Red group “drops” the token in the second column.
DIST members organised a three-day workshop at the “Center šolskih in obšolskih dejavnosti” (Centre for school and extra-curricular activities) in Vojsko titled “Developing interactive games with tangible interface”.
Together with the primary school participants we implemented a “connect four” game which was controlled by a tangible user interface. The game was played by two groups with three players; each player represented one bit and by lifting (yellow or red) sheets of paper the players decided in which column (1-7 based on the number of lifted papers and their positions) a (yellow or red) token will be dropped.
By involving playful elements into the learning process, participants were able to learn the basics of computer science, programming and teamwork.
The workshop had the following objectives:
- Getting to know programming through simple examples from everyday life that are transferred to the computer environment.
- Learning the basics of an integrated development environment (IDE) for software development.
- Learning the framework on which the game was implemented.
- Learning the underlying strategies of the game.
- Making applications and test a fully functioning prototype.
- Promoting the teamwork.
