text:
Mesohippus  (latinisiert aus dem altgriechischen   "mitten, halb" und   "Pferd", also "Halbpferd") war ein Vorfahr der Pferde, der vor 40 bis 25 Millionen Jahren in der Zeit des Eozäns und Oligozäns in Nordamerika lebte.

Mesohippus war mit durchschnittlich etwa 60 Zentimeter Schulterhöhe deutlich größer als sein Vorgänger Hyracotherium. Dies verdankte es insbesondere seinen deutlich längeren Beinen, sowie der Rückentwicklung der – für das Hyracotherium typischen – Rückenwölbung. Sein Gewicht wird auf etwa 34 kg geschätzt.

Das Tier besaß an den hinteren Pfoten immer noch drei Zehen, an den Vordergliedmaßen nun aber auch 3 Zehen, wobei die mittlere Zehe hervortritt. Es bildeten sich zudem Ansätze von Schneidezähnen, die den Verzehr von härterer Grasnahrung ermöglichten. Der Schädel zeigt eine Vertiefung, die auch bei späteren Equiden erhalten blieb.

Diese Anpassungen lassen auf einen veränderten Lebensraum schließen. Das feuchtere Klima zu Zeiten des Hyracotherium wurde trockener und allmählich entstand eine offenere steppenähnliche Landschaft mit Büschen, Gestrüpp und kleineren Sträuchern, die Mesohippus als Nahrungsgrundlage diente.

Artenliste
M. bairdi
M. barbouri
M. braquistylus
M. equiceps
M. hypostylus
M. intermedius
M. latidens
M. longiceps
M. metulophus
M. montanensis
M. obliquidens
M. proteulophus
M. westoni

Weblinks

Pferde
Equidae
Ausgestorbener Unpaarhufer

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Leroy Rey
30 Years of A Tribe Called Quest's 'The Low End Theory'
The year was 1991.
Rap Music had slowly transformed itself from a single-driven genre to a commonplace of great albums by a diverse set of artists. All this was at a time when printed hip hop magazine The Source was kinda like the bible for any avid Hip Hop fan and when they ran this annual summer piece about upcoming albums. Black Sheep's 'A Wolf In Sheep's Clothing' was announced and previewed there and I ran to my favorite record store in town on a daily basis, to ask whether that album already came in.
This went on for months (the store owner understandably eye-balled more and longer with each and every visit), until I came in one day and asked for that Black Sheep album again. He replied with a deadpan "No, but I do have this!" and handed me a copy of their Native Tongues affiliates, A Tribe Called Quest's 'The Low End Theory'.
Jaw-dropped.
See, I knew the 'Check The Rhime' single just came out a week or so before (coincidentally on the same day as Sheep's 'Flavor Of The Month'), but I expected it to take a few extra months before the album would see it's actual release.
Tribe reportedly worked reclusively on this album, and probably in an effort to make no room for tampering, hardly even let their record company executives in on the recording process. They fittingly unleashed the final product in the same manner on the world.
And what a product it is.
It goes without saying The Native Tongues crew (which at the time consisted of aforementioned Black Sheep, De La Soul, Jungle Brothers, Queen Latifah, Monie Love, Chi-Ali and Tribe) is one of the most original in Rap's history, but since the release of 1990's landmark 'People's Instinctive Travels…', Tribe always stood out a little more.
But even then nobody remotely expected the sonic experience 'The Low End Theory' provided.
It's darker (but not in a cold way) than its predecessor, the jazz influences more upfront, the bass deeper (hence part of the album title) and most of the drumbreaks, assembled from various sources, have a sort of excellent repetitiveness to its patterns.
Both Q-Tip & Phife display beautiful chemistry throughout the whole album, the back & forth goin' on 'Check The Rhime' being its prime example and this is also the album Phife really came into his own. Having appearances on only a couple of joints of their debut, on 'The Low End Theory' he's all over it. And the reason for this appeared to be simple: Phife just came to the studio more.
And it showed. The Five Foot Assassin just busts in the door, with his down-to-earth approach on the mic, spittin' out endlessly entertaining rhymes with his typical comical and/or sarcastic wit:
"I'm all that, and then some/short, dark and handsome/bust a nut inside your eye, to show you where I come from" (Scenario), "Got more rhymes that the Winans got family" (Buggin' Out), "Go get yourself some toilet paper, cause your lyrics is butt" (Showbusiness), "A special shout of peace goes out to all my pals, you see/and a middle finger goes to all you punk MC's" (Check The Rhime)
And those are just a few examples of him being the perfect counterpart for Tip's more introspective approach.
Brand Nubian, Diamond D. & Leaders Of The New School (with a young Busta Rhymes in the line-up) are to be found on the album as well. The Nubians' Sadat X & Lord Jamar (who made noise that same year with their classic 'One For All' album, alongside Grand Puba & DJ Alamo) are featured on the aforementioned 'Showbusiness', which at first was titled 'Georgy Porgy', had Puba on it too, sported wholly different lyrics, but since this is a 30th anniversary celebration of the album, I don't want to get into all that, other than this might be one of those very few occasions a major label was totally right by rejecting the song, as it was, to be put on the album. So Tribe had to retool it, kept the beat, had to write new lyrics, and reached out to Brand Nubian to do the same. But Puba wasn't having it and didn't want to record a new verse, thus he got replaced by Diamond D, who was friends with Tip and also worked on his own album, so he definitely could use the break.
'Scenario' on the other hand, doesn't need any form of introduction, as it's one of the most quintessential Tribe tracks. The tune that put Busta Rhymes on the map, spitting flames in his inimitable delivery, also where "The Dungeon Dragon" moniker found its origin.
Fun fact is De La Soul, Black Sheep and even Chris Lighty rhymed on it too, as well as Jarobi (who did verses on several tracks for the album, but were taken off when Jarobi decided to pursue a culinary career). In the end, all that remained were the verses of Tip & Phife, and the Leaders' Charlie Brown, Dinco D. & Busta.
'The Low End Theory' was received very well, with raving reviews everywhere, a 5 mic rating in The Source (on a scale of 1 to 5, back in the days when such things mattered). First it went gold (within 6 months after release) and subsequently platinum.
Its sonics eventually found its way to Wu-Tang Clan, Black Moon & Souls Of Mischief's seminal debut albums a.o., and even the good doctor admitted 'The Low End Theory' was highly influential during the making of 'The Chronic'.
Tip, on his part, said in several interviews that he & Ali Shaheed were very much inspired by NWA's 'Straight Outta Compton', in particular the bass, when recording 'The Low End Theory'.
"It's simple...., don't you know that things go in cycles?"
You on point, Tip.
'The Low End Theory' grew out to be a desert island disc for me, so for its 30th anniversary, I thought it would be a great thing to string its primary sample sources in one continuous mix. After listening to interviews with people involved in its recording, I decided to incorporate those too, and it turned out to be closer to an audio doc than a mix.
Some of the sampled joints can be a challenging listen, but Tip said it best in 'Jazz (We've Got)':
"I don't really mind if it's over your head"
"Cause the job of resurrectors is to wake up the dead"
the low end theory
Kid Sublime on his past 20 years, Ballroom Radio Records, collaborations & more.
Tyrone Washington is incredible. Here's why.

