How many of us take an escalator to the next floor when we had the equal opportunity to take the stairs?  The way things are today – the answer is obvious and unfortunate – the escalator.

Do the Hearty Thing – Choose the Stairs

BUT what if we had folks like those at  TheFunTheory rethink the experience of walking up stairs as shown in this video….

Hey You – Pick up Your Trash

In this example, these incredibly creative folks rethink collecting trash…

Open Your World – Learn to Read

Our passion is to rethink reading practice through games like ItzaBitza and ItzaZoo. We see it as a dastardly sneaky way to entice children into the hard work of reading, because it’s just so darn fun. It gradually expands what it asks kids to read, and it always makes it easy to get help. It’s another pathway into reading that’s outside the book. And it might be just what your son needs to get over his aversion to sentences, build confidence, and become a better reader..

        

Move over GPA, Allow for Experience Points

While I won’t go so far as shouting “WE SHOULD ABOLISH THE GPA AND GO WITH EXPERIENCE POINTS” we should at least consider how to intertwine the two into a lifelong love of learning.

Feel the Power of Leveling Up

Most video and computer games reward the player with Experience Points when they complete in-game activities. As the player gains Experience Points, they start unlocking new levels. New levels present a tad more difficult challenges for the player to overcome. The player rises to the challenge, feeling the power that comes from conquering whatever challenge the game puts in front of them.

ItzaBitza and ItzaZoo use Star Challenges

Not all games refer to an increase in skill as Experience Points. For example, in ItzaBitza and ItzaZoo your child earn stars for doing an activity asked of them within the Star Challenge text they read. Eventually they earn enough stars to unlock playsets. While some star challenges can be earned with little to no reading, the skill focused on during Star Challenges is reading comprehension. A very important skill for our children to have! As your child unlocks new levels, the star challenges get more difficult mostly in advancing the reading level. ItzaBitza and ItzaZoo include three reading levels that were defined by our reading specialist, Dr. Diana Sharp.

You Have 5,000 Reading Experience Points and a B in Reading

If we must have our report cards that separate the A’s from the C’s, we should also consider supplementing our formal learning with popular informal learning activities – like gaining Experience Points. Just one of the many things game designers naturally do that we should consider embracing in other skills besides shooting zombies and harvesting plants.

        

I had the honor of sharing a passionate conversation about the environments kids learn best in with Dr. John Medina, author of Brain Rules. I highly recommend the book if you haven’t read it already.

I was introduced to John through Dr. John Bransford(UW). John (Bransford) is the renown learning scientist who led my team’s collaboration while we were in Microsoft Research. My co-founders and I enjoyed several years with John (Bransford) and team absorbing John’s work on How People Learn and coming up with new game mechanics injected with his team’s 30+ years of research in cognitive psychology. Magical things indeed happen when exceptionally gifted game designers are free to come up with Living Ink to create a new kind of drawing game that is REALLY FUN (which makes learning authentic for our kids) and is fine tuned based on John’s research to give practice in really important, really hard work-life skills – in ItzaBitza’s case – creativity and reading comprehension.

OK – from now on – when I refer to John – I will mean Dr. John Medina.

John’s thoughts on the ultimate learning environment is much more like a video game than a classroom. John is an amazing story teller, and he didn’t disappoint. His point is the ultimate learning happens when the experience engages sight, sound, smell – everything, immerses our kids, and is non-linear. This is pretty much what video games do – except for the smell – although I have seen USB smell attachments but I’m not going to go there right now. It is definitely what we strove for in ItzaBitza – where a kid helps his Sketchy character by drawing what Sketchy needs in their environment.

John starts his story by asking if I have ever been to the Shark Reef at the Mandalay Bay Casino in Las Vegas, NV. I haven’t but now that I’ve heard this story …family – pack those bags (WHY three bags of makeup I will most likely ask my oldest daughter?) – we’re going to Vegas!

The learning goal: learn about approximately 100 predators. At the beginning, kids are given a little gadget that can shoot an infrared beam that they can point on an animal to learn more.

The kids start their adventure in the shark reef – a non-linear environment with many directions in which a kid can go. Kids pick a direction and off they go. They start in a Cambodian Jungle. As they walk around, steam starts SHHHHHHSSHHHHING at the kids. At first there is the sense of surprise, followed by curiosity, followed by exploration. Many kids go back several times to cause and react to the SHHHHHHHSSSHHHHHHING steam.

