Our culture is a culture dependent on technology. Most students, elementary grades through college, carry cell phones, and tablets. According to Schaffhausen’s article, more than ninety-seven percent of children spend time playing video games, with fifty percent of them playing video games daily, (Schaffhauser, 2013). Because children are spending a considerable amount of time playing video games, educators could utilize this popular pastime to develop new learning skills for their students. Schaffhauser (2013) also mentioned, “Play is the way that human beings learn about the world… That’s how we discover how things work.” Why not create something fun, and productive, for the kids to learn, and utilize their video gaming to learn?   Our group has created a research game for elementary, school age students. The game is designed to introduce students to basic research strategies, at an early age, while making the development of this skill, a fun and memorable exercise in learning.

Rodney Research is the mascot in this game designed for school age children, third grade through fifth grade. The software would be a classroom tool, used interactively by the teacher, with the students. The purpose of the game is twofold. The game would introduce research strategies to children, with a method appropriate for the student’s skill level. According to an article by PBSParents, “Fourth graders begin to use research tools, such as dictionary, encyclopedia, library and the Internet” (ND). The Rodney research software will transition students into more advanced research skills. The students will learn how, and where to find information, while promoting information literacy. The game would use the five W’s: who, what, where, when and why,  as categories for research .The teacher would give a prompt, such as the name of a historical figure, a place of interest, an invention, a specific date. An example for a prompt would be, “George Washington”, or to clarify, “Who is George Washington?” The “who” would indicate the category used, to begin research. Students can learn to research cause and effect, reason and purpose, with a prompt such as, “Why was penicillin an important discovery?”  Outside of the classroom, there would be an option for selection of a random prompt.

The child would learn to look under the “who” tab to find the answer alphabetically. Learning to alphabetize is an important skill for students to master, in order to find and organize information. Once they locate George Washington, they could obtain the information there, and a link would appear to select from “what, where, when, why” categories, for additional topic information. The teacher can follow up with a prompt, such as, “Name three presidents. Where did they live?” Additional links would appear within each category, pertaining to that particular subject matter and prompt. The mascot will speak, with an “oops, try again” message, or”yippee! very good!” The mascot serves to give encouragement, support, and direction in the student’s research by use of a variety of audible, and animated images. Students will have an audio and visual of the person, place, or thing being researched, to aide in the understanding, reinforcement and retention. The class will discuss the facts that have been discovered in their research, and discuss how it pertains to the world that they live in. At the end of the discussion, the students can take a small quiz, with a bonus question, this will further reinforce the information that has been covered.

The software would have a user identification, gaining student access to their appropriate grade level information.  When Rodney Researcher software is used outside the classroom, a prompt can be generated by the program. The software would be available for purchase by the Department of Education. Students will have access to the software off campus for the current school year, then it will expire. In Parents Magazine, science doctor Cheryl K. Olson wrote an informative article regarding the skepticism surrounding video games and their negative influence on children. Forward thinking, non- traditional parents don’t agree with the traditional skepticism, and the belief that video games have a negative effect on the mental, behavioral, and physical health of their children. Collectively, these parents concluded that there are positive influences:  development of educational, social and professional skills among their children.  Eight distinct reasons are given for improving the influence of video games on our children.

Video games: 1. Teach problem-solving skills and creativity 2.  Inspire interest in History and Culture 3 Help children make friends 4 Encourage Exercise 5 Share the joy of friendly competition 6. Give kids a chance to lead 7 Provide an Opportunity to Teach 8 Bring Parents and Kids Together. Based on the analysis of the positive impacts, our group believes there is one additional skill beneficial to children, the research skill. Visualization and its effect on children, is a powerful tool. We have created a game using this powerful tool of visualization, to teach elementary school students how to research information, while improving information literacy. It is not enough for children to be computer savvy, children must learn how to find information they may need. We have designed this prototype of a game that will teach students basic research skills, and help the students remember the data they have researched.