Week 6- Gamestar Mechanic Review

Gamestar Mechanic is a game based learning platform that teaches the basics of game design. It is intended for grade levels 4-9.  It allows students to learn about different game systems and how they function. The web site states that students cultivate skills involving systems based thinking, creative problem solving, art and aesthetics, writing and storytelling and STEM areas of curriculum.  The learning environment of Gamestar Mechanic is designed to foster the acquisition of 21st century language and literacy skills by instructing students about the key elements of game design.
  
How does it work you might ask?

Students play through the “quest” which is a narrative adventure shown in animation and mini games. In play mode, as they move through the story they have to edit and fix broken or poorly designed elements of the game.  In design mode the students play and fix the games and as they do, they earn “sprites”. These sprites can be used to design games in their own “workshops”. They use drag and drop tools without having to write program code. To receive feedback the student share their games in an online community called Game Alley. Here the students review each other and provide feedback in the form of comments.

Teachers use Gamestar Mechanic as part of the instruction in a classroom. They can use it to model a system such as the water cycle in science. They can use it to tell a story. An art teacher might use it to show specific visual qualities related to an art topic. A technology teacher could use it to teach game design. After playing the teacher introduction I was engaged and played through to the end. I can see it is geared for younger students and think the 9th grade recommendation might be stretching it a bit. Overall it is something I liked and I would be interested in seeing how it works in an elementary and middle school classroom.