Non-augmented reality Maths games

Below I have listed a number of non-augmented reality games to help children at primary school learn maths. I feel that the looking at the way the children learn maths nowadays will be extremely useful and will help me build upon what the schools tell me. Whilst I wait for replies from the schools I want to keep focused on the project and also come up with a few ideas for the game. The games have come from various websites, but I feel the best standard of games came from the CoolMath website which had games which were visually very interesting but also built up the children's maths knowledge gradually. The worst from the big websites I found was suprisingly the BBC, the games were very poorly made and were based very much on eduction, this is fine but it means that kids will not engage with the games, I feel this is important as it means they might want to play them in their free time.


Mathonaire
This game is a parody of 'Who wants to be a Millionaire' I feel this works well for people of my age but don't know if kids would be as receptive to the game as it is doubtful they watch the program. I will try find out if this is true when I get a response from one of the schools.



Castle Defence
This game works in the same way as the popular Tower Defence games, I feel this would definitely work with kids as long as they enjoy these sorts of games as it is very similar but with an educational twist.


MouseTrap
Mousetrap is a maths-logic game similar to the popular game Chat Noir but with a level system. The game works well but doesn't really teach much maths in my opinion, although it does improve logic.



BBC Maths Games
These series of games are very poor in my opinion, using basic flash in most, although they are very educational. I think these will be useful for ideas on content but not design



SpaceRacer
Space Racer is somewhat similar to the game Asteroids, the user must avoid asteroids by answering maths questions, this game is really interesting in my opinion as it has a score based system meaning friends can compete against one and other.

Schools Contacted

I have now contacted 9 schools about using their pupils to give their opinions on the layout and design of my game, I have also asked for a copy of the curriculum so I can design the game to match what the kids are learning and teach them in a similar way.

Augmented Reality game for kids

I have found this augmented reality game for kids, I think the idea is great and is something I think I'd like to incorporate into mine as at the moment the only physical element is the light the child uses to pick the numbers.

I Can Learn My ABCs: Augmented Reality for the Alphabet

Have you seen the new augmented reality technology being used by everything from GE’s Smart Grid to John Mayer’s new album? With augmented reality, you’re able to interact with your computer by holding a special augmented reality marker in front of the webcam. When the augmented reality software recognizes the marker, it incorporates your picture and your input into the game, demonstration, or music video.

Augmented Reality requires only a webcam and a printer (and a computer, of course)

I was fascinated by augmented reality the first time I came across it. The technology enables a dynamic interaction between the virtual reality of your computer and the actual reality of the physical world. In a way, the concept is similar to the athletics and sports available on a Wii and the fighter pilot controls on Xbox, but all you need for an augmented reality application is a computer with built-in or attached webcam and a printer for printing the special augmented reality markers.

HD Interactive’s first augmented reality application

Our first application using augmented reality technology is I Can Learn My ABCs, which uses letters of the alphabet, each surrounded by special black squares, as the markers. I Can Learn My ABCs is a great tool for introducing or reviewing the letters of the alphabet. When a letter marker is shown to the webcam, I Can Learn My ABCs responds by showing both the upper- and lower-case forms of the letter, modeling the sound(s) the letter makes, and presenting a picture of an object that begins with that letter.

This is all the basic stuff you’d expect in an alphabet-learning program, but the visual interaction component is captivating for small children. There are many educational games and websites for learning letters (my daughters and their cousins like Starfall), but I Can Learn My ABCs is the first application I’m aware of that responds directly to what the child shows the computer.
I Can Learn My ABCs is completely child-directed

In most games, kids are prompted to type a letter after hints are given or questions are asked. In I Can Learn My ABCs, the child directs the action from the very beginning, sorting through the pile of augmented reality markers to select which letter she wants to look at and hear about first. I don’t know if you’ve noticed yet how much kids enjoy being in charge of a game, but my kids love the control that augmented reality gives them.

Easy to install and play

To play I Can Learn My ABCs, simply download the application at the Adobe AIR Marketplace (let your kids play with the free trial; then there is a one-time $5 fee). I Can Learn My ABCs installs locally on your computer; you don’t need an Internet connection to play the game once it’s installed. Print out the alphabet marker cards and cut them out, retaining the entire black square surrounding each letter.

