All posts by : Saira Mortier

Dragon Architect Released

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CGSWebSiteDragonArchitectTwo of our graduate students, Aaron Bauer and Eric Butler have created a fun new program called Dragon Architect. Claiming they have found a dragon that only speaks code, they developed Dragon Architect for ages nine and up to let youngsters help this peculiar creature construct wondrous things in a fun 3D building game. Through the use of Dragon Architect, students learn basic programming concepts to solve puzzles and build 3D structures out of cubes. Give it a try today!


CGS Live: See Us This Spring

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cgsIt’s almost spring, which means it’s time to gear up for conferences, community events, and visits to the Center for Game Science!

Coming up in March, conference attendees will have the opportunity to hear various members of the Center for Game Science talk in person. On Tuesday, March 10, SXSW Edu attendees can catch Director Zoran Popović presenting Rapid, Radical Changes in Student Concept Mastery in Austin, Texas. For those attendees of the Online Learning Summit 2015 in April, Director Popović will also be speaking there. Also during early March, he will be the opening keynote speaker at L@S (Learning at Scale) March 14-15.

If you’re headed to San Francisco in early March, Community Manager Nova Barlow will be out on the speaking circuit with her sure to be lively panel “Straight Talk About Community Manager Tenure” on March 2nd, during GDC 2015’s brand new Community Manager Summit.

If you’re not headed to a conference this spring (or even if you are), feel free to join UW CSE’s Center for Game Science at Meet an Engineer Night on February 26th. Center for Game Science Ph.D student Aaron Bauer will participate in Meet an Engineer Night at the Northeast branch of the Seattle Public Library. The event is part of a month-long program of activities organized by the Seattle Public Library and Pacific Science Center as an extended celebration of National Engineers Week. While the target audience is age 12 and above, everyone is welcome to attend and learn about the exciting field of engineering from 6:30 to 7:30 pm.

We look forward to seeing you at these upcoming talks!


Foldit Creates Young Scientists

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IMG_7620 This past weekend, the Center from Game Science was joined by scientists from the Baker Lab to help bring the joy of science (and protein folding) to visitors of all ages at the eighth annual Life Sciences Research Weekend.

Business was brisk at Pacific Science Center with hopeful players peeking over shoulders, or waiting a turn nearby at our protein coloring station featuring six different designs created by Foldit players.

See our collection of pictures from the weekend on our Flickr account or Facebook pages for more weekend snapshots.

We’ll be tucked away working on things during November and working with some local school groups for playtests (so things may be a bit quiet), but if you want to come see the Center for Game Science in person, your next chance will be the CSE Computing Open House early next month. See you there!

 


Kids Like to Learn Algebra, if It Comes in the Right App

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Zoran Popović is teaching algebra to children with an adaptive—and addictive—new videogame called DragonBox Adaptive.

Want to learn more about the Center for Game Science and how we used DragonBox Adaptive to help K-12 graders in Washington state learn to enjoy math? Check out the feature on Wired!


Play at Work: How Games Inspire Breakthrough Thinking

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Foldit’s origin story from the initial brainstorming session to the Mason-Pfizer Monkey Virus breakthrough (and beyond) is featured in a new book by Adam L. Penenberg, a journalism professor at NYU.

Check out “Play at Work: How Games Inspire Breakthrough Thinking” for an insightful new look at how games of all varieties are helping us learn, create, and innovate.