Online Spaceship Math Game

[jgordon510]

Hey Everybody,

 

I'm a 4th grade teacher who writes educational software for my students.

 

I wanted a free alternative to the many expensive adaptive computer math courses available to students.  I built a flexible math activity system based on interactive manipulatives that would load with different values every time.  Then I built over 200 over those activities, representing the breadth of a 4th grade curriculum.  Then I designed an adaptive algorithm to guide students through the applets based on their performance.

 

Then it was time for the "fun" part.  I wanted to create an incentive structure for the software, so I designed a turn-based spaceship battle game, framed in a text adventure, in which the player, a sentient ship, protects an isolated space station from marauding aliens.

 

The game is still a work in project, but the current version shows its potential, I think:

https://mages.firebaseapp.com/

 

[chg]

I notice you have to sign in using a Google ID and consent to revealing basic information to the site, given this is aimed at children under the age of 12 is it COPPA compliant?

(I didn't bother signing in so that ended my testing)

[jgordon510]

I'm using Firebase for the authorization, so I can add other methods.

 

Google authorization for educational programs online has become pretty standard (newsELA uses it, for example).  All of my students have google accounts (without the gmail part) through the district, and we generally prefer to use that authorization scheme over remembering another password.

 

Also, I don't store any identifiable information on the server, just the google uid.  COPPPA would be more of an obstacle if I were using an email/password scheme.

 

-j

 

Update:

I've reviewed COPPA, and since I only store a UID, "a unique, persistent, and non-personally identifiable string identifier that represents a user or signed-in account across devices," COPPA really doesn't apply, which is concerned with "individually identifiable information about a child."

 

Even so, I added a privacy policy.  That way it's clear.

[ZackRobotHeart]

This is a pretty interesting concept, and I have to admit I clicked it only because the UI in the pictures was very much LCARS inspired (star trek TNG/VOY/DS9 computers for non-fans). I usually wouldn't be interested enough in an educational game to bother playing it, but the idea of it being in space reminded me of a personal experience I had. Many years ago I used to not quite understand trigonometry and think it was useless, until I needed it to figure out turret tracking speed for the game EVE Online.

 

I was kinda bummed to see story problems about family vacations and put the dot on the numberline. It feels out of place with the theme. I have always felt many educational games do this aspect wrong design wise. I understand using story problems with stock text and randomized numbers is maybe essential to the core gameplay choice here, but for immersion's sake they ought to at last be about space travel. If a kid isn't into space stuff the whole game will fail to get them much more excited than before anyway, but if they are into space and sci-fi then why not leverage that? In short most of the math problems look and feel right out of a textbook.

 

Educational games exist just to present math as NOT merely textbooks and worksheets no? seems like you have some pretty solid technical knowhow considering this is in development and already does at least as much as educational web games ever do. Why not ditch the story problems about dots on a line and make them gauges of oxygen in the life support system, or make the baker with cups into hydrazine in a combustion reaction to make water? it just seems like a jarring tonal shift to hear about a vacation flight when you're fighting aliens in space. If the math is a natural fact of doing things in the game, the player will be more engaged with the math itself rather than seeing it as an annoying interruption in the gameplay. 

[jgordon510]

Zack,

That's a really thoughtful question.  

I developed Mages first as an applet system, then a curriculum, and then the game itself, with the original intention of building a medieval dungeon crawler.  A turn-based space battle game made for easier art assets.

The curriculum was specifically modeled to look like the SBAC Common Core assessment for 4th grade math.  Teachers need tools to help their students feel accustomed to the testing software, and schools like mine don't have the money for those tools.  They're expensive, and sold under yearly per-pupil licenses. 

That said, I'd considered integrating the math as a sort of "spell" that the user must perform, offering more explanation in the dialog parts and a transition animation, but never got around to working it out.  I had many ideas, but I developed the entire thing by myself, and it's free software.  A contributor would be able to re-theme the curriculum easily.

The students in my classroom play Mages for about 15 minutes a day, and I've seen an increase in their math ability, particularly problem solving and number sense - two areas that I emphasized in the curriculum.  

I have other software projects that are currently taking priority over Mages, but I'd like to develop a lead-up curriculum to the current one that focuses on foundational skills.  If I ever get around to attacking that one, I'll be sure to include more space-themed questions. 

Thanks again for taking the time to check out my project.