SGS Feature: 'Teaching Thinking Skills Through Game Authoring'

In today's main feature written for Gamasutra sister site Serious Games Source, which deals with games created for training, health, government, and other uses, as well as their cultural effects, we present a case study that details the use of game authoring software to create a new educational serious game within a classroom setting. In this excerpt, the study examines early efforts by Chris Harte, e-learning co-ordinator at St. Robert of Newminster RC School in North East England, and his students to utilize Caspian's Thinking Worlds to create A New Beginning, a new serious game focused on the topic of bullying at school. “Bullying was something that had affected every pupil, either directly or indirectly, and was also a topic that lent itself well to the one-on-one relationship within a game. The pupils developed mind maps on bullying and transition, looking at the issues that needed to be addressed in the game. There were certain topics that the children specifically wanted to cover in the game, such as what is acceptable and unacceptable behaviour, how bullying affects teachers, victims, victim’s friends and the bully themselves, and how every action has a consequence. These mind maps formed the basis of the specific elements that were required for each individual task in the game. The tasks were then ordered to devise a route for the character travelling through the game.” You can now read the full Serious Games Source feature on the subject, including more concerning the processes that went into the creation of A New Beginning (no registration required, please feel free to link to this feature from external websites).