Fish and snakes are cleverly placed behind acrylic Plexiglas. Kids can get right up to a snake and put their beam on it. They won’t hear a TV broadcast version on snakes – because John points out – the kids will zone out after ten seconds. The audio tells the kid about THAT snake. “See that snake. Look at its tail. It’s got a bite in it because of a rat. They had a tussle and that’s why he has a bite…” John noted he has seen kids just staring at snake for 15 minutes trying to find the bite mark! According to John, what happens is a video game experience. The kids are beginning to engage and get drawn in deeper – which is the magic of real learning in John’s view.

Eventually the adventurers descend into a beach. Finally at the end, they are standing very close to the third largest shark tank in the world. Spending three hours at the exhibit, John saw the kids going nuts. Information was repeated, but in different environments. And then John exclaimed: “I have just seen the best classroom in America” Places to go and things to do in the order the kids wants to, multi-sensory engagement, immersive environment.

THIS is what many great video games do. This is true with ItzaBitza and ItzaZoo with one slight difference. While kids are curiously exploring, they are getting a heavy dosage of practice in creative thinking and reading comprehension.

        

                                       

Ah…what a great time to discuss cookies!

The following story is true.  It would mortify my daughter if she knew I posted it.  My daughter doesn’t read this blog – something about a new South Park episode (hmmmm…) so until she does, please don’t tell her I told you this story.

Shopping – This Season’s Sporting Event

My daughter and I were out shopping – her favorite sport – and I got her two cookies.  One was peanut butter, the other chocolate chip.  Unlike me, she is able to control herself and the cookies were not eaten by the time we get home.  On reflection, I don’t know where this self-control comes from.  I guess her dad.

My daughter puts both cookies on the kitchen table and stares at them.

After what seemed like a long time to me (which means it was more than two seconds), I ask her why she is staring at the cookies.

C is for Cookie!

She says she only wants one cookie, but wants some peanut butter AND chocolate chip.  Oohhh…..I kept looking at her…until…finally….I unfortunately tell her she COULD have half of each.  Once I told her this, she looked very relieved.  And I felt that I let my own parents down.  My parents did a more "you can figure it out for yourself."  And I am GLAD they did.

Go Ask Alice

My grandfather used to quote me lines from "Alice in Wonderland."  Here was one of my favorites:

"One day Alice came to a fork in the road and saw a Cheshire cat in a tree. "Which road do I take?" she asked. "Where do you want to go?" was his response. "I don’t know," Alice answered. "Then," said the cat, "it doesn’t matter." – Lewis Carroll

I am fascinated by the choices we have in life and work.  We typically say "good luck."  And some people seem to have better luck than others.  My opinion is their better luck has a lot to do with coming up with creative solutions and following that path.  Not the right or wrong path.  There are a few of those, but most of the paths are good, better, best.

Video Games Bring out the Explorer

This is what I love about REAL video games that let kids explore, try stuff out.  Find things, solve challenges.  And this is what our game designer (Duncan) did in ItzaBitza and ItzaZoo.  I got a mail message from a concerned parent that their kid was having difficulty figuring out a quest.  I emailed him back and said a little frustration is good.  Because he WILL figure it out.  And when he does, the feeling of success and power that brings to him will be worth it.  The parent mailed back and said (to my relief!)  this is exactly what happened.  I see as being a bit frustrated at times a very positive thing.  And good games – like ItzaBitza – have the ability to do this.  Just not too frustrated that you can’t figure something out – ever.

        

Guest post from Ian Lurie

My name is Ian, and I let my kids play video games. There, I said it.

I grew up in the 1970s and 1980s playing the first video games on the planet: Pong, Space Invaders and that silly 2-dimensional arial dogfight game on the Atari 2600. In the 1990s I spent spare time playing R-Type and Street Fighter as therapy during law school. I am, in short, a lifetime video games geek.

I didn’t just drag my kids in front of a console and leave them alone, though. I thought long and carefully before letting them try video games. Here’s some of my thought process:

1. All of their friends play. When I was growing up, I wasn’t allowed to watch some TV shows because my parents didn’t want me exposed to violence. So I got exposed to violence on the playground, instead, when 30 playmates proceeded to pummel me because I was so lame. My kids will be able to beat all their loser friends at Viva Pinata, dammit.

2. It makes them smarter. Yes, you heard me. Don’t blame video games if your kid turns out to be a moron. Drawing games like ItzaBitza provide your kids a new way to improve their reading skills, stimulate creativity and teach your kids basic computer skills, all while they’re having fun. Tricky.

3. I’m not a complete moron. I’m not going to park my kid in front of the computer for 4 hours a day and let them play Conan Online with who-knows-which pedophiles. I manage their time and the games they play.

4. Video games keep kids out of trouble. “No cigarettes for me. I have to go beat Johnny in Mario Kart.” Ok, so no kid would actually say that but you get the idea.