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Men's Basketball Falls to Green Mountain in OT Thriller
Green Mountain College
Green Mountain College (2-1) 37 42 10 89
Lesley University (0-3) 37 42 7 86
Pts: Cameron Anderson - 30
Reb: Cameron Anderson - 8
Ast: Thomas Brown - 4
Pts: Xeo Golding - 31
Reb: 2 Players (#10, #TM) - 8
Ast: Devon Mayo - 7
Pts off Turnovers
2nd Chance Pts
Pts in the Paint
Fastbreak Pts
Bench Pts
Posted: Nov 18, 2015
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Green Mountain College junior Darius Wynn (Charlottesville, Va.) drilled a game-tying three-pointer as time expired in regulation before senior Cameron Anderson (Charlottesville, Va.) followed with a game-winning triple with 2.6 seconds left in the overtime period to lift the Eagles to an 89-86 win over the Lesley University men's basketball team in tonight at the Nicholas Athletics Center.
The win is the second in a row for the Eagles as they move to 2-1 while the Lynx drop their second consecutive game by three points as they dip to 0-3 on the season.
The game was tightly contested all night as the score was traded twenty different times. A Devon Mayo (Newport News, Va.) layup gave the Lynx a 75-74 advantage with 1:09 left to play in the second half. Mayo would sink two free throws 31-seconds later to push the lead to three. On the Eagles next possession, junior Javier Lugris (Madrid, Spain) kept GMC alive with a pair of offensive rebounds before drawing a foul and knocking down one-of-two from the line to trim the Lesley lead back to two, 77-75.
After a Lynx turnover with 13-seconds left, Thomas Brown (Charlottesville, Va.) hit a free throw to bring the Eagles within one before Lesley senior Corbin Polec (Okemos, Mich.) sunk a pair from the charity stripe to bring the Lynx back to a three point edge, 79-76.
With just seven seconds to go, the Eagles raced up the floor and Wynn hit an off-balanced trey from the wing to send the game into overtime.
Trailing by one, Wynn would knock down his second triple of the game to give the visitors an 86-84 lead before Mayo evened things at 86-86 with a drive and layup. The Lynx would force a turnover and get the ball back with 34-ticks left but would fail to convert on a three-point attempt while Anderson corralled the rebound to give the Eagles possession.
Anderson would make the possession count as he received a feed from Wynn and drilled a trey from the right corner with 2.6 left on the clock to secure the win for Green Mountain.
The senior forward was excellent for Eagles all night as he finished with a team-best 30 points on 10-13 shooting while grabbing seven boards. Brown and Sampson Dale (Charlottesville, Va.) came off the bench to combine for 33 points and ten rebounds while Lugris added eight points, four rebounds, and a pair of steals.
Lesley freshman Xeo Golding (Windermere, Fla.) went 12-18 from the floor, including a 4-9 mark from deep, to pour in a game-best 31 points while Mayo finished with 19 points and seven dimes. Polec added 15 points for the hosts and led all Lynx with eight rebounds.
The Lynx held advantages in shooting percentage (50% - 46%), rebounds (45-37), and assists (21-10) while the Eagles forced 30 turnovers and turned them into 32 points on the night. GMC's reserves also played a key role as they outscored the Lesley bench by a 38-7 margin.
Lesley will look to get into the win column when they return to action on Saturday when they travel to Salve Regina University at 3:00p. Green Mountain will also be on the road on Saturday as they head to John Jay for a 6:00p tip.


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You Dont Know Jack?
Many Social Media Videos Present Flawed Testing on Wearing Face Masks & Oxygen Levels – #FaceMask #Covid19 #FactCheck #FalseClaims
July 3, 2020 July 8, 2020 ~ Jack Benton
A screenshot of the video is posted above and here is the YouTube Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdrEjCeZqlA
This video and many others like it are popping up on Facebook, YouTube, and other social media sites and are very misleading to the public and those of us wearing face masks during this pandemic. The article below addressed another video that went viral from a "would-be politician". The information posted is just not accurate. If you want the actual facts on how to do this test watch the video below.
Video Presents Flawed Test on Masks, Oxygen Levels – FactCheck.org
By Angelo Fichera
Video Presents Flawed Test on Masks, Oxygen Levels
Quick Take
A viral video questions the safety of face masks by using a gas detector to purportedly show that masks result in dangerous oxygen levels for the wearer. But experts — and the company that makes the gas detector — say the video's test is scientifically flawed.
In a popular video swirling on Facebook, a local official in Pennsylvania casts doubt on the safety of face masks by arguing that a test he performs on camera shows that masks prevent people from breathing "the required oxygen level."
But the viral video's test is scientifically flawed and its conclusions wrong, according to multiple experts.
The video by Jeff Neff — a firefighter and president of the borough council in Sewickley, Pennsylvania — was uploaded June 27 and has racked up more than 11,000 shares and more than 260,000 views. It's one of many recent dubious claims about face masks, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends be used to help limit the spread of COVID-19.
The CDC advises the general public to use cloth masks in public settings, especially when it is hard to maintain physical distancing. Experts, including those at the American Lung Association, have said masks do not cause low oxygen levels.
Neff, who unsuccessfully ran in the Republican primary in the state's 37th senatorial district in June, begins with some correct statements about normal oxygen levels in air and federal workplace safety rules. The air is comprised of 21% oxygen, according to NASA, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, defines an "oxygen deficient atmosphere" — and therefore dangerous to life or health — as one in which oxygen falls below 19.5% by volume.
The central claims that follow, however, rest on an unsound test.
In the video, Neff uses a device for detecting gas levels to suggest that four different face masks deprive wearers of appropriate oxygen level intakes because the detector readings drop below 19.5% for oxygen. He concludes: "No matter what you choose — head sock, neoprene type fancy mask, cheap mask, N95, the best available — none of them allow you to breathe in the required oxygen level, which should be close to 21%."
Experts we contacted disputed his methodology and findings.
"He's really misinformed and ill-qualified" to be conducting such a test, said Thomas Fuller, an associate professor of health sciences at Illinois State University and member of the American Industrial Hygiene Association, who reviewed the video for FactCheck.org.
Fuller, a certified industrial hygienist, said the main issue with Neff's test is that the meter, placed underneath the various masks, is picking up Neff's own exhaled breath — which contains about 16% oxygen and includes other gases, such as carbon dioxide and nitrogen. "What he's measuring is what he's breathing out — it's the gases that are taking up the concentration in that enclosed space," Fuller said.
Read the rest of the article here on FactCheck.org
If you see a video like this with misleading information, report it to the platform as false information. We'll all be better off for it.
Please Share With Others!
Posted in Coronavirus, News, Personal Safety, Safety, Workplace Safety	COVID19 PPECOVID19 PPE False ClaimsFacemasksFact CheckHealth and Safetyoxygen levels
Published by Jack Benton
Suburban Chicago Environmental, Health, Safety Specialist & Loss Control & Risk professional. I am "Passionate About Safety" - Full-Time Job Leads Always Welcomed! ~ Contact me through LinkedIn	View all posts by Jack Benton
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2 thoughts on "Many Social Media Videos Present Flawed Testing on Wearing Face Masks & Oxygen Levels – #FaceMask #Covid19 #FactCheck #FalseClaims"
Jonah Th'Mole Mociun says:
It looks like he's plugging the f*ing tube with his finger.
Jack Benton says:
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Formula One Management
F1 unveils first-ever Strategic Plan
January 13, 2020 January 13, 2020 David Nelson6 Comments
Formula 1 has today unveiled its first-ever strategic plan, giving fans an insight on what the future holds for the series ahead of its 70th year.
The slide deck builds upon what Liberty Media have achieved during their first three years as guardians of the sport.
The plan, released as part of F1's Corporate Strategy, covers all aspects of the sport at a high level, broken into six pillars:
On the broadcasting side, Formula 1 makes it clear the direction that the sport is heading in, with a strong focus on bringing in younger fans through an expansion of F1's Esports Championship, and through engaging with influencers.
F1 also references 'exciting new formats' on the sporting side, but does not offer any specifics on what this would entail. An attempt to bring in reverse-grid qualifying races for three races in 2020 failed to gain the required approval of all F1's teams.
Interestingly, the slide deck makes no reference to free-to-air or pay television. Instead, the sport says it will 'reach the broadest audience on relevant linear and digital platforms,' suggesting that the distribution model will remain different on a country-by-country basis moving forward.
As anticipated, F1 intends to grow their over-the-top platform to, in their words, 'super-serve hardcore fans.' Over-the-top is not new, or a surprise, but it is fascinating to see F1 reference this in a public-facing document, something that was unthinkable five years ago.
Elsewhere, F1 mentions the desire to 'multi-feed' through a 'more cloud-based sports broadcasting platform, showing where they see the future to be from an innovation perspective. 5G gets a mention in the slide-deck, with F1 hoping that will enable a 'hyper-connected car, fan and paddock.'
Sustainability is a key theme throughout the slide deck, with F1 wanting to 'minimise the amount of equipment and people sent to each race,' building their facility further at Biggin Hill to support in this mission.
Other key areas on the broadcasting front include sharing content and talent, as well as generally increasing the awareness of Formula 1 through promotional opportunities.
F1 does not offer any timescales on the period that the Strategic Plan covers, but given some of the ambitions that the sport covers, I suspect it covers the next five years, with a view to look beyond that in many of the areas.
At the start of the month, F1 unveiled an amended logo to celebrate 70 years of F1, with activities planned throughout the year to celebrate the milestone.
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6 thoughts on "F1 unveils first-ever Strategic Plan"
Tom Chiverton says:
Any paragraph with "5G" in you can just ignore as marketing bullshit. No need to report it 🙂
Our Nige says:
My God – an amended logo. When you see that you know it's doomed.
Jon Bee says:
That headline font – argh.
A quick check reveals they didn't miss one buzz word or phrase in this latest press release. I don't think we'll see much of this go beyond talk, because the one promise we'll all like to see is missing. That promise "You won't miss any of the on-track action". If FOM continue to believe watching the reaction of pit crew and spectators isn't killing the race broadcasts, they're going to keep on losing viewers.
I'm absolutely convinced Ross Brawn has never watched a live race as we see it at home. Perhaps Brawn's years of watching the race from the pit wall has altered his perception of how to follow a race when you're not directly involved in running a team and watching a timing screen.
Do FOM think F1 is at all watchable on an iPhone/iPad? Unless you want become completely boss eyed the bigger the screen the better and that returns to Dave's question about FTA/pay TV (which in the UK has effectively shrunk the 'TV' audience).
What constitutes a 'relevant linear' platform?


like a flea market only cheaper.
My sister-in-law discovered that this 8 ½" high x 13 ½" long tote works well as a garbage receptacle in the mini van. It fits perfectly between the two front seats and is held in place by looping the handles over the seat belt clips. Use it as a toddler's toy tote, a waterproof beach bag or help to organize all of those mitts and scarves in the wintertime by assigning a different color to each child and placing them in the front closet. I've used one for a magazine rack, a knitting bag and as a place to round up the dog's toys when I reluctantly pull out the vacuum cleaner. In fact, anytime you want portable storage with a splash of color, you can't go wrong with these totes.


