Turning young players into game designers

Microsoft Research is literally creating code kids can play with. It's called Kodu – a play on the word "code" – and it's a programming language for creating games on Xbox that's "designed to be accessible for children and enjoyable for anyone," Microsoft says on its Web page about it. You design with a game controller (and my 12-year-old thought he was going to have to learn game design in college!). But you're actually designing a game while playing a game – how cool is that? Chris Wilson at Slate tried it and writes that it's "also actually fun!" [See also "From 'chalk 'n' talk' to learning by doing" for a story about a school in New York, Quest to Learn, that teaches with videogames – subjects from math and history to videogame design – and for links to great resources on learning in play.]

Videogame for SAT prep

This makes sense: Up nationwide test scores by trying to make preparing for SATs fun! "Two of the country's largest test-prep course providers are pairing with video game companies for the first time, to give students another way to practice," the Akron [Ohio] Beacon Journal reports. One of the games, designed with the help of Kaplan, helps students with "simple math, reading, and writing games." It runs $40. Portable prep makes even more sense: A $30 version for the Nintendo DS should be available now. "Princeton Review Inc. is also collaborating on a test-prep game," the Beacon Journal adds.

'Computer camp' nowadays

It has changed over the years. Now there's CampGame, where Arizona high school students spend six weeks learning videogame design at Arizona State University's school of engineering. Besides design, they also learn "the fundamentals of the game industry" and how to "develop concepts and prototypes for new games," East Valley Living reports. "CampGame is a part of the engineering school’s support of a national education effort to interest young students in pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics." Then there’s ID Tech Camp at Stanford University, where kids and teens learn just about anything their little hearts desire, from programming, 3D character modeling for special effects, digital video production, game mods, robotics, as well as videogame design, CNET reports. See also the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on under-privileged kids performing major computer surgery.