5. We play together. GASP. I actually do stuff. With my kids. On the computer. While I do sometimes do the ‘in yer face’ dance after beating my son in Lego Star Wars, it’s mostly a positive experience for everyone.

6. Plus, it means I spend time with them when they’d otherwise be zoned out in front of the TV.

7. It teaches them patience, learning skills and a bit of philosophy. When my 6-year-old daughter looked at me after getting beaten badly in yet another Viva Pinata race and said, “That’s OK, daddy, I was a little faster this time!” I knew I was on to something.

8. It teaches them to play together. My 8-year-old son learns to help his sister out a bit. My daughter learns that her brother isn’t purely devoted to farting in her direction at dinnertime.

9. Computers aren’t a fad. Somewhere, someday, my kids will be working on a job where their ability to move stuff around on a screen is (or should be) taken for granted. They’ll be able to handle it.

10. Games are fun. God forbid our kids should actually have fun. But somewhere between the shortsighted standardized tests and ‘no child left behind’ I want to make sure they find a few sources of joy in their lives. Games are cool!

11. Geek is the new cool. Speaking of cool, somewhere in the last 15 years I went from being a geek loser to a cool geek. Wow. My kids deserve a shot at all the hot dates in high school. Well. My daughter doesn’t actually, because I’ll murder anyone who lays a hand on her. But you get the idea.

12. Life emulates video games. The interface in a 777 resembles a video game. Not the other way around. If you think that’s a coincidence, you ain’t paying attention.

13. It’s better than television.. Have you seen some of the crud on TV these days? It sucks out your kids’ brains. Video games require that kids take action and respond to what they’re seeing.

14. It keeps them busy. Those of you who aren’t parents, feel free to frown and pass judgment. Parents, you know exactly what I’m talking about. Sometimes a video game is preferable to locking your kids in a small cage. If you use the cage, the government people will come. Use a video game, and you’re good.

15. Games teach kids to separate media from reality. It’s no longer enough to cut kids off from media. They’re deluged with it. You have to raise children who can differentiate between Mass Effect and reality. And I’m depressed that I have to explain that.

16. Games stimulate creativity. Video games get kids thinking: If someone could make a computer do that, what else can they do? They’ll carry that with them the rest of their lives.

17. Games teach them problem-solving. My son figured out a Lego Star Wars puzzle that even I couldn’t get my head around. After I was done being annoyed, I was dang impressed.

18. Games have become a social experience. See number 1. Kids don’t sit alone in rooms playing games any more (at least, they don’t if their parents don’t let them). They play with their friends. And games like Rock Band take it to another level with all sorts of cool cooperative play.

Of course, it’s like a lot of other treats: Too much chocolate makes your little darling a lunatic. Too much video games do the same thing. Exercise restraint and intelligence, and watch how your kids respond. Don’t let them play online unsupervised, and don’t let them play games marked ‘M’ or games you know will scare them silly.

games + kids + you = OK

        

During the time our oldest daughter was recovering from major surgery, one of the few things she could do was play XBox games.  I watched in fascination while she became a better virtual snowboarder from playing SSX Tricky.  We had fun playing Fusion Frenzy together.  She fought great fights playing what I thought was a totally inappropriate game – DoA3 (Dead or Alive 3) – for hours on end.

As I am sure many of you have, throughout the years I purchased a lot of children’s software that claimed to have educational value.  Many used popular TV characters as virtual playmates.  None of them held their attention the way the XBox games held my daughter’s attention.  Eventually we had bins filled to the brim with kids computer games and edutainment ready to be sold on eBay.  Meanwhile, my kids had moved onto playing Zelda and Animal Crossing on their GameCube.

As they played on the XBox and GameCube, they got better at whatever virtual skill was thrown at them.  Their self esteem improved because they were able to conquer advanced levels in a video game.  And yes, they relieved frustration by fighting and zapping the “bad things” their characters came across.

I started thinking what an excellent learning framework video games have.  The method of play involved exploration of multiple paths, discovery, trial -and try again!, immediate feedback – and ultimately – success at conquering difficult tasks.  All without an adult or grade judging them.

Here’s the challenge I kept thinking about.  My kids will spend hours learning how to plant virtual gardens or snowboard on virtual snow.  By playing video games their self-confidence grew and they got better at problem solving skills. I thought If my kids were learning these skills, so were countless other kids.  Kids who could conquer the difficult challenges they came across in the video games they played.  Yet these kids failed to conquer a reading test required from NCLB (No Child Left Behind) testing.  These kids who were clearly very capable yet did poorly in school because they didn’t learn to read in Kindergarten.

