Hello, everyone! My name is Aliyah Burruso. I have lived in Pearl City for my entire life, and I graduated from Pearl City High School in 2020. For as long as I can remember, I have loved writing stories. I chose to major in video games as they are a versatile medium for storytelling. If I were an artist's tool, I would be a pencil. Pencils can be used to make finished drawings, but they are also used for just sketching. Likewise, I mainly focus on writing down ideas for stories, but I have managed to complete some in the past.
Video games have long been used as tools to help students improve in certain subjects. However, not every game is successful in doing so. This essay analyzes various educational games, mainly those focused on math, and discusses three factors that determine their success. The first factor is a game’s accessibility to students. The second is the motivation of said students to play and learn from the game. The last is the game’s design, specifically its visual aesthetics and gameplay mechanics. By keeping these factors in mind, one can create a strong educational game that can better prepare middle school students for STEM-related jobs.
The concept of creativity has come a long way. The Old Greeks would call those creative forces muses, other religions referred to them as God. Today people still mostly treat creativity as an aha moment outside the area of influence. However, just by looking at the creative process one can tell, that creativity and creative work is more than just that one "Aha-Moment" (insight). It is clear that generating ideas demands planning and preparation, identifying something of interest like a problem, an opportunity or a challenge, doing research. This then leads to thinking of a solution, allowing time to incubate and iterations before arriving at something “complete.” Students learn that hard work is what makes their ideas come to life and sticktuiveness is what helps them get better.