Feb. 19, 2010
Nile C. Kinnick High School Visual Basic class makes learning fun
By Nile C. Kinnick High School Public Affairs

Computer programming has been described as one of those necessary evils to attain supreme command in the computer world. There may be some truth to this – the endless hours of pseudo code, programming your first stopwatch, tax calculator or working with the ever present ‘Hello World’ program. Quite often there seems to be no point other than because the teacher assigned it.

One of the technical education teachers at Nile C. Kinnick High School has found a different approach to teaching programming. Robert Tiffany has taken fun to another level – six levels to be exact, in the Visual Basic I class. After learning the basics of the language in the first quarter, his students have moved from text books to the real world.

One of the largest industries in the world right now is game development. “The students wanted to be involved in something that has just as much purpose as fundamental class work. If it happens to be fun, all the better,” Tiffany said.

Tiffany divided his class into six groups. Each group was responsible for developing one level of a six level computer game. The rules for development are simple; each level must have something to do with what the students are learning in class, there have to be rules posted somewhere for each level, each level is progressively harder, and it has to be, as you may have guessed, fun!

Pseudo code becomes the storyboard for laying out their game idea. The ‘hello world’ programs become dialog boxes so the players can interact with the game. The stopwatch programs become timers and tax calculator programs simply become calculators. “On their own, the students have researched ways to go far beyond their text,” Tiffany added. “When there is a reason to learn, nothing will stop them!”

Game development serves so many purposes. “I’m not trying to create a bunch of gaming programmers, I’m just giving students another outlet to show what they can do – a fun outlet,” he said. “The fact that it is embedded with so much cross-curricular support and really stimulates the critical thinking skills is merely a byproduct of the process.”

The finished product is a game that can be used by both teachers and students for remediation, helping with current lessons or just for fun – and the students love to play them!

For Tiffany, it all boils down to one thing, “If it’s fun, the students will learn and I have found out their ability to learn is endless when there is appropriate motivation,” he said. “The byproduct of this is students that are having fun learning very advanced technology and games that teachers and students can use for years to come. How cool [is it] for students to be able to leave a legacy like that?”

I think this is really cool that the teachers are starting at a young age with Visual Basic knowledge. Kids now have a better opportunity than most of us old guys. I started my own level of knowledge just picking up a book and watching videos. I went to a few training seminars, and conferences as well.

For all those that are interested in learning, KEEP AT IT! Build your future, with your imagination..

Pieces of paper are not POWER! Knowledge is POWER!!!

That dude simply ROCKS (Mr/Coach Tiffany). He's the soccer coach for KHS. You'll see those dudes running around base after school every day.

I don't know what visual basic is, but I love playing video games. GO GET 'EM!

I don't know what visual basic is

Visual Basic is a programming language. Its actually what I code with to develop this website. I am just inspired to see young individuals motivated to start learning such a craft..

BTW, its also used to code and develop gaming systems, and games.. So they are definitely on the right path..

Heh heh, I grew up in the 80s and I remember being taught a little of FORTRAN and BASIC (I wonder if that's kinda the same thing...probably not since we were using Ataris or something like that!). I forgot it all now, but I did create a flowchart thing that let a smiley face move around the screen. SUCCESS!

I have a wiki site set up and you can either use their template or you can html it all. My students didn't bother with their template and they started html-ing the whole thing. Sweet setup they have now. I feel old and ignorant.