Students build a computer and install Windows Vista on it during the cyber defense competition.Game Design
In the Game Design venue, we have chosen to use the Alice programming environment for students to create worlds and experiment with programming logic. This simple, but powerful, programming language allows students with no or limited programming experience to learn in a drag and drop environment.
Students can create their own worlds and add in characters from a variety of images provided with the software. These characters, as well as their individual appendages, can move and react to other objects in the world. The software also allows player interaction which is what we will be drawing upon for the IT-Olympics competition.
A new IT-Club that opts to work with Game Design receives a "Learning to Program with Alice" book and the Alice software.
This year the IT-Adventures program will not provide computers. All IT-Clubs are responsible for acquiring computers for practicing creating Alice programs at their own schools.
In Game Design this may mean you just have to ask the IT tech support person for your school to install the software in your school's lab(s) that run a Windows environment.
If you opt to find computers, these computers DO NOT need to be new! Used computers from a local company will work.
Since many companies wipe their computer information from donated machines, you may request 1 Windows XP license and the installation CD to install an operating on one of the used computers you get.
We have provided a list of what you get in the venue and the base computer specifications needed to run the software we provide.
In addition to learning materials and software, a corporate mentor is provided to each IT-Club through the help of Technology Association of Iowa. This mentor helps the students understand the programming in a visual world.
High school students in this content area have the opportunity to bring an educational game they designed and wrote to the IT-Olympics competition. The game must teach an educational concept in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering, or Math (STEM) which would be appropriate for middle school (junior high) age. The game should be easy to use, fun to play and teach a STEM concept. The details of this primarly competition are released in IT-Olympics Venue Document. However, during the IT-Olympics there will also be real-time challenges where students are asked to write new games or create Alice worlds in a timed event. The specifications of these challenges are only given to the students at the competition.
While there is no cost to forming the club nor obtaining the materials, each IT-Club is required to perform a community service project related to their content area(s). Any team that competes in an IT-Olympics venue must submit a poster describing their IT community service project. Both the poster and the oral presentation which will be judged during the competition. The community service score will contribute to the overall standings in the game design competition.
