Week 5 - Assignment 1

I have never heard of Gamestar Mechanic before. After reading about game design in the classroom, Gamestar Mechanic seemed like is a unique gizmo to use in the classroom. From my understanding, game design motivates students in the following areas of academics: Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math, also know as STEAM. According to teachers, game design improves students’ creative and strategic thinking. It also educates them about media literacy and collaboration techniques. Students learn to play, design and share their games with their peers and other gamers. Teachers are using game design as an end of unit test to assess their students’ knowledge of story structure design, characterization and theme. Some are using it to improve the students’ storytelling, literacy and writing skills. Game design has proven to be a great tool to encourage students to discuss their ideas as a group, and incorporate feedback from their peers. The importance of constant revision is also emphasized through game design. Teachers have reported that game design makes students look at all the different aspects that come together to make the end product. Most of all, game design is used by teachers as a way to motivate and challenge their students skills in many academic areas.

I played some of the games on the website and even created one. It was a lot of fun. I can see why teachers are using game design as part of their instruction. It really does make students back and test their designs over and over again until they are satisfied with the results. It's a fun way to engage the students.