This is some random Japanese Music. Some of them fit well in my ears, so I recommend it.
Programming isn't all about coding. Designing and Error-checking are also important in developing a program. These are some simple tips to help you make a program.
This is just a note of my opinion. I haven't had anyone which could listen to it directly, so I'll just write it down instead.
This note is solely written in order to refresh my emotion and speaks up my opinion about some of my friends. I've been trying to find a logical reason why I dislike a certain somebody. I can't ask for anybody to change if I myself dunno what I want them to become. Although I knew, I don't have the right to ask them to change anyway.
This application is developed using J2ME. Just a simple Romaji to Kana Converter. The Kanji database isn't available yet.


text:
Using games & gaming technology in all areas of education
David Renton's educational blog
Category: Schools
Kinect Games v5 using Kinect SDK v1.8
August 27, 2014 by FECodeTeach, posted in Education, Gaming, Kinect, Math, Programming, Schools, Windows 8, xGames, XNA
This update has been coming for a long time and was actually pretty much complete before the summer, but I've been so busy with my new role at College that I haven't had a second to package it up and get it out. The new version of my Kinect educational games makes use of the latest Kinect SDK (v1.8) for the original Kinect for Windows, using the new SDK brings some performance boasts in itself. However the main thing that this release adds is the new X-Ray mode in my NoNeed4Green program (the green screen without a green screen). Press X once to show a skeleton overlaid on whoever is standing in front of Kinect, press it again to show just a skeleton avatar. I'm sure all you innovative educators out there can think of uses for this in the classroom.
Download the new version of Kinect Games from here. It requires Windows 7 or Windows 8 and a Kinect for Windows v1 or Kinect for XBOX360 with external power supply.
X-Ray mode in NoNeed4Green
Thanks goes out to Benjamin Swindells (an ex-student of mine) for providing the skeleton graphics captured from his 3D models. Benjamin is one of the best 3D modellers/animators I have had to privilege to teach, far better than me at 3D art. Also thanks to my fellow MS expert educator Simon Johnson for creating transparent versions of the skeleton for the overlay mode.
Tagged education, educational gaming, games, gaming, kinect, kinect games, WINDOWS8, xGAMES1 Comment
Microsoft in Education Global Forum Barcelona 2014
March 20, 2014 March 23, 2014 by FECodeTeach, posted in APPS, Education, Gaming, Kinect, Kodu, Mobile Phones, Programming, Schools, TouchDevelop, Windows 8, xGames, XNA
Last week I attended the Microsoft in Education Global Forum in Barcelona. I was selected as part of a ten strong team from the UK to attend the conference, although I was the only Scot in the team and the only FE lecturer. The week was an amazing mix of talks, panel discussions, collaborative sessions and a TeachMeet. We also spent 2 half days exhibiting our learning activities on stands to the other educators and school leaders at the conference. However for me the best thing about the forum was the amazing educators that I met from around the world and the future projects that I will now be able to collaborate with them on.
UK Expert Educators
On day one of the conference a highlight for me was Stuart Ball, UK PIL manager, presenting on some of the amazing apps for education that are available on the Windows 8 store and more specifically for the Surface tablet. I downloaded 5 or 6 apps onto my Surface during the session that I hope to make use of them in my classroom practice.
Stuart Ball presenting
The other major part of day one was the first exhibitor session, where we got to show off our projects to educators and school leaders from around the world. There were 6 of us from the UK manning stands, with a variety of projects. Simon & Ray both had projects around TouchDevelop, while the Queen of Kodu, Nicki, was presenting on the KoduKup. I was mostly talking about a project I ran, where my college students made games in groups in conjunction with a local primary school using XNA. However I was also speaking about using Kodu & TouchDevelop to teach coding to children and teachers. So there was a common theme of coding in 4 out of the 6 projects, which reflects the current trend in the UK towards programming in Computing. I found the exhibitor sessions invaluable, my only criticism is that I wish I had more opportunities to visit the other stands myself, as we were pretty much tied to our stands. I think a system where only half of us were presenting at a time, while the other half were free go around and visit the other stands would be a much better approach in future.
UK Team Exhibiting
On day two we started with an inspiration keynote address from Anthony Salcito, Microsoft's worldwide Vice President for Microsoft Education. He started by saying that our students are learning without us; I wonder myself if sometimes it is despite of us . He talked about Microsoft's commitment to education and teachers. He also made it clear that he recognises that technology isn't the answer, but great teachers using technology well is. He also demonstrated the amazing Project Spark, which although not new to me, drew gasps of amazement from the audience. Project Spark is Kodu on steroids, it builds on the creative 3D world available in Kodu, by allowing students to create truly jaw droppingly beautiful worlds, but is also allows them to fully customise that world by programming the objects within it, to do whatever they want. Whether it is telling a rock to follow your character or making an ogre dance when you are near it, you can truly create whatever you want.
Anthony Salcito
He also demonstrated an amazing new app called ChronoZoom, which allows you to create dynamic timelines on any topic. A great tool for teaching History, but not just limited to history as it can be used to visualise historical or future timelines for any subject.
After the keynote it was back to exhibiting our learning activities. This time I decided to take time to talk to the other expert educators, so I was a little bit naughty in that I left my stand unattended for a while and went to the other displays and spoke to most of the educators near me, which just so happened to be mostly team USA. This was my favourite thing from the conference, making connections with other educators from around the world and seeing the innovative ways that they are making use of technology in the classroom. I spoke to Michael Braun from Seattle, who I had actually met before when I visited a high school in Seattle to speak about TouchDevelop, while I was at the MVP summit in November last year. I learned about how he has been using TouchDevelop to teach coding in his classroom on smartphones and tablets. I also spoke to two teachers from Tampa (Bradley Smrstick and Joshua Sawyer) who are running Coding camps in Florida during July, which coincides with when I am there on holiday with my family, so I've arranged with them to do some sessions on TouchDevelop & Kodu while I am there. I also spoke to a primary teacher from Canada (Leah Obach) who is now going to enter 2 teams from her School into a Minecraft competition that I am running in conjunction with the College Development Network in Scotland.
It was also great to see so many Kodu projects from educators around the world, I think I counted 7 different projects, including one from my friends from Norway, who have 70 schools involved in their KoduKup competition this year. My Norwegian friends have also invited me over to Norway in May to judge at the Norwegian KoduKup, which hopefully I can arrange to do. It inspired me to look at setting up a Scottish KoduKup, which Microsoft have given me permission to do, so watch this space for further details.
In the afternoon after I finished exhibiting, I attended a hot topic panel discussion on "Inspiring Student Learning and Creativity through Gaming". I wasn't actually expecting much from this, as it was not a formal talk, however it featured an Australian guy called Simon Breakspear who is an educational speaker, researcher and innovator. He communicated much of my own thinking about the proper use of games in education, in a far more articulate manner than I could have. Simon was my favourite presenter from the entire week, as games for learning is something close to my heart. I was chuffed to get a retweet from him with my thinking that the "gameplay should be where the learning happens", as far too many "learning" games use the gameplay as a reward for answering a question. The key to a good educational game is where they learn through playing, rather than by using the gameplay as a carrot. We also need to look at how games that students already play & love, can be used in learning, a great example being MineCraft, which is so much more than just a fun game and can be used to encourage collaboration, teamwork, creativity and even programming. Simon is someone I hope to hear from again and I will try and get him to come speak at one of the conferences I am involved with in the upcoming year.
Simon Breakspear
In the evening I managed to get away from the conference and went down to see Barcelona beat Manchester City at the Nou Camp. Being a good Scot, I was wearing my Barcelona top and sat in with the Catalans. It was an amazing experience to see a near full Nou Camp cheering on Messi and co to victory, although I must be honest and say the atmosphere doesn't compare to Ibrox on a Champions league night (although it might be a while before I experience that again). I also got to witness the nasty side of English footie fans, as the Manchester City fans, who were right behind me, went about wrecking the fence that was keeping them separated from the Barcelona fans.
On day 3 we had the Learn-a-thon, which I wasn't really expecting much from, however it was actually a valuable experience and put the educators on the other side of things, as we worked together with educators from around to world to create a learning activity, while overcoming obstacles such as the language barrier. Our team worked to our strengths with our art teacher Darko from Macedonia creating an impressive stop motion animation about our theme which was "Treasuring Water", while I created a Kinect game on the same theme.
Learnathon – Kinect Game
That evening Stuart Ball and Dave Rogers from the UK team did a fantastic job organising a TeachMeet for Western Europe. Unknown to me, TeachMeets are a British thing, which the other countries were not familiar with, however it went very well and it was one of the best events I attended all week. I got another chance to present my xGames to educators who had never seen them and I had a lot of interest in them, especially from the Netherlands.
