Ruby Bridges 5th Graders Break Out into Video Games

A dozen 5th graders are seated in a dark classroom at Ruby Bridges Elementary School, watching a video game projected on a screen behind 4th grade teacher Jeffrey Gordon. They are learning about “Breakout,” a classic arcade game influenced by “Pong,” a pioneering game that was built by Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs and has been credited with inspiring the original Apple II computer.

In the game, a ball bounces off the top and sides of the screen and careens off of rows of bricks. If the bricks are hit, they disintegrate. The player uses a paddle to keep the ball in play and loses a turn when the ball hits the bottom of the screen.

The version that the students are watching was built by Gordon.

“Wow, the ball comes down really fast!” one student says with admiration.

“Well, remember,” Gordon jokes, “in our day, video games were just harder because my generation is better at games than yours!” Then he gives the day’s assignment: Copy the code from the Pong game they had built over the last few weeks and turn it into Breakout.

The good-natured ribbing is part of a serious afterschool program that Gordon created and runs. In it, the students learn how to code video games from scratch. It’s engaging and fun for the students, of course. But it also teaches both academic and social skills to these children, many of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds. “My students often come from poverty,” Gordon says. “They can’t afford college, and the educational loan structure in this country is stacked against them. A good programmer can always eat, because good programmers can earn.”

From Shoot ‘Em Up to Ball and Paddle

Gordon, who has been teaching at Ruby Bridges for 8 years, has all his 4th grade students build math models to practice the math they are learning each week. Through this exercise, he says, “students gain an immediate and practical application” for that math.

If they like the work, Gordon says, they can qualify for the 5thgrade afterschool class by doing optional work over the summer.

Gordon says he offers it in 5th grade because in order to understand programming, “you need to understand arithmetic. It’s logical to introduce it as you reach mastery with operations involving whole numbers and their fractions.”

In the class, the students work on projects that parallel video game history – starting with “shoot ‘em up” games such as Missile Command and Commando Raid, and moving on to ball and paddle games such as Pong and Breakout. Students are encouraged to share their ideas and code with each other. The best ideas all go into a single project, curated by a project manager who is elected for each game the children learn to program.

Basic Fun

Gordon himself learned to program in 4th grade, following directions in the book Basic Fun by Susan Drake Lipscomb and Margaret Ann Zusnich. “I would type in the programs from the book line-by-line,” he says. “Then I’d change things until the program broke, fix it, and continue the cycle until I couldn’t fix it anymore,” he says.

“It’s the same basic model I use for programming instruction,” Gordon adds. “Give the kids a paper copy of the code, make sure they get it working before they customize, then encourage them to make it their own.”

Gordon continued to learn programming, mostly on his own. “Programming has always been a hobby,” he says. “It is a labor of love, and I’ve mostly taught myself by solving problems and daring to try impossibly hard projects. Some people, like me, just enjoy hours of gut-wrenching frustration punctuated by moments of absolute revelation.”

Gordon received both his BA and MA in Music Composition, with an emphasis in justly intoned and algorithmic music, both of which involve extensive knowledge of computer programming, he says.

While some adults may not like the idea of teaching children to build video games, Gordon says he chooses that goal for a very clear reason. “The point of using video games to teach programming is to build affinity for the subject,” he says. “I could show them how to program an elevator simulator, or a hospital management system, or a dry cleaning customer database. All of those things build on the same bones as video games - mathematics - but all of those things are boring.”

A Reflection of the Inner World

Gordon also sees an artistic reason for teaching these skills. “The variety of games has exploded in the last five years, and we’re seeing less emphasis on realism. Many visual art forms go through a period of hyperrealism in their infancy, and a movement toward greater abstraction usually precedes the art form’s acceptance into the mainstream.

“I see this evolution in the attitudes of my students toward the visual aspects of games. These days they want things to look low-resolution, hand-drawn, grungy, because these are the ways game makers personalize their games, reflecting the inner world instead of the outer one.”

Back in the classroom, the 5th graders are busy at work customizing their Pong and Breakout games. They chat quietly among themselves, comparing and often sharing features, such as a trailing special effect or a ball or bricks that change colors. Gordon moves from student to student, helping them get started on a new task, or coaxing them past a hurdle, explaining how to fix a program or make a feature better, often praising their creativity and re-inforcing math skills. “I like these paddles,” he tells one student. “Do you have an idea for the background art?” he asks another. “Is it working? What’s not going right?” he asks still a third. “So let’s go back – what would 3 + -3 be?”

The students love the class for a wide variety of reasons. “You get to build really cool games, and it’s fun,” says one. “I like doing the art,” says another. Adds still a third, “My Dad said it would be good. I can be a computer gamer.”

Principal Cheryl Wilson is a big supporter of Gordon’s class. “I love Jeff’s program because it motivates students to learn invaluable skills while experiencing a real life connection between school and career,” she says.

Adds Interim Superintenent Sean McPhetridge, “These kinds of programs — that are teacher-led, focused on real life skills, and so obviously supportive of daily classroom work — are very exciting to me. Bravo to Jeffrey Gordon for implementing this class, and bravo to Ms. Wilson for supporting him.”

Curious about the work these students are producing? You can see examples of the math games created in Gordon’s class here. “These are 5th graders working with a remarkable amount of autonomy,” Gordon says. “I would love for others to see it, because I often can’t believe it myself.”

Upcoming Board of Education Meetings

January 13, 2015, 6:30 pm

City Hall

January 27, 2015, 6:30 pm

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Information submitted by Alameda Unified School District

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