design patterns

from tony forster:
learning patterns for the design and deployment of mathematical games
http://lp.noe-kaleidoscope.org/outcomes/litrev/

Section one is a lit review about design patterns and goes onto applying that to game design, using an example of a design pattern (producer-consumer)

It made me think that design patterns may be a good organising principle to structure a game making course, as distinct from my rather ad hoc current methods

My feeling is that we haven't got very far yet wrt game design ideas and that the design pattern approach might be a good way to go

Section two starts with a lit review of learning theories and goes onto an examination of some maths games

The lit review is comprehensive and helped me begin to fill in some gaps in my knowledge, although some of the key issues are dealt with only briefly - inevitably in such a comprehensive overview

The distinction b/w teacher as didactic figure and teacher as co-actor is interesting (63)

The whole thing is 131 pp, including more than 35 pages of references at the end.

I've printed off some sections to look at more closely:

p.11 great diagram showing perils of single perspectives
pp. 42-59: design patterns as applied to learning and games
pp. 61-68: theoretical framework (environment, teacher, instruments)
pp. 89-93 descriptions of maths games, equity, conclusion

Tags:

• learning
• design