On the last day we presented our Learn-a-thon learning activity to the judges in the morning, after which myself, Ray, Simon & Dave Rogers finally got a chance to enjoy the Sauna & Jacuzzi facilities of the hotel that Microsoft had very kindly put us up in. It was nice to get a chance to relax for a couple hours and take in the wonderful views of the surrounding area.
Hotel Jacuzzi
Early afternoon we went back to the main conference auditorium where we had an address from Prince Felipe, heir apparent to the Spanish throne. We had to go through proper airport style security checks to get into the conference arena, because of the presence of royalty, as evidently he isn't too popular in Catalonia.
Prince Felipe
In the evening we got dressed up for the formal Gala Dinner and awards ceremony. I spoke with James Ptaszynski at the dinner, who is Senior Director in MS for Higher Education strategy, about the role that FE & HE may play in future Global forums. At the awards ceremony Scott Wieprecht from the UK team placed 2nd runner up in the Cutting Edge use of Technology for Learning category, so Congrats to Scott and his school Saltash.
At the after party I spent hours with my Norwegian friends speaking about teaching, education, politics and the meaning of life. We agreed that I must visit Norway again soon to help judge at the KoduKup final in May and whatever else I can fit in while there; perhaps some Project Spark and TouchDevelop.
Me and the Nordes
Overall it was a fantastic week and it was also great to catch up with friends like Ray and Simon, while getting to know Nicki & Dave Rogers better, but also it was lovely to make new friends with some amazing educators from all over the planet.
I have a bunch of events lined up between now and the summer, all of which would not have happened without my involvement with the Partners in Learning network. I am going to Lincoln University next week to present on Kinect for Windows v2, as well as taking part in a Kinect Hackathon. During our Easter break in April, I am going to the Codebits conference in Lisbon, Portugal, to present on Kinect v2 and from there I fly to Berlin for a Kinect v2 developers event & Kinect Hackathon. At the end of April I will travel to Microsoft's data centre in Dublin for a Microsoft MVP open day.
In June I am doing workshops on TouchDevelop and Project Spark at Games Britannia which is being held at Sheffield Hallam University. The same week I am presenting on Kinect and playful learning at the JISC ITECH conference in Glasgow. So busy, busy times ahead. Thanks to Stuart Ball and the PIL UK team for all their support and the opportunities they have provided me.
Tagged education, global forum, kinect, KODU, MICROSOFT, TOUCHDEVELOP3 Comments
My Travels with Microsoft
February 2, 2014 February 2, 2014 by FECodeTeach, posted in APPS, Education, Gaming, Kinect, Kodu, Math, Mobile Phones, Programming, Schools, TouchDevelop, Windows 8, WP8, XNA
It's been a while since I last updated my blog; I've just been so busy that I've hardly had a chance. Last time I wrote I was about to head down to Birmingham for the NEC Skills Show to demonstrate the incredible Project Spark, so I thought that would be a good place to start.
Project Spark Demo
Skills Show Birmingham NEC 14th to 15th November 2013
I spent two days at the Skills Show at Birmingham NEC, at the invitation of Lee Stott (Microsoft Technical Evangelist), presenting on Microsoft's amazing new game creation tool Project Spark and on Microsoft's cross-platform app development tool TouchDevelop. Microsoft sponsored the City and Guilds stand at the Skills Show, which was an amazing event which had at least 75,000 visitors over the 3 days of the conference.
Simon Michael, Simon Johnson, David Renton, Lee Stott and Dene Palmer (far right)
I also got to meet up with another one of Microsoft's Innovative Expert Educators, Simon Johnson Highfields School – Secondary Comprehensive (11-18) in the City of Wolverhampton.a High School Computing teacher from Highfields School in Wolverhampton. I had been corresponding on Twitter with Simon for months about TouchDevelop, as he was using some of my TouchDevelop game creation tutorials with his pupils. Simon has set up a TouchDevelop challenge website with some great resources on it and fascinating examples of games created by his pupils.
Demonstrating Project Spark and TouchDevelop to the masses
Simon concentrated on TouchDevelop at the Skills Show, while Simon Michael (Microsoft Technical Evangelist) and I concentrated on spreading the word about Project Spark to the legions of High School pupils passing by. The reception for Project Spark was incredible; I really think the creative types who love Minecraft will love it. Project Spark has the creative aspects of games like Minecraft and game engines like UDK, but unlike Minecraft you can change the way the world works and program the characters to do what you want, including programming NPC (non-playable characters) with AI. Spark was created by the same minds behind Kodu and it builds on the simplistic language of KODU, so those who are familiar with coding in Kodu will take right to it, however there is so much more you can do in Spark than you could in Kodu. In Project Spark you can create a rich beautiful 3D world with its amazing next generation graphics, far superior in my opinion to the blocky world of Minecraft, but for those who love their Minecraft blocks there is even a cubify option. Project Spark has been added to the Kodu Kup competition this year and it will be launching free soon on Windows8.1, Xbox One and Xbox 360.
Princess Anne visits our stand
I had a great 2 days at the show, showing off Project Spark to the multitudes and even saw a few famous faces, like Theo Paphitis of Dragons Den fame and Princess Anne, who came by our stand for a visit, but unfortunately did not try her hand at Project Spark. I also got to demonstrate and do a recording of my Kinect Math Mage game, being played by Dolly bow bow. What you have never heard of her? Neither had I, she is YouTube famous evidently :-).
Dolly Bow Bow playing Math Mage using Kinect
Microsoft MVP Global Summit Bellevue / Redmond 17th to 21st November 2013
Straight after my 2 day stint at the Skills Show, I jumped on a plane to Seattle from London for my first visit to Microsoft HQ in Bellevue, which is just outside of Seattle on the North West coast of the USA. I was visiting for the Global MVP summit, as I have recently been awarded the title of Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for Kinect, making me the only Kinect MVP in the UK. The MVP programme has around 4000 professionals in it from over 90 countries and they answer more than 10 million questions a year to the technical community.
Kinect4Windows MVPs
I got to Seattle on Saturday and the conference was beginning Sunday evening, so I spent Sunday during the day doing a bit of sightseeing, my favourite thing was having brunch at the top of the Space Needle.
Brunch at the Space Needle
I spent the first 2 days learning about the new Kinect for Windows version 2 which will be coming out probably around summer 2014. It is based on the Xbox One Kinect and has many new features over the old Kinect for Windows, such as:
Full HD colour camera feed.
Much wider field of view (removing the need for the tilt motor).
6 skeletons can be tracked at once instead of 2.
Much improved depth camera.
Much more accurate skeletal tracking with more joints detected and far less jitter. It can now track when someone is standing side on to Kinect. It can also detect if you are leaning forward or backwards and continue to track joints.
Hand detection and tracking, allowing for better grip detection and new gestures such as lasso which is pointing two fingers together for drawing or dragging. Also thumb tracking allowing the detection of a shooting gesture, which I'm sure, will have applications in games.
Facial expressions are now available such as left or right eye open or shut, smiling, mouth open or closed and more. It should even be able to tell if you are wearing glasses or not.
Most of the processing is now done on the GPU rather than the CPU of your computer.
It now comes with and requires a USB3 port, which allows for a much higher throughput of data from the sensor.
While I was at the conference all Kinect MVPs in attendance (about 12 of us) were gifted an alpha version of the new Kinect for Windows (K4W) v2 developers kit. It really is an amazing piece of kit and the accuracy of skeletal tracking is far superior to the previous generation.
Kinect XBOX1 on left Kinect for Windows v2 on right
All MVPs attending the summit also received $300 off a Surface 2, making it a bargain at only $150, plus they gave us a free keyboard cover as well. I really love my Surface 2 and my iPad mini has almost been retired. There are still some Apps missing that I would love on Surface, but when I want to do some serious work on the go, or I want to take my work with me without having to carry about my full size laptop, there is no comparison and Surface wins. Plus it has a USB3 port, which might seem like a minor thing, but it really is a God send on a tablet when you have been used to not having one on the iPad.
On the afternoon of day 2 of the conference I was able to visit with the TouchDevelop team in their offices and meet Peli and Nikolai who I have been emailing for the past year. I have spoken with Peli on the phone and in person many times while I was creating my games development curriculum for TouchDevelop, which I have been using to teach games programming to our entry level college students. It was great to see where TouchDevelop was created and meet with the rest of the TouchDevelop team.
On the morning of day 3 I got a message from Peli early in the morning, asking if I wanted to go to a School with him, so I quickly got ready and took a taxi out to the school for 8.30am. Peli goes to the School 3 or 4 times a week from 8am until around 9.30am and then goes into Microsoft to do a full day's work, that's commitment for you. I gave a talk to the class about games development and TouchDevelop and showed them some techniques I use with TD to make games with my students back in Scotland. It was fascinating to see a full class working on TouchDevelop just using phones or tablets to program on. In college we mainly run it on a pc and load it up on a phone or tablet for testing, but these students were doing it all on the phone. It was also strange and flattering to hear that students from half-way around the world were making games using my games curriculum.
Teaching TouchDevelop at Rainer Beach High School