I couldn’t sleep thinking about what the world would be like if all kids shared a lifelong love of reading.  They would be informed.  They would feel empowered.  They would move from a feeling of inadequacy to making a positive impact on our world.

As I became painfully aware during our research project at Microsoft, there is a much stronger business model around Halo 3 than around games that engage kids in learning.  After all, injecting years of research in cognitive psychology on how kids learn to read constrains what a successful game designer can do.  So why bother?  Why bother when it is by far more profitable to design the next Bejeweled?  Or the next killer iPhone game – after all The Moron Test is hilarious – simple and profitable.

The Sabi team bothered because WHAT AN OPPORTUNITY TO IMPACT OUR CHILDREN if our efforts sparked a lifelong love of reading.  After all, team members have shipped many successful video games for the XBox, PlayStation and PC.  Yet what have they done?  They have designed and created two games – ItzaBitza and ItzaZoo – that provide a new way for kids to learn to read.  A way that is not what we would expect.  In the Itza games, reading is a by-product.  This blew me away the first time they walked me through ItzaBitza’s design.  The game design was not about “ok, Johnnie, read this sentence” but rather Johnnie realizing reading is needed to achieve something – like earning a Star by completing a Star challenge.

It is a start. 

        

(many thanks to Dr. Diana Sharp for the ideas and words I liberally “borrowed”)

"If we made them read while playing video games," Starkey said, "the scores would be higher."

Noted a school board member from Pasco County, Florida in this article. 

Learning to read for kids is like climbing a mountain for adults.  It’s exhausting!  Yet most  books early readers have access to are as meaningful to them as counting sand on a beach.  WHAT IF learning to read was more like making cupcakes?  Maybe the recipe is a little hard to get right and sure – there’s a mess to clean up, but kids want to do it because the reward is worth it.

After all, kids (or adults) don’t learn to cook because they really want to be able to measure teaspoons or wash dirty bowls.  They do it because they want to eat!  So what they eat has to make the hard work worth it.   Ever see those cooking classes advertised in the newspaper? They talk about the yummy food you get, not the work you have to do to make it. Here’s one from a paper:

"Seafood tacos, ancho chiles stuffed with beef tenderloin and mushrooms, and brownie tamales with Mexican caramel sauce are all on the menu for Wednesday’s cooking class at the Taco Bus."

Yum!  It doesn’t say, "First we will spend several classes learning to make broth and gruel.  Then you can get to the good stuff later."  So why do we teach kids how to read by giving them things to "eat" that are boring and tasteless?  They need right from the start something to tempt them like brown tamales with Mexican caramel sauce….or cupcakes!

“Read” should not be a four letter word to our kids.  Kids should crave reading.  Imagine not experiencing the thrill that comes with reading a well written book that might change their lives.  Games are already a great way to learn some skills.  But I can think of only one other game besides ItzaBitza and ItzaZoo – Skatekids Online – that make something as difficult as learning to read fun, inspiring, and boosts a kid’s self-confidence.

One customer wrote me:

We were just sitting here playing the game, and my son is so proud because a few weeks ago when we played, he had to click on many of the words to have them read to him, but this time – he read them all independently.  I almost fell off my chair when he read the word "explode"!   He is 5 and has just started K. 

Recall this sentence from the beginning of this post:

"If we made them read while playing video games," Starkey said, "the scores would be higher."

I would change this sentence to better reflect what happens when kids learn to read by video or computer games like ItzaBitza and ItzaZoo:

“If kids read while playing video games the scores would be higher.”‘

Great games draw the player into wanting to play…I mean learn…no, I truly meant play.  Just as the thought of eating tasty cupcakes draw budding cooks into the kitchen.  We have seen this countless times watching our younger Itza adventurers.  The early reader doesn’t start out reading.  They are having a blast using Living Ink to make their drawings come to life so that whimsical reactions happen between their drawings and their Sketchy.

Then all of a sudden, they need to read to win a star.  Or to know what to draw so they can help their Sketchy.  It is at this point the early reader WANTS to make the very hard effort to read.  And we MUST provide the early readers with sentences that they initially struggle with to read, but they WILL SUCCEED.  They WILL feel the power!

They will succeed because of the way we fine tuned the game design so that no child is left behind when it comes to reading sentences. We’ve figured out a way to help children based on years of working with them.  Children will feel the POWER that comes from learning to read because of the approach we took in increasing sentence complexity as an early reader’s skill increases.  We didn’t make this stuff up.  It took years of exploration with a renowned learning science team led by Dr. John Bransford to figure out “the formula.”

Learning to read is hard.   It’s about time we made a game out of it.