Games in Learning - Exergaming Action Learning Project 2008-2009

About the Project

The Games in Learning Project trialled the use of exergaming equipment in four Education Queensland schools. The schools are Gladstone Central State School, Hannaford State School, Ipswich West State School and Narangba Valley State High School. Find out more about what each school did:

Learn game making to learn teamwork

Casual Gaming Console - The Nintendo Wii

There are a number of games consoles available. Each of them has their own strengths and weaknesses and is designed to suit different audiences.

Nintendo's console, the Nintendo Wii is aimed at casual gamers - people who wouldn't necessarily normally interact with digital games. It uses a unique human interface device called the Wiimote. The Wiimote connects to the console using bluetooth and infrared. It has its own in-built speakers and motion sensors. The motion sensors enable game play that can simulate real-life play in a way that has never been possible out-of-the-box with game console technologies.

Building Virtual Gardens at Kurwongbah State School

The teachers and students of Kurwongbah State School in Brisbane's North are continuing their exploration of the use of games in learning.

The school began its journey in this area when in took part in the Microsoft Xbox trial offered through the Games in Learning project in 2005.   As a result of the success of the trial, the school has continued using the Xbox and to date it has been used to engage learners in numerous multi-age classes within the school.

Microsoft and the ICT Learning Innovation Centre have recently provided two Xbox 360 consoles to enable the school to continue their explorations into how gaming consoles can be used effectively in learning.   A team of Year 6/7 teachers at the school have teamed up with the Curriculum Coordinator to plan an engaging, integrated unit where students play the Microsoft Xbox 360 game 'Viva Pinata' to learn about caring for the environment.

In this unit, that has been developed by Marie Leech, Heather Wessling and Denise Tarlinton, students consider the questions "How can we care for the environment to ensure a sustainable future?"   The aim of the unit is for students to develop a deeper understanding of the value of caring for different Australian environments through researching an environment and studying the importance of different ecosystems. 

As part of this unit, students engage with Viva Pinata on the Xbox 360 to create a reflective diary, recording observations of their interactions with the animals and the environment, within the Viva Pinata landscape, noting the impact of changes they make on the environment.

The Games in Learning project is proudly supporting the Queesland Academy for Heath Sciences in the QAHS Creative Challenge - Creating our physical future through a virtual lens as part of 2009 - the Year of Creativity.

Our Tutorials

Check out the tutorials that have been added to our site.

• Swat the Mozzie tutorial with Flash (uses ActionScript 2)
• Getting Started with Game Maker
• Make a Maze Game in Game Maker
• Capturing PC Game Play with Fraps
• Editing Machinima with Movie Maker
• Make a Pick-A-Path Adventure

Game Making - Introduction

Thinking about giving game making a go in your classroom?   The links below will provide you with an opportunity to develop an understanding of the types of games that students can make using the different game making applications.   Many of the games on the sites are also good models to share with students.

A special thanks to our GIL list member Tony Forster for collating and sharing this list.

Physical Activity Games

Most people don't associate computer games with physical activity. In fact, the association is usually quite the opposite! A new generation of computer games have been designed to get people off the couch and moving.