Later that day I recorded a video for Microsoft where I was interviewed about my use of Kinect and they also recorded me demonstrating my Kinect Games. That evening I had a great night out at the MVP attendee party at the Seattle Aquarium and Seattle Great Wheel, at which I beat Ben Lower at Kinect Golf and enjoyed a ride on the Seattle Great Wheel, which is a slightly smaller version of the London Eye.
Seattle Great Wheel
On the last day of the summit I visited Microsoft's amazing Envisioning Center with the rest of the Kinect MVPs and I got a glimpse into the future of technology, which evidently involves a lot of talking to appliances and rooms which sense your presence and sets the environment to suit you. I also got to go to the games studio that is behind Project Spark and meet with Scott Fintel who is project lead on both Kodu and Project Spark. I got to see the team hard at work on Spark and see the amazing concept art behind Spark. Peli & Nikolai from the TouchDevelop team came over later on and we jointly recorded a video with Scott, about Kodu and Project Spark for the Hour of Code on Channel9.
Nikolai, Peli, Scott and me
The MVP summit was truly an amazing experience and I got to meet some incredible people from Microsoft as well as some inspirational MVPs who are doing amazing things with Kinect and other technologies. I just hope they renew my MVP award next year so I can attend again.
Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert UK Training Event 3rd to 4th January 2014
The last (but not least) part of this blog post is about my visit to Cardiff in Wales to meet up with the other Innovative Expert Educators who will be attending the Global educational forum in Barcelona with me. Strangely enough Wales is the only country in my travels with Microsoft to which I had never been before. It was great to meet up with friends like Gareth, Ray, Stuart & Simon, but also to meet the likes of Katie, David Rogers & Scott for the first time. Gareth Ritter became our tour guide for the weekend and took us in his School mini bus around Cardiff finding various places to eat and drink that only Gareth would know about.
When we got down to work on the Saturday, Stuart Ball laid out his plans for us for the coming year as MS Innovative Expert Educators and discussed our areas of expertise and what we are going to focus on. He also helped us get our heads around what we need to do for Barcelona in March. Overall it was a great weekend with some old friends and some new ones and Wales is not that bad after all, but Cardiff Airport is tiny, what gives with that?
Cardiff TeachMeet for MIEE
Thanks again to the Partners in Learning Network and in particular the UK programme manager for PIL Stuart Ball, for supporting us Innovative educators and for putting me on this path. Also a shout out to Lee Stott Technical Evangelistic at MS for inviting me to speak at so many events and for the great support he has given the Games Dev courses at West College Scotland over the past few years. My next post about my travels with Microsoft will be on the Global Education forum in Barcelona in March, at which 250 of the most innovative and inspiring educators from around the globe will be in attendance. Watch this space!
TouchDevelop https://www.touchdevelop.com/
Project Spark https://joinprojectspark.com/
Microsoft MVP http://mvp.microsoft.com/en-us/mvp/David%20Renton-5000398
Microsoft in Education Global Forum http://www.pil-network.com/Forums
Kodu Kup http://blogs.msdn.com/b/teachers/archive/2014/01/22/kodu-kup-2014-it-s-back.aspx
Tagged birmingham nec, dolly bow bow, kinect, mvp, project spark, seattle, skills show, TOUCHDEVELOP1 Comment
Kinect Games, xGames and TouchDevelop
September 21, 2013 February 14, 2014 by FECodeTeach, posted in APPS, Chrome, Education, Gaming, iOS, iPad, iPhone, Kinect, Kodu, Mobile Phones, Programming, Schools, TouchDevelop, Uncategorized, Windows 8, WP8, xGames, XNA
The main reason for this blog entry is to have a single place for teachers to grab the best of my resources. I'm doing a stand at the Scottish Learning Festival next week, where I will be promoting the CPD training my college (West College Scotland) can provide in coding using tools like Kodu, TouchDevelop and Scratch. However I will also be demonstrating my educational games as well and I will be directing teachers to this blog if they are interested, so again a single place to get everything will be beneficial. My games were just shortlisted for the SQA Star Awards in the category of Innovation and I will find out in November if they win first place.
Kinect Games and xGames in action
xGames
Click here to download xGames v2.2 installer which will run on Windows XP, Windows 7 and Windows 8 (135MB). You require 2 to 4 wireless XBOX360 controllers which you connect to your PC with a USB wireless receiver.
Kinect Games v4.1
If you are using the Kinect for Windows sensor with your Windows7/8 PC then click here to download the Kinect for Windows runtime v1.7 (110mb) and then install it.
If you are using the XBOX 360 Kinect sensor with your Windows7/8 PC for evaluation purposes then click here to download the full Kinect SDK v1.7 (222mb) and then install it.
Finally click here to download Kinect Games v4.1 installer (160MB) and install it.
Alternatively click here to download Kinect Games v4.1 all in one installer (383MB) which includes the SDK and install it.
If you have any problems either of the installers then click here to download the XNA4 runtime installer (6.72MB) and try installing it first before running the installers.
TouchDevelop
TouchInvaders created using TouchDevelop
Click here to download my games development curriculum for teaching coding using Microsoft's free HTML5 browser based free development platform TouchDevelop.
Click here to visit my YouTube channel for my free tutorials on creating games using TouchDevelop. These videos tie in directly with my games dev curriculum. Keep on eye on this channel as I plan to add a PacMan tutorial soon.
Click here to download the free official TouchDevelop book from Microsoft.
Click here to visit the TouchDevelop challenge blog, which contains more tutorials for teaching coding as well as a forum for students to share their games and blog about their experiences.
Click here to visit Ray Chambers blog and have a look at his scheme of work for teaching coding using TouchDevelop.
Tagged coding, educational games, kinect, kinect games, KODU, mobile apps, programming, scratch, TOUCHDEVELOP, xGAMES5 Comments
On the road with TouchDevelop
June 27, 2013 June 27, 2013 by FECodeTeach, posted in APPS, Education, Gaming, iOS, iPad, iPhone, Kinect, Math, Mobile Phones, Programming, Schools, TouchDevelop, Windows 8, WP8, xGames
TouchDevelop on WP8
I've just finished doing the end of term educational conferences with Lee Stott who is a Microsoft Evangelist and a genuine nice guy. I've been speaking and running workshops, on Microsoft's new mobile development platform TouchDevelop as well as speaking about Games Based Learning and the use of MineCraft in education.
TouchDevelop is a brilliant platform and is quite unique in that it runs entirely within an HTML5 web browser, which makes it truly cross platform. It will run on PCs, Laptops as well as Smartphones and tablets running Windows, iOS or Android. For me the outstanding feature of TouchDevelop is that students can create APPs easily, without having to go through a tricky process and they can then see their APPs running on their device, whether it is an iPhone, iPad, Surface or Nexus tablet. Whatever the device is, they can see something they have created running on their device. Everything they create in TouchDevelop is saved to the cloud, so its very easy for students to begin writing an APP on a PC in the classroom and then log back into their account on a mobile device at home (or even on the way home) and continue working on the same APP.
The first conference I spoke at, on TouchDevelop, was at Microsoft's UK Windows Gaming Awareness Event at Birmingham City University on the 26th of March 2013. I did a presentation and the always risky "live demo" :-). Luckily it went well and I was invited to speak on TouchDevelop at 2 more conferences.
Games Britannia
The first of these was Games Britannia at Sheffield Hallam University, organised by Dr. Jacob Habgood from Sheffield Hallam University, who himself worked in the games industry for Gremlin Interactive and later on Infogrames/Atari. Games Britannia was a week long event from the 10th to the 14th of June 2013, Tuesday to Thursday of which, was a series of workshops for KS3 & KS4 high school pupils to attend on many different aspects of the games industry. They had well over 300 pupils in attendance at the conference over the 3 days, attending workshops such as Concept Art, PS3 programming, CryEngine Art, Minecraft, Kinect Motion Capture and of course TouchDevelop.
I ran two morning sessions on TouchDevelop and it was great to see students aged around 14-16 really engaging in programming at a level they could understand. Being able to see them actually create something that worked within a 2 hour workshop was a thrill and one of the things I really love about TouchDevelop.
TouchDevelop workshop
I also ran an afternoon workshop on Games Based Learning and I let students try out my free educational games (xGames and Kinect Games) which make use of gaming hardware to revise and engage students in subjects like Maths and English. The games went down very well, although by the end of the day my "Name that tune" pop music quiz was being replayed a lot. However it was interesting to see how that particular age group engaged with the games and which ones worked best with them. With the age group in attendance my xBots game was certainly the most popular, I'm guessing because there were a lot of teenage boys in attendance and that game is partially an FPS. However my Kinect Games and in particular my NoNeed4Green went down very well too.
Playful Learning Workshop
On Tuesday evening I was fortunate enough to attend an amazing talk from Gary Carr, Creative Director of Lionhead Studios. Gary has worked with industry legend Peter Molyneux for the past 20 years and is responsible for the art in titles such as Barbarian 1 & 2, Populous 1 & 2, Theme Park, Theme Hospital and the Fable games. He had some fascinating insights into what is like working in the ever changing games industry and I'm hopefully Gary will come up later this year and speak with some of the 150+ games students at our new West College Scotland.
Then came the Juggernaut – FABLE
In between conferences I had a day in Leicester where I actually did a bit of shopping, although I was almost refused my Scottish ten pound note when the lady serving me asked what it was and if I would rather pay on card. I've been told repeatedly since that I should have said "I think you'll find pal that's legal tender".