The webcam recognizes the whole square, so be careful in both cutting and holding the letters in front of the webcam. (Set your printer on a high-quality setting, as the black background helps the program recognize each letter marker.) When playing, make sure the entire black square is visible in the camera’s view.

If you don’t have a webcam, I Can Learn My ABCs will automatically switch to keyboard play and respond to keystrokes of the letters the same way it does to the augmented reality markers.

Let me warn you: be sure you don’t need your computer for awhile, or that you start your kids playing on a family computer, because once they start, you’ll hear a lot of “just one more, Daddy, please.”

My Initial Idea

I plan, if it is possible, to work in collaboration with the Peninsula Medical School to create an Augmented Reality device to assist in the teaching of medical situations to students, the device will work in a similar way to the Layar device, which shows an Augmented Reality on a screen but will be of the human body or dummy, the device will show information, an under the skin view, possibly diseased and non diseased views and instructions on what to do in specific cases, which could be tailored by the teacher.
I feel this interactive teaching along with traditional methods would be more beneficial to students.

My device will be a lot more simple than Layar but I still feel it will work very well.
I would probably use an iPhone if I could find a program that was viable.
The tables below are from a report by Carnegie Mellon University, in May, 1996, the report, lists different technologies and their impacts on medical equipment, I would have to consider this if I were making a piece of equipment for medical purposes.

The full report can be found here.




My other plan is a lot more simple, it is to create an interactive teaching resource, I am thinking of making it for children at a primary school age, I hope to get in contact with a local school have the kids test out products (after getting a CRB check etc) and work with their feedback, I feel this method of development has worked for me best in the past but I will go with an simple idea to begin with.

I feel possibly an interactive application related to space, or geography would work best as they have the potential to be highly interactive. As yet I am still working on what sort of device to use as iPhones won't be widely available in a primary school, if I can get my hands on a Head Mounted display that would probably be the best idea.



There is already an augmented reality device aimed at kids, the Avatar iTag, the child is given a tag which when put under a webcam turns into a 3D animated character, the user downloads the character and when they touch a specific place on the tag card it starts an animation.
This sort of technology could work for education but I feel it is more designed for the initial 'wow' effect so would need another element to keep children interested, possibly some sort of points system or virtual prizes.



I have found a tutorial, to design a program which does essentially the same thing, having watched the tutorial I believe it could be quite hard to achive as I have no expirence with FlashKit and the tutorial is quite advanced.
Augmented Reality Tutorial





I feel that a device like the eyetoy would probably be best in terms of usably and also being realistic for me to create. I will probably make a game which also educates the user, possibly in a similar style to the Poseidon: God of the Seas game, developed by Christian Cook, Gavin Jones and Paul Bird. The game user has to spell words in order to complete the game, this gives education a more fun side (fundication!).

Poseidon: God of the Sea

Below is a mock up of how it could work, its very simple and I'd want to include challenge rounds, possibly if the user reaches 1000 points they unlock a secret game.

Augmented Reality Research

Below is some research I've done on Augmented Reality technology of the present and ideas of the future, I plan to use this as the basis of my idea.

Layar

Layar is a free application which people can download for their smart phones, it shows what is around you by displaying real time digital information on top of reality through the camera of the mobile phone.

Layar is used by holding the phone in front of you like a camera, information is then displayed on top of the camera display view.

For all points of interest which are displayed on the screen, information is shown at the bottom of the screen.

I like the idea of using having digital information over a real life camera view and feel that this could be something I bring into my own work.

Another app that does a similar job is Twittaround the application uses a similar technique to Layar but as you turn the camera it is possible to see peoples tweets from outside on the side of their houses, the video below shows how it works.


There are a couple of possible future apps that really caught my eye the first of which was a made up Medical Agmented Reality application which could be warn on the Doctors head to see where certain body parts are, I feel such an application would be excellent for teaching and would like to develop an application like this for this project possibly mixing it with the type of application Layar is, displaying information on a display about different body parts or operations.



The second possible technology is one shown by Chris Tough in our previous lecture, it shows a future which people wear glasses, like in the Wizard of Oz example shown by Vlad.
The glasses project advertisements and more interestingly instructions on how to do things like cooking and in this example make a cup of tea. This instructional augmented reality is something I am going to look into including in my own work.