make their game appealing to their learning buddies, so that the grade one students feel

they are playing and not doing homework. As the grade six students have already been

introduced to Manga High and Prodigy, they will have this framework and model to work

from. During the initial Hour of Code the students will be familiarizing themselves with

the programming and following the tutorials. Over the next few days each math class

will begin with a new YouTube video showing students how to program different aspects

of their games. The videos are not prescriptive to the assignment, just scaffolding and

response to student questions.

In Language, students will have been learning about messaging in the media,

identifying audiences, implicit and explicit messages, intentional messaging, and

unintentional messaging due to cultural/societal bias. An extension of the coding

assignment will be to create an advertisement - print, online or video to advertise their

video game, giving consideration who will use it, and who has the purchasing power.

Whichever form of advertisement that the students choose, they will be encouraged to

create the piece digitally. They are free to integrate pen and paper design into the

project, however, I want to push them to see how digital technology appears

everywhere including the creation of art and to see the importance and relevancy of

learning how to use technology. The advertisements will be evaluated for both media

literacy understanding and aesthetics, providing a mark for both Language and Art. A

rubric will be used to evaluate this piece. Students will also develop a marketing plan to

sell licensed merchandise. A checklist will be used to evaluate this piece, providing

another Media Literacy assessment.

Further extending the lesson into Art, students now must create licensed merchandise

to be sold at stores like Toys R Us. They may use either, or both, the 3D printing to

create game pieces, character models, trading cards etc. to accompany this game. A

check list will be used in evaluation.

Curriculum:

Mathematics:

As the assignment is not restricted to a strand, students will be evaluated on the strand

that they chose

Language: Strand: Media Literacy

Overall Expectations
3. create a variety of media texts for different purposes and audiences, using
appropriate forms, conventions and techniques

Specific Expectations:
3.1 Purpose and Audience describe in specific detail the topic, purpose, and
 audience for media texts they plan to create and identify challenges they may
face in achieving their purpose
3.4 Producing Media Texts produce a variety of media texts for specific purposes and
audiences using appropriate forms and conventions and techniques

The Arts: Visual Arts

Overall Expectations:

D1. Creating and Presenting apply the creative process to produce art works in a variety
of traditional two and three dimensional forms, as well as multimedia art works, that
communicate feelings, ideas, and understandings, using elements, principles, and
techniques of visual arts as well as current media technologies.

Specific Expectations:
D1.3 use elements of design in artworks to communicate ideas messages, and
understandings
D1.4 use a variety of materials, tools, techniques, and technologies to determine
solutions to design challenges

Assessment

Checklist for Video Game

Rubric for Video Game Advertisement

Checklist for Companion Toys

References

McMurtry, A (2008). Complexity Theory 101 for Educators: A Fictional Account of a

Graduate Seminar. McGill Journal of Education 43(3) 265-279.

Ontario Ministry of Education (2005), The ontario curriculum grades 1-8: mathematics,
Toronto, ON, Queens Printer.

Ontario Ministry of Education (2006), The ontario curriculum grades 1-8: language,
Toronto, ON, Queens Printer.

Ontario Ministry of Education (2009), The ontario curriculum grades 1-8: the arts,
Toronto, ON, Queens Printer.

Ontario Ministry of Education (2014). News Release: Technology in the classroom

helping students succeed. Retrieved from
https://news.ontario.ca/edu/en/2014/09/technology-in-classrooms-helping-
students-succeed.html