Further Research and Working With Different School Environments
When working with children it is imperative to understand how they learn and therefore, how to create the most effective gaming experience that they would have the best engagement with.
Information congregated with a Tumblr post made by Jordana Palmer and further explained by the Russel Island Teaching team.
For reference, Russel Island struggles with a large number of struggling students due to their home lives. Many students at the school do not have positive role models and show that in their actions at school. Therefore, I thought I would congregate some of the previous information gathered and work it in with the context of a struggling school environment.
Not all children work well with ‘negative’ feedback, must keep it positive
This goes double for students in certain schooling environments
Need to remember that some students come from lifestyles that are already negative
Some schools don’t necessarily have access to the appropriate technology
A large portion seem to have at least some appropriate technology
Many schools have at least a projector or TV
There are multiple issues with children’s understanding
Ridiculously short attention spans
Hearing impairment or deliberately ‘selective’ hearing
Poor coordination and balance issues
Slower mental student development
Extremely poor English and understanding of English
Children of the specified student age only respond positively to certain gaming aspects
The game must engage the student
The children must find it fun (like any game but more for children of that age)
Cannot use any negative language
Students respond poorly to it
Some students get enough negative language at home, they don’t need more
Always acknowledge the child’s achievements even when minor
The students may not get positive reinforcement at home, they will respond better if they are encouraged
Constant feedback for all actions to keep the students engaged
Students react the most positively to a game that incorporates the following ideas
Imagine in play (like superheroes or cartoon characters)
Children at this age are constantly imagining. Therefore, they find a game where they play themselves to be boring
Interactive media (incorporating dancing, acting or singing)
Being able to explore as a child is fun. Not easy to facilitate but fun for the students
Incorporate physical actions to get the goal, i.e. digging
Further game ideas that could be introduced into the school environment
This may not work for some students, as some students cannot hold a pose or sit still for the required amount of time
Memory games with numbers or puzzles
Guessing games - children retain facts incredibly well
This doesn’t apply to all students. A small number of students cannot retain information over short periods of time
This is usually due to a small attention span
Skills that could possibly be developed further
Hopping, skipping and jumping
One foot in front of the other (heel to toe)
Fine motor skills to help with writing
Although a large amount of the information is useful it seems to be worked in with a perfect or moderate school, however, does not work efficiently with the school structure that works with more ‘disadvantaged’ and ‘disengaged’ students.