However, that day I also got to visit Leicester College and spoke to a great guy called Chris Seaton who is Computing Supervisor there. It was very interesting to hear the challenges he faces with the adoption of learning technology, which seem to be the same throughout education. I also got the chance to plug TouchDevelop to some of his computing lecturers and it was great to visit another FE college while on my travels.
CAS Conference 2013
On Thursday I headed with Lee to Birmingham University for the Computing at Schools annual conference. This is a great event which is probably the biggest educational conference for School Computing teachers in the UK. I ran a workshop at CAS last year on Games Based Learning, but this year I helped Lee with one of the plenary keynote presentations to the whole conference on the Friday morning. So I got to present and demonstrate TouchDevelop to around 200 of the most motivated computing teachers from around the UK, which was a big thrill, although a bit scary. We gave out around 200 TouchDevelop books and copies of my games development based curriculum. I also ran a workshop on TouchDevelop later on that day, which was attended by over 30 teachers and in a short 50 min session it was good to see so many teachers quickly picking up the basics of TouchDevelop and starting to create their own apps on a whole host of devices from Google Nexus tablets to MacBooks.
CAS Conference 2013 – Birmingham University
One of the things I love about these conferences is the people you meet and I met a variety of highly motivated teachers from different sectors, including a number from Scotland. I also found out while at the conference, that the Scottish government had announced £400,000 over 2 years to CAS Scotland to help support CPD training for Teachers in Computer Science, which is fantastic news.
The following week I attended two conferences in Scotland, this time without Lee Stott. The first was the Computing, ICT and Digital Media Annual Conference at City of Glasgow College on Monday 17th June 2013 and the second was the Festival of Dangerous Ideas: Learning Through Gaming conference at Dundee College on the 20th of June. Both conferences were organised by Gerry Dougan from the College Development Network (formerly Scotland's Colleges).
At the first event I presented mainly about TouchDevelop to the audience who were made up of Heads of Departments and senior lecturers from around Scotland and I covered an exciting project I had organised for Gerry making use of Minecraft.
At the second event in Dundee, Chris van der Kuyl from Brightsolid gave a fascinating and motivational presentation on why games should be used in education. Chris was responsible for bringing MineCraft to the XBOX360 which became the fastest and biggest selling game on XBOX live marketplace ever, selling something like 6.5 million copies in North America alone. He gave some fascinating insight into MineCraft and how it could be used in education. He also spoke about E3 and showed the video below of a wonderful looking creative game called Project Spark coming to XBOX1 later this year.
I presented at the conference on Games for Learning and demonstrated my xGames and Kinect Games. I also went into detail about an exciting Minecraft project that I had organised for Gerry Dougan, which was the brain spark of Derek Robertson from Education Scotland. I will do a separate blog post on this project later to do it justice, but in summary 8 teams of 4 from Scotland and Norway competed over 3 weeks in the virtual world of Minecraft via a shared online server, to create their vision of what an "Ideal Learning Environment" would look like. What they came up with, the hours they put in and the learning that went on inside the world, truly blew my mind.
Minecraft Build Competition
HEA STEM : Teaching and Learning Programming for Mobile and Tablet Devices
My final conference, before my summer holidays could properly begin, was a Programming for Mobile & Tablet Devices event at London MET University on the 25th of June 2013. It was literally a flying visit to London, down on Easyjet on Monday evening and back up Tuesday evening. I was reunited with Lee Stott and he presented on the Opportunities of Microsoft devices and services and I followed him with my now much rehearsed, presentation and demonstration of TouchDevelop, which you can download from here.
Lee Stott presenting at London MET
I must thank Jacob Habgood from Sheffield Hallam University, Simon Humphreys from CAS, Gerry Dougan from the College Development Network, Yanguo Jing from London MET and of course Lee Stott from Microsoft for having me at their events.
If you want to try TouchDevelop go to www.touchdevelop.com
You can download my games development curriculum from here and you can watch my video tutorials for it here.
You can download a free book on TouchDevelop from Microsoft research by clicking here.
Tagged development, education, games, games based learning, learning, MICROSOFT, TOUCHDEVELOPLeave a comment
Games Development the ideal cross-curricular topic
June 24, 2013 by FECodeTeach, posted in APPS, Education, Gaming, Math, Programming, Schools
I spent over 10 years as a software engineer in industry, working mainly on database systems and in that time I never once used Physics and very rarely used Maths. However when I started teaching Games Development around 7 years ago, I finally started to use both Maths and Physics and it quickly dawned on me that Games Development would be an ideal way to engage students in Maths & Physics.
Around 3 years ago (2010-2011) Curriculum for Excellence came into schools in Scotland and was implemented in Primary Schools first. Part of curriculum for excellence was to contextualise subjects to make links between subject areas in order to make the learning relevant and meaningful for students. Teachers started developing cross-curricular topics in Primary Schools and were fairly successful at implementing these.
"Curriculum for Excellence encourages teachers to use their professional expertise and creativity to show how subjects can be linked, just as they are in life and work." (http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Education/Schools/curriculum/ACE 2011)
High Schools only properly started implementing Curriculum for Excellence in the last academic year (2012-2013) and I think it would be fair to say that they found it harder to find cross-curricular topics to make this work in High School.
This leads me back to Games Development, which I believe is the ideal cross-curricular topic to engage learners in traditional subjects like Maths, Physics, English, Music and Art, as well as ICT. These are subjects in which males in particular, have been disengaging in recent years.
In recent years Valve, a major games company, have been trying to get involved in education. They said,
"It's eye-opening to see how video games can be used in amazing and unexpected ways to help educate our next generation"
In 2011 Valve made their popular puzzle game Portal free as they wanted teachers to play it and understand how much potential it has in educating young students, in subjects like Physics. Valve are quoted as saying,
"Using interactive tools like the Portal series to draw them in makes physics, maths, logic, spatial reasoning, probability, and problem-solving interesting, cool, and fun which gets us one step closer to our goal—engaged, thoughtful kids."
(http://www.develop-online.net/news/38654/Portal-goes-free-in-Valve-education-push 2011).
In 2011 NESTA collaborated with industry luminaries Alex Hope and Ian Livingstone to publish Next Gen – a widely-applauded government advice paper on how to improve the teaching of computer science in English Schools.
The report came up with some interesting recommendations:
Use video games and visual effects at school to draw greater numbers of young people into STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and computer science.
Include art and computer science in the English Baccalaureate.
Encourage art-tech crossover and work-based learning through school clubs.
Introduce a new National Video Games Development and Animation Schools Competition.
In February 2013, Michael Gove adopted one of the main recommendations of the report by announcing that Computer Science was going to become part of the English Baccalaureate.
Learning and Teaching Scotland (now Education Scotland) started a game based learning initiative in 2006 called "The Consolarium" which focused on game based learning,
"The vibrant and dynamic world of the computer game and its impacts on learning and teaching is an area that Learning and Teaching Scotland is committed to exploring, promoting and developing." (http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/usingglowandict/gamesbasedlearning/index.asp 2011)
The Consolarium also looked at Game Design as well as game based learning,
"Game Design is a creative medium. It challenges pupils to analyse problems, structure solutions and continuously evaluate their progress. There are many game design tools available for use in schools and at home. It can be used in a number of different ways in our curriculum – not just within computing clasrooms."
(http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/usingglowandict/gamesbasedlearning/gamedesign/gamedesignandlearning.asp 2011)
With all this supporting evidence, I believe that Secondary Schools should use Games development as an integrated learning context to support Curriculum for Excellence. Games development is an ideal topic for the "Joyning the learning" approach that is an integral part of Curriculum for Excellence. Games development involves Computer Programming, Physics, Maths, English, Music and Art. Many would consider that Games Development is 90% programming and although programming is a vital part of it, there are so many other curricular areas involved.
Girls are currently outperforming boys, at most levels and in most subjects (even traditionally male subjects). This should help re-address this issue; however it should not disenfranchise female learners, as more and more females are getting involved in gaming. Indeed it should actually help address the issue of the lack of females choosing Computer Science as a subject in secondary school, when they choose subjects to study in the senior phase. This is reflected by the lack of females working in the computing industry and in particular within the games industry.
A Level Entry by Subject
Adding further encouragement to using Games Development as a cross-curricular topic is the fact that from the early level through to the fourth level, curriculum for excellence lists Games Development as an experience and outcome that all students are meant to experience.
CFE Experiences and Outcomes for Games Dev
How do the various subject areas fit into Games Development?
I will now examine how different subject areas tie in with Games Development as a cross-curricular topic.
