Description

In April 2015, Dig-It Games! had the pleasure of hosting sixth through eighth grade students from the Wheatley Education Campus in Washington, DC, at our studio in Bethesda, MD. This partnership gave students the opportunity to discover first-hand what it is like to work in a game studio. They participated in hands-on activities across our art, programming, and production departments, facilitated by Dig-It Games! staff. This unique app combines the students’ game designs with the artwork developed during their time in the studio.

Students were tasked with designing a game level prototype based on a provided template. Students started the day with brainstorming sessions where they collaborated on the design for a game prototype. Dig-It! Games developers then built the prototype to the students' specifications, working to bring these games to life exactly as the students envisioned them, with varying degrees of difficulty and unique obstacles and storylines.

During their time in our studio, the students learned to manipulate the code used to build the prototypes and used 3D software to build and customize one of the in-game objects. At the end of the day, students had an opportunity to play the game they designed on an iPad and to present their game to the rest of the class. The entire process, from initial design discussion to the students presentation of their prototypes to their classmates was done in one 4 hour visit to the Dig-It! Games studio.

WheatleyDays packages all the levels from the 6 classes (18 total levels). We feel it is important to make these students' work available for them to access and show their peers. While we could have polished these levels into a finished product that matches the quality of our other products, we have actively chosen to leave the art and gameplay in the prototype stage exactly as the students designed it.

We believe the value in this app lies in the student ownership of the work they did. During their visit, the students learned about coding, digital art and game design, but the most important take-away for them was in the empowerment of knowing that they made a real, playable game. These students came into our studio with a vague idea that "making games is cool." They left with a new perspective on what they are capable of, both inside and outside the classroom.

Students who initially thought coding was beyond them because it involved too much math finished the day thinking they might want to pursue a career in programming. Quiet students blossomed when put in charge of a gamified version of project management. Geometry and art came together and suddenly cones, cylinders, vectors and more jumped off the worksheet page and became real things to be manipulated to form objects.

In WheatleyDays one can see the power of kids' imaginations at work. This app shows what kids are capable of when they collaborate, explore and play. This is the power of game-based learning at work. We hope you have as much fun playing as the kids and our team did creating this app.

To learn more about Dig-It! Games and game-based learning, please visit our website: www.dig-itgames.com

About Dig-It! Games®
Discover a new way to learn! At Dig-It! Games, we believe in the power of games to promote critical thinking, independent learning, and cultural understanding. Our games incorporate age-appropriate content in math, science, social studies and language arts into fun, interactive and engaging learning experiences. Through our seamless blend of fun and learning, we seek to foster the joy of intellectual discovery and inspire kids to think differently about learning.