Range of New Literacies - Gaming!

Game : Plants vs. Zombies   <------  Click the link to play!    :D  

1. Gaming Elements
• Text - There is limited text in this game (to the level I reached at least) which is shown in the tutorial at the beginning of the game, through brief reminders throughout the game, and through the only other character shown in the game - the neighbor. The text shows up in mostly text bubbles at the beginning of a level to give instructions or to introduce a new tool, rule, or obstacle.
• Visual-graphic elements - The visual-graphic elements of this game are pretty basic. The player's character is never seen (assumed to be hiding from the zombies in the house). The plants that the character uses to fight off the zombies are seen, the zombies are seen, and the not so intelligent neighbor comes to give advice every few levels. The point of view is focused on one image (the front yard) throughout the whole game and there is no perspective change.
• Audio elements - In terms of audio elements in this game, they are more basic then the visual-graphic elements. There is basically music that plays in the background, the sound effects of the plants shooting pea 'bullets' and other animations in the game, and a male voice that announces when the zombies have begun their attack.
2. The goal of this game is to protect your house (and self) from the zombies that are coming across your lawn using the plants at your disposal. These various plants have different abilities and work together to protect you from the zombies. The player needs to strategize the order in which the plants are chosen, and placed together on the lawn to fight the zombies.
3. The rules of the game are to use the power of the sun (also provided by the sunflowers) to put various plants on your lawn to fight for you. Plants need a certain amount of 'sun' power to be planted and can only take up one square on your lawn. If zombies attack the plant too many times the plant can be eaten leaving you vulnerable. If the zombies get through all of your defenses they reach the lawn mower which is your final defense. The next zombie will then enter your house. I don't know what happens then because I have yet to let that happen!
4. I believe this game has a fabricated scenario design because the story is not based on concepts that can be picked up in real life and the scenario design doesn't impact a players ability to succeed. 

2. Incorporating Games into the classroom

Grade Level : 8th - high functioning autism
Common core standards and learning outcomes:

• Reading #3 - Analyze how particular lines of dialogue or incidents in a story or drama propel the action, reveal aspects of a character, or provoke a decision
• Reading #9 - Analyze how a modern work of fiction draws on themes, patterns of events, or character types from myths, traditional stories, or religious works such as the Bible, including describing how the material is rendered new.
• Writing # 1.a - Introduce claim(s), acknowledge and distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and organize the reasons and evidence logically.
• Speaking and Listening #1.d - Acknowledge new information expressed by others, and, when warranted, qualify or justify their own views in the light of the evidence presented.
• Speaking and Listening #4 - Present claims and findings, emphasizing salient points in a focused, coherent manner with relevant evidence, sound valid reasoning, and well-chosen details; use appropriate eye contact, adequate volume, and clear pronunciation.

Instructional activities:

• In order to make this game more related to the school's focus on social skills I would make this instructional activity one where students work in pairs. 
• Prior to playing the game I would introduce all of the characters of the game through a basic PowerPoint tutorial. I would provide the students with a chart that included an image of each of the plants and a blank space for them to fill in the names and descriptions of them as they played the game. 
• In groups of two they would begin by playing the first round of the first level. Upon completion (either passing the level or not passing) the student would be asked to stop and discuss what happened in the game, what did/didn't work, and what they could do differently. I would provide graph paper where the boxes were 1in x 1in to represent the lawn image for students to brainstorm together strategies for tackling the levels of the game. 

• The object of the lesson would be to work in their groups of two to identify the object of the game/level, discuss the information they had available to them, brainstorm strategies, and try to implement the strategies until they were able to reach level 5.

Assessment:

• One form of assessment would be based on teacher observations of the students to see if they are working together in a equal and productive team, if they are discussing challenges and theories for why they are facing these challenges, and if how they are brainstorming potential solutions.
• Another form of assessment would be based on the physical worksheets they would be completing throughout the lesson. Have they identified the important pieces of information about the plants to utilize each one? Have they figured out the rules of how each plant works on different types of zombies? Have they shown attempts at developing different strategies for different levels?
• A final form of assessment would be based on the discussion that will occur during the debriefing period.

Debriefing:

• Although this game is not based on realistic situation, it is essentially a game about strategizing and about cause and effects of decisions. In general the game can be compared to situations of security, such as the military in combat. The students can discuss what would be the first line of defense to protect our 'home' prior to necessitating actual war. They can also discuss which forms of defense worked well together and which ones didn't.

Cognitive skills:

• This activity and game helps students to cultivate their skills of identifying a goal/problem, evaluating possible challenges they may face in accomplishing their goal, brainstorming multiple plans to overcoming the challenges, and assessing all potential tools. Since the activity will require them to work in pairs, there is an addition of collaboration skills, team work, and sharing responsibility. 

New literacies skills:

• New literacies skills are defined as being able to use information and communication technology (ICT) tools to "identify questions, locate information, evaluate information synthesize information to answer questions, and communicate the answers to to others (Leu, Kinzer, Coiro, & Cammack, 2004, p. 1572).
• Students are able to accomplish all of the above through this instructional activity. They are able to identify the question of what the goal of the game is and the goal is of the time they take to strategize before playing a level, they are able to locate the information about the different plants and their abilities which they then evaluate in order to brainstorm possible solutions. They are able to synthesize the information to answer their partners questions about why they think a particular plant should be positioned there and why they think their order of planting/defending/attacking will work best. During the debriefing period each pair of students will be able to communicate what they found to be the best answer to the challenge they faced in the game and compare it with what others observed.