Are you smarter than a celebrity? Maggie DeAngelis Ruth Mass Rosina

Overview | Instructional Objective | Learners | Context | Scope | Object of Game | Design Details

Competing Products | Motivational Issues | Design Process | References

Overview

This game is designed for high school students and is focused on health issues that are vital to their well-being at this age. Most are studying health as a high school graduation requirement. Some students are in rehabilitation programs because they have already abused drugs. The hook to this game is the opening screen which features a scope of celebrities from a variety of genres--political figures, movie stars, musicians, and comedians. Viewing the quick video clips of the celebrities saying stupid things is the "hook" that draws the learner into learning more. Hopefully the learner will realize why it is stupid to do unhealthy things to their bodies.

Example: Brittney Spears got her kids taken away for drug abuse. Wasn't that stupid! Now, have you done anything that stupid? Read on to see how the game proceeds to take the learner into a path of irony, fun, and then learning.

Instructional Objective

Students will be able to complete six scenarios and decide which choice is the absolute worst choice

Students will be able to rate their bad choices by the Stupid meter which measures the worst choice in each scenario

California high school PE standards

This game directly links into the Health Frameworks for California Public Schools K-12. Specifically this game targets the high school health topic, "Acceptance of personal responsibility for lifelong health," which is listed on page 122 of the Frameworks. Expectation #3 states: "Students will practice behaviors that reduce the risk of becoming involved in potentially dangerous situations and react to potentially dangerous situations in ways that protect their health." (Frameworks, 122) Further clarification on the types of dangerous situations referred to is given on pages 128-131 of the Frameworks.

Learners

This game directly links into the Health Frameworks for California Public Schools K-12. The learners are students who have basic computer skills and are enrolled senior health class and or have been through a rehabilitation program.Specifically this game targets the high school health topic, "Acceptance of personal responsibility for lifelong health," which is listed on page 122 of the Frameworks. Expectation #3 states: "Students will practice behaviors that reduce the risk of becoming involved in potentially dangerous situations and react to potentially dangerous situations in ways that protect their health." (Frameworks, 122) Further clarification on the types of dangerous situations referred to is given on pages 128-131 of the Frameworks.

http://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/he/cf/

Context of Use

Setting: This game is designed to be played on-line and would be used in the high school classroom for individual use. It could also be used in rehabilitation facilities for young adults. This game could also be use as part of an on-line home-school program used to enrich the health education curriculum. This game would be best used by individuals because groups of high school students would not be serious with a game like this in front of their peers, nor would they be always truthful in front of a teacher. The single playing of a game session would take no longer than five minutes. After the game, a round table discussion including some of the bad choices made and better choices that could have been made, could reinforce the lesson of good decision making.

Modifications: This game could be modified to focus on a different topic to align with the dangerous situations listed in the Frameworks, i.e. alcohol abuse, drug abuse, etc. (Frameworks, 128-131)

Prior to the game, a whole-class discussion about the life-choices young people are making these days and the foci on the class would be a good ice-breaker. When playing the game, the learner can pass through all of the celebrities and makes choices, by clicking on various scenarios. In this game the worst choice actually wins the game. It is difficult to discern which choice is worse than the other, since all are considerably risky choices. After the choice is made, the "Stupid Meter" appears to give the learner a score mark the absolute worst choice. The screen refreshes giving the learner a choice of a new celebrity and new scenario.After the game, a round table discussion including some of the bad choices made and better choices that could have been made, could reinforce the lesson of good decision making.

Scope

This game will include six celebrities and possible bad choices (five deadly sins) that they make. Each deadly sin includes four deadly choices that teens make. Ultimately, if the player sits down to play the entire game, this could take up to two hours. Content comes from the Health Frameworks for California. Specific content includes: not using seats belts, drinking and driving, daring to binge drink, using or overdosing on prescription medications. These scenarios are based upon the five deadly sins mentioned in the book, Why Smart People Can Be So Stupid, by Robert J. Sternberg. They include: procrastination, impulsiveness, walking on the edge, indulgence, and overdoing. What will be avoided is any language or scenario that appears or sounds too "preachy."

Object of the Game

The player must pick the worst, most stupid answers and get the Stupidmeter to the top and keep it there.

Design Details

Universal Elements

The look and feel of the game will be photo-realistic. The player should feel quite comfortable with photos and other images in a layout similar to My Space and other social software used by this target groups age range. Every time the stupidmeter goes up, a stupid sound will play.

Stupidmeter

Specific Elements

Quiz and simulation style games

The questions are based on the 5 deadly sins: procrastination, impulsiveness, walking on the edge, indulgence and over doing it. The characters used in the categories were created after popular Hollywood and sports stars as well as activities and sports that are interesting to people of our target age.

