Games in Education 2014

"Don't just buy a new video game. Make one." This was the plea of President Barack Obama leading to the Hour of Code Initiative of Computer Science Education Week this past December. Creating video games provides students with a constructionist learning opportunity involving design thinking, problem solving and iterative design while teaching computer science concepts in an engaging manner. Game Design requires collaboration and an interdisciplinary approach including graphic design and animation, storytelling, sound engineering, and object oriented programming. GameMaker is an incredible tool for teaching these skills as it is presented in an intuitive drag and drop manner that stays true to the programming in a concrete manner. Join us for this demonstration and hands on experience where you will learn the GameMaker basics and create your first game!