[game_edu] Brenda Braithwaite's game_edu rant at GDC

[Johnnemann Nordhagen]

Actually, if programming were a game, it would be SpaceChem:
http://www.spacechemthegame.com/

I have no idea how good it would be at teaching the concepts of
computational thinking, but as a programmer, it captures a lot of what I do
all day. I recommend trying it out, and perhaps showing it to students.

Johnnemann

On Tue, Mar 8, 2011 at 7:57 AM, Ian Schreiber <ai864 at yahoo.com> wrote:


> I agree that it's "computational thinking" more than computer science which

> is key here. (And yes, designers should also understand something of art,

> audio, QA, etc., but design is most strongly linked to code since it is code

> that implements the design.) Maybe that's the key: how to teach

> computational thinking before you teach actual programming?

>

> This is the problem I've run into whenever considering a game programming

> textbook or class. Learning programming is "hard fun" which means it is in

> danger of crossing the line to "frustrating to the point of giving up

> forever." If it were made into a game, it would be like an old-school

> puzzle-based adventure game, where you have to know what to do in order to

> proceed, and if you can't solve a given puzzle then you're stuck forever.

>

> Except in a way, it's worse than adventure games, because you can't just

> look up the answer on GameFAQs. Even if I give you, say, a programming

> challenge that forces you to use 1d arrays... even if you "cheat" by looking

> up the correct source code to fulfill the requirements of that challenge, it

> won't really help you when we get to 2d arrays. You can't just memorize a

> puzzle solution, you have to really grok the concept.

>

> The most success I've had in teaching programming, is when I am interacting

> with students directly one-on-one. There are a seemingly infinite number of

> ways that students can misconceptualize a programming concept, so I have to

> sit there with them and do some puzzle-solving of my own, figuring out where

> their reasoning is flawed and then draw them over to a better way of

> thinking about a problem. This is hard, it's time-consuming, and (most

> importantly) it doesn't scale. I can't put myself in a book or a blog post.

> So coming up with a learn-it-yourself programming resource is an unsolved

> problem to me. (Even Brenda, as much as she might like the programming book

> she's working through, has John there to help if she gets stuck.)

>

> The more I think about it, I feel like computational thinking is a

> necessary 21st-century literacy skill, and that a student that reaches the

> college level without it is going to have a very hard time to begin with.

> Maybe the solution is to push this requirement down to the grade-school

> level, and start tightening admissions requirements accordingly. That

> doesn't solve the problem so much as it passes the buck to someone else,

> admittedly.

>

> Has anyone else out there found a way around this when teaching

> programming, some method or resource that lets students get past the

> stuck-points of learning core programming concepts on their own without

> needing a human mentor to walk them through? If so, how did you do it?

>

> - Ian

>

>

> ------------------------------

> *From:* Simon Etienne Rozner <infonaut at gameonaut.com>

>

> *To:* IGDA Game Education Listserv <game_edu at igda.org>

> *Sent:* Tue, March 8, 2011 6:02:11 AM

>

> *Subject:* Re: [game_edu] Brenda Braithwaite's game_edu rant at GDC

>

> I think that as many here already agree as well, that a more then just

> fundamental understanding of programming is a very good thing for a game

> designer. A CS degree is don't think is a nessecity but at least a

> theoretical understanding of the things a computer scientist deals with on

> an every day basis is by all means useful information. I teach courses both

> for CS students and Game design students ( art as well as technical oriented

> degrees) ( see the courses for BAGD and BSGD on the Digipen website). In

> those courses I teach a programing class oriented for game designers. The

> focus is on understanding logical thought and implementation processes that

> are directly as well as indirectly relevant to game design. On top of that I

> try to help the students to develop a feeling of what is possible to code

> given constraibts of time, manpower and money( that one in theory, since we

> don't have actual money in the classroom). It should help them to understand

> how an inefficient desig

> n affects the production, how to go about changing it to something that

> yields the same result but can be accomplished faster and easier and gain at

> the same time important foundation programmig skills to be able to create

> their own prototypes and simple games.

>

> Although I am not a programmer and come from an art background,

> understanding the limitations of the system i design on, the intricacies of

> code structures and logic flow of programs have been immensly valuable for

> me. I think it is a mistake for any aspiring gake designer or veteran to

> brush programing aside as unimportant and a waste of time. It is essential

> knowledge to our craft, but don't need to be computer scientists. We must

> well understand though what it is they do. On that note, you should also

> well understand what your artists do and everyone else on the team.

>

> On Mar 8, 2011, at 18:45, Mike Reddy <Mike.Reddy at newport.ac.uk> wrote:

>

> > I dabbled with a game programming summer course last year, and know that

> Ian Schreiber and I discussed him (us?) running a game programming summer

> course, building on his game design and game balance courses in previous

> years. Any designers reading this, or those who think that Brenda has a

> point, might consider setting aside a few hours a week for the Summer, if

> they want to dip into programming this year. Do you think that there would

> be interest in this?

> >

> > Personally, I think that comments about systems thinking and the

> creativity of constraint are excellent enablers.

> >

> > Mike

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