Sample Questions and Answers

• See video and sample screens in Design Details
• The best possible score would be a on the Stupidmeter. A score of moronic would mean that the player got the correct answer on the first try for each category question.
• One variable is selection of the celebrity and the other variable is the selection of one of the five deadly sins.

A description if all output variables displayed

sample screens showing a sequence of situation, learner input, and result
sample screens showing introductory material, high score pages, etc.

This diagram represents one out of six input variables. Since there are six input variables, the formula to calculate the total output responses would be; 6(5x4) = 120. There would be a total of 120 possible responses to the questions in this game.

Technical Elements

• The player must have the proper flash plug-ins to watch the movies, and a high speed Internet connection.
• Mac and PC- OS X and Windows Vista
• Screen size and resolution of game will be 800 by 600
• Graphics will be in jpeg format, all sounds will be in wav form. The You Tube movies will be in swf format, the flash movies will be in .swf format. flash plug ins will be needed to view them.
  
  

Competing Products

Whyville is a virtual world for pre-teens and teenagers ages 10-16. It has built in educational concepts and games built into it. It is a great place for teens to talk about issues, problems and other things going on in their lives. All conversations are monitored by a City Worker or CW, and students can get tickets and citations for violating the city rules. Parents must sign a contract as well as teenagers before getting full access to the virtual world. Whyville has built in games and simulations about math, a science fair teenagers can enter, and a world on making smart healthy choices; from eating well to staying away from smoking and drinking.

Becoming an Adult is a software program that focuses on ages 9-15. It covers such issues as self image, body image, friendship groups, harassment, and good friends. This game has a younger audience than our game, but still covers much of the same issues. The learner travels through a world, much like an park, and are faced with tough choices. The learner must figure out the correct choice.

Making Sexual Decisions is free software that is used for colleges and universities as well as older high school students. It is completely interactive and has an open structure. It allows learner to come up with creative and new ways to solve problems. It also comes with solutions and answers to sexual questions some older teens may have. It allows the learner to determine what they already know about their sexual health, and helps them fill in the gaps. This may be the closest thing to our game, but only covers issues associated with sexual health.

Motivational Issues

This game uses individual motivation talked about by Malone and Lepper. First, this game has a clear and identified goal. The goal is to get the Stupidmeter all the way to the top. This Stupidmeter will be on the screen the whole game, so the learner can monitor progress throughout the game. This game also provides performance feedback. The stupid meter is an instant way of providing performance feedback. When the learner picks the right, or in this case, the wrong answer, the stupid meter offers instant feedback. When the learner gets the answer wrong, there will also be a screen that explains why that is the wrong answer. This performance feedback is frequent, clear and constructive (Malone and Lepper, 1987).

This game also contains personal goals that are relevant to the learner. The questions asked and the examples given are all scenarios that the learner may face in the immediate future. Making the content socially relevant to the learner also makes performance goals meaningful to learner, which will increase motivation and make the learner want to keep playing the game (Malone and Lepper, 1987).
In playing this game, the learner will invoke a sense of curiosity. Malone and Lepper write that changes in the environment such as light, sound, and other sensory changes can effect the sensory curiosity, and can help motivate the learner. This game will have the always changing Stupidmeter, the You Tube movies and sounds and screen changes when the learner picks an answer.

Design Process

The three of us talked about the topic and looked at the book summary on-line. The book mentioned politicians who say stupid things. That led to the idea of celebrities like Brittney Spears who has been in the news lately. That led to a discussion of you tube clips and how many are about celebrities that say or do stupid things. Then we looked back at the book description that mentioned the categories for stupidity: impulsiveness, indulgence, overdoing, walking on the edge, procrastinating. We saw the need for teens taking the health education course, those exiting recovery programs or perhaps Juvenile Hall to have a fun game to practice good decision making. From that need we developed a game that encompasses Lepper's theory that the five deadly sins are the downfall of society and are keeping teens from moving forward with their goals. Learners are drawn into the game by the celebrities, then encounter choices with one of the five deadly sins. We also decided that this audience would respond positively to the game if they could choose the most stupid answer versus playing the role of a teacher and choosing the correct response. We decided to make it socially appealing by choosing icon-celebrities whcich are prominant in the news becasue of their actions and also by designing the game to appear like the social software used by this target group age.

References

Malone, T. W., & Lepper, M. R. (1987). Making learning fun:A taxonomy of intrinsic motivations for learning. In R. E. Snow & M. J. Farr (Eds.). Aptitude, learning and instruction. Volume 3: Cognitive and affective process analysis. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Sternberg, R.J. (2003). Why Smart People Can Be So Stupid. New York: Yale University Press.

http://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/he/cf/