Create a Game Unit 2017 (version II)

Create a Game Unit 2017 (version II)

Having first developed this unit last year, this year I was able to develop it to make it more streamlined. This is a fantastic unit and it's got even better...

Last Years Blog Entries:
G5/G4 Create and Develop a Simple Game pt. 1
G5/G4 Create and Develop a Simple Game pt. 2

Tuning in... Simple Tag Type Games

This year I'd put together a handful of visuals to help the students achieve their goals.
The tuning in part of the unit was having the peer groups work together in order to develop a tag game using simple guidelines.

Team Name

BUT first things first, once the class had chosen their peer groups their first piece of collaboration was going to be to come up with an original team name! I found this an excellent way to slowly get the groups collaborating, with each exercise being a step up in their cooperation/collaboration, from deciding a team name, through to developing a complex game. The steps this year I felt worked well: (1) Agree upon a team name, (2) simple tag games following criteria (see below) and finally (3) developing an original (relatively) complex game.

Types of Tag Games

Below is a screenshot of the document I gave the classes. I took the descriptions from Peter Hastie's (2010) book Student Designed Games. Over the next two lessons the students would come up with  tag games that would fit into the four categories below.

This is a great way to tune in, but on reflection, next year I would bullet point the descriptions rather than have them in a paragraph. Just to make it easier for the students to access the information at a glance.

Lesson Order

Having done this unit last year, the lessons follow a pattern. It keeps the unit on time, which is key as you don't want all the students enthusiasm to go stale with a unit that never ends. 

The order goes something like this:

Lesson 01: Tuning in - Choose a Team Name and Design a Simple Tag Game (Anyone Can Freeze).

Lesson 02: Tuning in - Design Simple Tag Games ( Safe Players Can Unfreeze, Multiple-Option Taggers and/or Safe Zones).

Lesson 03: Designing & Playing the Game.

Lesson 04: Designing & Playing the Game.

Lesson 05: Trialing the Game & Receiving Feedback.

Lesson 06: Recording the Rules and Documenting the Complete Game.

Lesson 07: Share the Finished Game with the Whole Class.

Lesson 08: Share the Finished Game with the Whole Class.

Reflection.

Tuning in

The Grade 5 are starting a unit called "Create your own Game". This unit fits under the "relationships" learning journey in Physical Education. In the short video the students have been given simple guidelines in order to create a simple tag game.

For the Movie Click Here

Lessons 3 & 4

Lessons 3 & 4 of the unit have seen the students coming to an agreement of the type of game they are going to create. The lessons have given the groups the opportunity to use the equipment and to trial various ideas. The development criteria they are working towards is based on whether the game is original, fun, has longevity and is appropriately challenging. Next lesson they are going to introduce their game to another group, in order to get feedback and polish their final version.

For the Movie Click Here

Lessons 5 & 6

Lessons 5 & 6 had the students trial their games with another group in order to get feedback on how their game is developing. Once the game had been trialled the group had the opportunity to document their games objectives, set up and rules.

For the Movie Click Here

Additional Documents 

I created a couple of other documents designed to help remind the students the stages they needed to go through in order to design a game. All these need tweaking for next year, after reflection they could definitely be upgraded, but they served their purpose in helping guide the students thinking in the right direction.