Programming is still central to games development and a topic that has been losing interest in secondary schools until recently; however you can teach the same programming skills that you would learn making a Business application by making a computer game or mobile phone app. If anything games programming is slightly more difficult as it encompasses things like Physics and Maths. Programming is a vital 21st century skill and a skill that is in high demand by industry. There are currently more jobs available in programming, than there are graduates to fill those positions. Games programming is the ideal way to get young learners interested in programming.
Physics is central to games, the Holy Grail in games is to make the game experience as realistic as possible and this is achieved by making games look and feel as real as possible. A major part of this is applying real world physics into the games. Things like Newton's laws of motion, projectile physics and aerodynamics can all be applied in games.
Physics in Angry Birds
English isn't a subject you would normally associate with computer games, however more and more authors are getting involved in writing the storylines for games. Some of the big games have better production values and better writing in them, than some Hollywood movies. The biggest computer games make far more money than any Hollywood blockbuster. Students involved in essay writing, could write the storyline for a game, that they will then go onto make in computing. The story may even be displayed in the game or incorporated visually.
More and more games companies are employing people to work in specific areas, such as art direction, 3D animation, 2D animation etc. Art and in particular 2D and 3D graphics are vital to any game. Learners could be set tasks to produce art work, that would then be incorporated into a game. The art doesn't necessarily have to be electronic, as the art could be scanned into an electronic format to be included in a game. Something my students did very successfully recently, when producing games for this years HNC graded unit projects in my college. Where they scanned in art work created by local Primary School children and incorporated the art into their games.
In a similar vein to Art, Music and Sound Effects are specific job roles in computer games development. Games need original music and sound effects to make the game a fully immersive experience. Again students could be set projects to produce sound effects or original music scores that could be incoporated into a game.
Maths is one of the main skills that games companies look for from potential employees. Maths is involved at so many levels in games development. A simple example of this is the use of trigonometry in games to work out the direction a vehicle is moving in. Learners could be set problems to solve that could then be directly implemented in a computer game.
Trigonometry in Games
To support all these subject areas would require a whole range of ICT skills, such as Word Processing, Photoshop, Music Applications, Sound Editing Software, 2D/3D animation packages and so on.
Enterprise is an area in secondary education that is becoming more and more popular and games development is an ideal topic for this. It includes core skills central to Enterprise, such as communication skills, problem solving skills and team work where you can develop a game in a group by assigning different roles and therefore takes advantage of the different skills sets the learners possess. In 2012 Paisley Grammar pupils came into Reid Kerr College for advice as part of an Enterprise project where they were attempting to develop an iPhone App; we were able to help them by producing a PC prototype of their game.
Two main problems exist in making this happen, one is a lack of programming skills amongst secondary school computing teachers, who for years have been primarily teaching Microsoft Office. The other problem is getting different departments and indeed teachers within those departments to work together to make this happen across subject areas.
The Scottish government have just announced £400,000 over 2 years to CAS (Computing at Schools) Scotland for CPD training of computing teachers (http://www.compednet.com/2013/06/government-funding-for-cs-cpd-programme/ 2013). Hopefully this money will be used effectively to help computing teachers, throughout Scotland, to update their skills, particularly in the area of computer programming.
In regards to the second problem, it will require management within secondary schools to recognise the value of Games Development as a cross-curricular topic and then show strong leadership to implement it by getting departments to work together.
Tagged CFE, cross-curricular, education, games, games dev2 Comments
Making games in partnership with local Schoolchildren
May 26, 2013 May 28, 2013 by FECodeTeach, posted in APPS, Education, Gaming, Programming, Schools, Windows 8, WP8, xGames, XNA
This year our HNC Games students at Reid Kerr College worked in partnership with a local Primary School, Lochfield Primary in Paisley, to produce games for their HNC Group graded unit project. This is the third year we have worked in partnership with Lochfield for our HNC Graded Unit games, however this year we took things a step further with the schoolchildren actually contributing art work for the games.
Students presenting ideas to Lochfield Primary
The project began in February and in discussion with the school we set the theme for this years games to be "Healthy Living". So we tasked our students to come up with game ideas that promote an awareness of the benefits of healthy living and asked them to select a representative from each team of 4, who would present those ideas to the primary school. On the 8th of February we visited Lochfield Primary and our students gave PowerPoint presentations on their game ideas to around 70 Primary 6 pupils. They were then given the opportunity to get feedback from the kids and discuss their ideas further in small groups, effectively using the schoolchildren as a focus group. Some of my students were extremely nervous about the idea of presenting to and talking to schoolchildren, but as in previous years those fears soon dissipated when they realised how enthusiastic and positive the children were about the games, something that rubbed off on the rest of their team-mates when the representatives reported back. One thing that we introduced this year, which we hadn't done before, was that we asked the schoolchildren to draw art for the games, so during the discussions with the schoolchildren, our students also discussed with them the types of art they would like them to create.
Discussions with the schoolchildren
From February to May our students worked away in their teams turning their concepts into games for Windows 7 using XNA4. We received a bunch of art from the schoolchildren which we scanned in and used in at least half the games, along with art produced by our own students.
On May 20th we had a big event at the college and over 70 Primary 6 pupils were bussed into the college for the day. We had to split the schoolchildren up and we enlisted help from the Care & Construction departments in our college, who took turns with half of the group while the other half played the games our groups had created. Once the children were finished playing the games they went onto an online survey and rated the games out of 20, based on originality, graphics, sound and most importantly gameplay.
Schoolchildren playing the games
Total concentration
Lee Stott from Microsoft attended the event and very kindly provided prizes, in the form of Kinects, for the winning team. It was a close call between two of the games and in the end one vote could have swung it either way; eventually the only game which featured a 2 player mode won. In the end it was a triumph for gameplay, however the game which came second had an excellent concept, was a great game with far more complexity to it and even had a level designer. I'm hopefully they will develop it further and enter it into the imagine cup next year.
The top 4 games as voted for by Lochfield Primary 6
This partnership with Lochfield Primary has improved our students' experience of learning in a number of ways and opened the eyes of the schoolchildren to games development as a possible career path.
Benefits to Games Development students
1. They had a realistic learning experience by designing and writing games for a live client group.
2. The partnership was an enjoyable and positive learning experience for both the schoolchildren and the college students, as they experienced working with a partner to produce artwork for the games.
3. The competitive element of the partnership was appealing to them and a motivating factor.
4. Peer review by other students and by the schoolchildren was invaluable in forming ideas on how the games could be improved in the future.
The winning team (from left to right: David Savage, Grant Hamilton, Michael Collins & Ryan Kennedy, along with Lee Stott from Microsoft).
Lee stayed on after the schoolchildren had left and took part in a judging event in the afternoon with my HND Games Development students, who had been tasked with producing a Windows Phone game based around an apocalyptic theme (so lots of Zombie games). We had an impressive judging panel,which I had kept as a little surprise from my students :-), that included myself, David Marshall & Martin Barrett from Reid Kerr, Fiona Rushton & Ian Tyson from James Watt, Daniel Livingstone from UWS and of course Lee Stott from Microsoft. Ten of my students presented their game concepts, how their games had been developed and how they felt about the way their game had turned out. They also answered questions from the panel, who had the opportunity to play all the games on Windows Phones. In the end the panel came up with a top 3 and Lee presented the winning student with a Windows Phone as a prize.
The winning game – Dead City
Ally Louden – winner of a Windows Phone from Microsoft for the best Graded Unit game
The 2nd and 3rd placed games – Escape and Haven (Escape is on the right hand side, Haven is at the bottom left).
Runner up Ryan Anderson and 3rd place Daniel Boyle
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According to WHO, more than 1.2 million people die in road traffic crashes every year and 50 million are injured or disabled.
Over the last decade nearly all EU countries record a decrease in number of traffic casualties. However, in the same period Montenegro's figures generally point in opposite direction. The fatality rate on Montenegro's roads, measured as deaths per capita, is 50% higher than that of EU average; however, car ownership in Montenegro is considerably lower than the EU average. Having traffic safety figures so bad, efforts have been made in recent years to address this issue.


