New learning game looking for beta testers (teachers and students)

scjoye

  • Posts: 62
All,

I am looking for a bit of help in a last round of beta testing. My little learning game is currently ready for testing on multiple tablet platforms including iOS, Android and Kindle. The game is made for tablets, not phones. I have done pretty extensive testing in iOS, a bit on a Kindle Fire HD6, but have yet to test at all on an Android tablet, so if you have one and are willing to help out that would be AMAZING!

I was a classroom teacher for about 10 years (HS/MS) and now work in instructional design at a university here in Oregon. I would be VERY interested in possibly finding fellow educators in the 4th or 5th grades that would possibly be interested in beta testing in a classroom setting with the game and very nearly completed wrap-around curriculum.

Lemonade Cart is a modern take on the classic MECC Lemonade Stand I grew up with on the Apple IIe. Players will take over the reigns of a new lemonade cart in the Metro Area of a major city. As an entrepreneur and small business owner, you’ll navigate through several stages of running the cart where you'll have the chance to perfect a lemonade recipe, deal with advertising and social media, news and weather, upgrade your cart, and haggle for prices at the local market.

My updated version has several unique features that aim to aid in the learning of math (graphing, volume, fractions etc.), basic economics (profit and loss etc.), entrepreneurship and higher order thinking skills such as analyzing given information, basing decisions based upon the evaluation of certain data, critical thinking and ultimately creation when used with the classroom curriculum. Some of the game components such as the ‘Stats’ and the ‘Recipe Volume’ section will not play a major part of the game while you play, but are instead meant for the students and teacher to use in conjunction with the classroom curriculum. This curriculum will be freely available on a website to be built in the very near future.

What I am hoping you can help me with, if willing, is pretty straightforward. The total gameplay should not take much more than 60 – 90 minutes total. You can do that all in one sitting or save the game and come back to it later to finish it. I am looking for feedback on:

•   Problems, errors, or glitches you encounter
•   Confusing instructions, or other items that you think need clarity,
•   Parts of the game you do not like, or find irritating.
•   Any positives along the way as well, especially if / when playing with your children.
•   Specific times when you saw your child enjoying the game, or when they asked you a question about its content which became a teaching moment for them and so on.

If you are interested, please PM me here or shoot me an email at solcjoye AT gmail DOT com

Thx,

ceosol

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  • Posts: 2279
Sorry, I just saw this post. I think most of the posts here are about teaching with stencyl instead of using stencyl apps/games to teach :)

I am a former adjunct professor. I would love to help you out. My email is ceosol.feedback@gmail.com.

scjoye

  • Posts: 62
ceosol,

Thanks for the reply. I agree with you about the normal use of this forum area... I used to teach w Stencyl in my 7th / 8th grade elective game design courses as well. That said, I do feel like more and more teachers ARE creating their own games, etc. as it should be...

I left the classroom almost two years ago now, and work in higher ed as well... I'll shoot you an email ASAP as I'd love your input!

Thanks,

-S.