No Input Needed

Our students began working on their ideal video game controller this week. We've spent the past 3 days looking at systems of the past (Tennis For Two, Fairchild Channel F, Atari 2600, Nintendo NES), modern systems (Wii, XBox, PS3, 3DS) and future examples of interacting with computers and games (Google Glass, Corning, LeapMotion, Stinky, MyoBand)

This week we broke the class into 2 groups. They each chose a name for their company - Happy Zero, Inc. and Video Game Skyfallers. They came up with design drawings and properties that their controllers would have. Today they started building them out of modeling clay. Our goal is to decorate them next week and present to our classmates.

If you'd like to see some additional material and discuss it with your child, here's some content I didn't have time for in class:

Review of the worst controllers of all time. (very subjective!)

Pop Chart Labs - Evolution of Video Game Controllers (Poster)

Ask your kids about some of the vocabulary we've discussed:

• aesthetics


• universal design


• legacy/modern


• prototype


• control stick vs. directional pad


• analog vs. digital


• novelty controllers[gallery type="slideshow" ids="466,467,468,473,472,471,470,469"]

Guest Post: Olivia (Day 3)

Tommy has pacman and sponge Bob joysticks. We saw the Stinky that you put on your feet. We saw glasses you put a thing over your eye. We saw Leap that you can draw in the air. You can change the car with your tablet.[gallery type="circle" columns="2" ids="461,460,459,456"]

Guest Post: Phoenix (Day 2)

We are watching a video of controllers that were made along time ago  that don't work very well for example a video game glove someones arm is going to get tired and DonkeyKong bongos how many games are you going to play with that?

Now were talking about how you can make the character move

Now were listening to call me maybe and Carly is singing to a guy. We asked the phone what song was playing, and it answered.

[gallery ids="413,414,415,416,417,418,419"]

 

Guest Post: Tommy (Day 1)

Today we played a game were two people are race car and two other peolpe are controller there were two chairs one person move the chair  one race car could olny go left,right,forward and back the other can go in any degrees it was called the analog it was a lot easyer to use the the other one.

[gallery ids=",404,403,402,401,400,399"]

Handing Over The Controls

The next few posts will be written by blog guests from Mrs. Truong's 2nd grade class. These 6 students have proposed a research topic of exploration about how video game controllers work and why they look they way they do. We're going to explore the history of human-computer interaction, look at modern day input methods and look to the future of computer input. This is a student oriented project - the results will be determined by these students. I look forward to seeing their creation, hearing their questions and guiding them in their research.

It's not about losing control... it's teaching them to take control.

AC Students Reach New Heights With Lunar Program

Allendale Columbia School is pleased to announce its most ambitious program to date. For the 2013-2014 academic year, students will be able to travel to the moon. Through a series of interdisciplinary pursuits from both faculty and student contributors, space travel has gone from a thing of wonder to a thing of reality.

Mick Gee, AC's newly-minted Head of School, is very excited about this new prospect. "STEM Education is so 2012. This is STEM Application. My previous initiatives, including City as a Campus, were just the first footsteps. I'm calling this program, 'Universe as a Campus'".

The project owes its existence to Dr. Jeffrey Lawlis, the Science Department chair. His research, along with fellow faculty member Amy Rudich, formed the basis for the launch mechanism that will allow up to 4 students to reach the lunar surface. Their recently published work, "Phase-Changing, Plasma Induced Hyper-Acceleration for Extra-Orbital Travel" started as a napkin drawing. Says Dr. Lawlis, "It's really a souped-up catapult. With a bang."

The project has taken on a school-wide focus. Dining personnel are working to package some of the students' favorite meals inside of special pouches designed to withstand the 30 minute ride to the moon. They ruled out pureed forms of AC specials. Mrs. Laura Reynolds-Gorsuch commented, "The kids really enjoy the paninis, but there's no reason they can't look presentable  even in space."

The students have been eager to bring the Lunar program to fruition. Diane Broberg's 11th grade calculus class has been working feverishly to calculate the timing and trajectory for the initial voyage. One weary junior looked up from her pages of calculations and exclaimed, "This thing is travelling at almost 10,000 miles per hour. I mean, c'mon!"

Facilities Manager Terry Mulcahy and past Board Member Rick Garrett have begun talks with the Towns of Pittsford & Brighton about the joint development of a space launch facility. Officials are excited about the economic boost that space travel could bring to their quiet suburban bedroom communities. "We'll just have to make sure that no one shanks a long drive off the fairway from Oak Hill onto our launch pad," said Mulcahy.

Allendale Columbia Director of Development John Reese is looking forward to the first test flight at the end of this month. The annual fund-raiser is scheduled for
April 27th, and he's certain that this kind of program is exactly what school supporters want to see. "It will be a Spring Fling, all right. We'll fling it right up to the Moon!"

Indeed you will, Mr. Reese.