Ava S. - Education Barriers

Figure 1: One of my Initial Sketches

Starting screen. Two kids with backpacks. Reads "Choose your character and help them get to school by jumping over the trashbags! Collectbooks along hteway to put in their backpacks. Collect 5 books to level up. Press the up arrow to jump over trash. don't hit the bird. press space bar to collect books. click to learn more button

Figure 1: One of my Initial Sketches

Info page: Childhood education lays the foundation for learning, development, and mental health. It shapes cognitive, emotional, and social skills during a child's most foramtive years. Unfortuantely unreliable transportation, food insecurity, housing instability, trauma, and family stress can impact a child's ability to get into school. This game is a light-hearted way to demonstrate that the characters must jump over their "baggage" to get to school.

Figure 2: One of my Initial Sketches

main play screen. the young boy character is on the left. he's walking along a sidewalk. there is a bird overhead. a book is in the sky. score is 0 and level 1

Figure 3: The Playing Screen

Final Project Wrap-Up

For my final project, I created an arcade game based on the importance of childhood education. I used classes, key and mouse pressed functions, screens, buttons, and original functions to create this game. I wanted to make a fun game that also gave informative information on the subject at hand.

I chose childhood education because growing up, I was always involved in community service. I dedicated most of my summers to volunteering in preschools and making meals for kids in school. Unfortunately, I have not gotten as involved in volunteering at Bucknell, so doing this project was a great way to get started. Although it is so essential to a human’s life, not all children are lucky enough to go to school. I read an article that said “Children from low-income families are less likely to access preschool compared to kids from higher-income families.” (Casey). Barriers like inadequate funding, family issues, and limited resources can prevent a child from attending school. Attending school at a young age is vital as “this critical period of brain development brings rapid cognitive, emotional, and physical growth for a child. It paves the way for greater learning capabilities” (American Public University). Because of these things, we must work harder to make preschool accessible to all children.

I always knew I wanted to create a game, but I wasn't sure what it would look like. I finally settled on an idea, and I added more parts to the game as I went along. The first thing I wanted to do was to have the character jump over a piece of trash. I did this by creating a class of trash. I also wanted there to be a rewarding aspect, so I made a class of books. By pressing the up arrow, the character avoids trash, and by pressing the space bar, the character can get a book. I wanted there to be two different keys used, but I didn't want the character to go over the trash using the space bar, so I created a class of birds. If the player tries to use the spacebar to jump over the garbage, it will hit the bird, and the game will end. I also wanted to make levels, so if the character collects five books, the game speeds up. I wanted the character to jump over the trash as a metaphor for a child maneuvering past their personal baggage to get to school. If they hit the trash (are affected by barriers), they will not make it to school. I also wanted collecting books to be a metaphor for leveling up in life. By attending school and learning, a child will succeed in life.

I had a great time making this project, and I enjoyed it because I had never made a game before. I had to think outside the box to make it work, and I adapted previous functions to fit a different setting. It was definitely challenging to make the leveling up aspect, as I kept getting confused on where to put the code and what I actually wanted to do. In the end, I also ran into a problem: when the game sped up, the trash no longer affected the character. With a lot of help, I figured out a solution, and now the game runs smoothly. This was one of my favorite classes that I have taken, and it has inspired me to minor in computer science. I am so grateful that I was able to take this class because it helped me become more creative. I was constantly challenged to put my spin on things, so everything we made was personalized.

Citations

American Public University. "Why Is Early Childhood Education Important for Children?" Education Resources, American Public University System, Dec. 2024, https://www.apu.apus.edu/area-of-study/education/resources/why-is-early-childhood-education-important-for-children/.
Annie E. Casey Foundation. "Preschool Enrollment Remains Below Pre-Pandemic Levels, While Uneven Access and Quality Persist." The Annie E. Casey Foundation, 24 Oct. 2023, https://www.aecf.org/blog/low-preschool-enrollment-rates-threaten-to-worsen-student-achievement.

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