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Ruth McGavigan (born 25 December 1976) is a Scottish mountain biker.

She represented Scotland at the 2006 Commonwealth Games mountain bike event.  She came second in the senior women category of the 2006 British Mountain Biking National Championships.

External links

1976 births
Living people
Scottish female cyclists
Scottish mountain bikers
Commonwealth Games competitors for Scotland
Cyclists at the 2006 Commonwealth Games
Place of birth missing (living people)
21st-century Scottish women


Alim is a Kazakh student studying in CIS. In the past, he has won many international math and physics competitions, and has been considered one of the best students in his country. Alim likes to play and watch basketball, as well as learning new things. Alim was born in Kyrgyzstan, but lived his whole life in Kazakhstan. Now living in Karlovy Vary, he is studying at the IB Diploma Program at CIS.
They say each school has something unique. Something that makes you feel home when you are stepping into the school yard. Something that makes you cry when your school team loses a match and makes you happy when you see your friend scoring a goal. You celebrate the birthdays together and serve the restrictions with friends (yes, this is the bitter part of it). All of this makes your school very special, not similar to the other schools, where you have ever been before. And this something is called the school spirit.
Does CIS have a spirit? Of course, it does! So what is so special about Carlsbad International School - my school? It is everything around us: the flags, representing our multiculturalism, the symbolics, showing the uniqueness of the school, and, most importantly, the people - my friends, teachers, and staff. The people, who actually create the spirit of CIS. Our school demonstrates its identity in many ways: the uniform, faculty families, and our own sports teams.
When one arrives to CIS or even simply passes by our buildings, he or she will definitely see the "stags" symbolics everywhere. The stag is a male deer, the symbol of being strong and graceful, beautiful and wise. In the Czech Republic, one can easily meet one, especially in the forests nearby Karlovy Vary (the city where the school is located). The colors of the school are red and white. Those colors are often associated with strength, power, determination, as well as passion, desire, and love. This is why in CIS we are taught to be wise and strong, caring and responsible, knowledgeable and wise.
So how do we develop this unique CIS spirit? I think we are the main generators of this very special school identity. Whenever the school has a sports match, it does not matter if it is football, basketball or volleyball game: everyone wears the same uniform and everyone is a part of the caring CIS community. Before the game starts, we get all together and yell "CIS!" loudly to keep the spirit through the game.


I'm from Rome, Italy .
In 2006 I graduated from the IED of Rome in Photography.
In the same year I started shooting the underground music scene and youth subcultures.
In the most recent years, I mainly focused on stories concerning cultural and social issues. I have also a great interests in portraits.
I worked as an assistant for Magnum photographer Paolo Pellegrin.
I exhibited and published my work in a number of international galleries and magazines and I was awarded several times.
I am represented now by LUZphoto Agency.
Currently I am working on personal / commissioned projects and I am teaching photography in an Visual Art School in Rome.
I am living and working in Rome.


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Navee N65 Electric Scooter Review (Specs and Features)
Tony December 7, 2021 January 18, 2023 1 Comment Cheap Electric Scooters
Newly released this month (December 2021), the Navee N65 electric scooter has a great specification with good performance and battery range for a very reasonable price. In this review article I'll take a closer look at the specs and key features to see if it offers good value for money.
The new Navee N65 E-Scooter
The new Navee N65 is produced by Suzhou Brightway Intelligent Technology Co. Ltd and is the result of a successful crowdfunding campaign which reached over $500,000.
There are a few of things that set the Navee N65 apart from the competition, the main one being the innovative dual rotation folding mechanism – both the stem and handlebar easily fold, helping the Navee fold down to a very compact size.
The Navee uses a unique dual-folding design
A lot of the e-scooters we see at this price point tend to be very similar in design. The Navee N65 has an interesting tubular chassis design which looks incredibly tough, there's also 3″ wide x 10″ pneumatic tyres which will help take the sting out of potholes and the like. I've always found suspension a bit gimmicky on e-scooters and I think just having a decent, chunky set of tyres is the way to go.
Buy the Navee N65 from geekbuying
The Navee uses a front drive, brushless hub motor which is rated at 48v and 500w. Claimed top speed is 32km/h in the highest setting with 25km/h amd 15km/h respectively for the lower two settings. There's a very neat-looking display which shows speed, range, assist level and real-time battery voltage.
The Navee N65 display has some great features
Power is provided by a respectable 48v 12.5Ah (600Wh) lithium battery – the claimed range of 65km sounds optimistic and will vary greatly depending on rider weight, terrain and power level used.
The Navee can be quickly folded
Braking is provided by the electric motor on the front and mechanical disc brake at the rear. The front braking system, functions like an anti-locking brake and helps safely bring the scooter to a standstill without locking up the wheel.
The neat design allows for easy storage
The Chassis is made using an aluminium tubular design which according to the manufacturer improves strength and allows for a rider of up to 120kg in weight.
A tubular aluminium chassis increases durability
In addition to the above, there's the usual features you'd expect to find on an e-scooter at this price point. There is a powerful front headlight, plus tail / brake light and the obligatory kickstand.
The net weight of the Navee N65 is 23.5kg, making it quite a weighty beast! This scooter is rated to IPX4 which is at the lower-end of water resistance, meaning it will be okay for light rain and water splashes, but not sustained heavy rain or immersion.
It's nice to see a new electric scooter with some innovative features. The Navee N65 certainly has a lot going for it. The dual-folding design is going to appeal to commuters who want an e-scooter that can fold down to a compact size.
I also like the tubular alloy chassis, it looks durable and that wide deck is going to be more comfortable for the larger rider. The display has some nice features, not usually found on e-scooters at this price, and finally, the motor and battery combination look perfectly suitable for urban riding (not too under or overpowered).
The Navee N65 – could be one of the best e-scooters at its price point
My only reservations are the weight and lack of a higher water resistance rating. The Navee N65 has a net weight of 23.5kg which is roughly the same as an average e-bike, so it's not going to be practical if you have to regularly carry it up lots of stairs. The IPX4 water resistance means just that – it should be fine in light rain, but means it shouldn't be ridden in heavy rain or through large puddles.
Apart from the above, the Navee N65 looks like a good all-rounder. If you're in the market for a decent mid-range e-scooter, that has decent power and battery range then I'd say it's definitely worth considering.
👉Check out the best electric scooters for under €300 / £300
Thanks for reading. If you have recently purchased a Navee N65 e-scooter, please feel free to leave a review below.
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Fry sweet potato fries. In a food processer or blender combine cilantro, garlic, olive oil, Oikos® Plain Greek Yogurt and sriracha. Blend and season with salt and pepper. Serve fries with Chili Yogurt Sauce.