Literature Review
Chapter 1: History of Educational Electronic Games
1.1
Reader Rabbit was a new approach to helping children develop important reading skills in an enjoyable way. The program is ideal for children who can name at least half of the letters in the alphabet. The first three games increase in difficulty, so beginners might play them in order. They first learn to identify letters, then sort them into words, and then sequence words according to a special rule. The last game can be played at any time, but there are six ways to play it with the easiest first. Here, children match pictures, words, and parts of words and improve their memory and concentration skills.
1.2
The Electronic Learning Machine from Coleco is an educational toy designed for kids aged 5-9 that was released in 1981. While the box calls it a computer, it’s not quite one as there is no monitor, though it is designed to look like one and there is an 18-button keyboard. It requires four “C” batteries that power an internal motherboard to process the button presses, operate lights, and produce sounds via a speaker on the base of the toy. Users can interact with the keyboard to answer a variety of questions that appear on cards that slide in and out of the top of the device. Each card indicates which keyboard layout is required; there are keyboard overlays that change the function of the buttons to match the type of card being played.
As the program moved forward during 1977, additional people kept being added to the project. It was amazing to me how many people eventually become involved. [There were] people working on which spelling words to chose, what the product should look like, what it should be called, where it would be manufactured, and how it was to be marketed.
1.3
The original Speak and Spell was introduced at the Consumer Electronics Show in 1978. The 10“ x 7” orange plastic device contained a library of several hundred “frequently misspelled words.” The machine would say one out loud, and the user would type it via the pushbutton keyboard (later a membrane keyboard instead of raised buttons). As the user typed, the letters would appear on a VFD screen (later LCD) – one form of feedback. (Thanks, Skinner!) From the press release, we can see the other form of feedback: “Right answers earn verbal and visual praise; wrong answers receive patient encouragement to try again. A number of games are offered to intrigue children of all ages.”
The toy had a suggested retail price of $50. (That would be now about $181, adjusted for inflation.)
A Speaking, Teaching Machine
The solution: the first linear predictive coding digital signal processor chip, the TMS5100. Each word was represented by a series of phonemes. This speech data was stored in the device’s memory (on 2 128 kilobit ROMs, at the time the largest capacity ROM in use); then when the Speak & Spell was told to say a word, the command was processed through a 4-bit microprocessor and speech synthesizer. Mitch Carr, a radio announcer from Dallas, was chosen to record the speech sounds, thanks to his clear, monotone voice, and according to Texas Instruments, “it marked the first time the human vocal tract had been electronically duplicated on a single chip of silicon.”
The Speak & Spell was not the first talking toy. But it was, as Texas Instruments boasted in its CES press release, the first with “no moving parts.” Other toys, such as Mattel’s Chatty Cathy, used pre-recorded voices on phonograph or tape, typically triggered by a pull-string or similar mechanism. These broke easily, as any parent would tell you. So “no moving parts” was a selling point for durability.
Cards can be one of many subjects, including math, reading, spelling, music, and science. The cards are all 5 x 6.5 inches, made of plastic, double-sided, and have either red or blue headers. Holes are cut in every card that, along with the part that holds cards, informs the toy what card is active. As you can see in the photo below the part that holds the cards and sits on the back of the device can be detached; it plugs into a slot facing in either direction, with the heading being red on one side and blue on the other just like the cards.
Speak & Spell The Speak & Spell was a noteworthy example of successful consumer-oriented design of an electronic appliance. It is a portable, yet sturdy, and algorithmically complex, but intuitively accessible device. The various parts of the interface are clearly distinct from each other, but they are unified by the overall color scheme of the red case with the yellow inlay for the keyboard and the black band holding the display and the loudspeaker. On the surface, it is a monolithic structure, the proverbial black box, albeit painted in cheerful colors. Yet, when the back panel of the device is removed, the modular structure of its technological interior becomes immediately visible (figure 1). The loudspeaker on the upper right is a self-contained piece of technology, connected to the main board merely by two wires, as is the battery compartment in the lower part of the case. With the lid removed, the unity of the appliance falls apart into a multiplicity of discrete parts. Some of these parts are visible (like the cone of the loudspeaker) while others are hidden from view (like the algorithmic logic stored inside the microscopically small electronic components of the integrated circuits which are soldered on the reverse side of the board). Memory to store speech data, processor units for speech synthesis and program logic, as well as input and output electronics, are all part of the whole. Together, they form a complex machine that creates a labyrinthine map of possible sequences of communication. From the start, it includes all possible words, all spellings, and all reactions to the user’s correct or incorrect input. The interactive character of the toy’s dictation-input sequence requires a medium that makes possible fast, alternating access to various snippets of speech such as the dictation materials, the names of letters (for acoustical feedback during user input) or the phrases that inform the user whether their spelling was right. A typical Speak & Spell session includes interaction and dialogue similar to the following transcript:
• The user turns on the device.
• The start melody is played.
• “SPELL A” is shown on the display, indicating that the spelling training mode is active, using the set of words labeled “A”.
• The user presses the button “GO” to start the exercise.
• The device’s speech synthesis unit outputs the phrase “Spell ‘baby’”.
• The user presses the buttons “B”, “A”, “B” and “Y”. Each part of this input is acknowledged by the device by printing the letter on the display and outputting its name acoustically
https://openpublishing.library.umass.edu/cpo/article/47/galley/47/view
The user presses the button “Enter”, prompting the algorithm to evaluate the input against the spelling stored in memory.
• The correct input is acknowledged by the acoustical output “This is correct”, followed by another word from the list (“Now spell ‘dinner’”).
Coleco packaged The Electronic Learning Machine with a set of cards and sold sets of 36 separately at a price of $10.45 each. I’m going to post a few more pictures next of the box, bottom of the toy, and documentation, and then below that there will be more as there is a reason I’m ending DC Comics week with this product. One of the box sides has a chunk missing which I’m thinking might have been where the UPC was; perhaps it was needed for a rebate of some kind.
Some sets of cards feature licensed characters, such as Mighty Mouse and those from DC Comics. I own one of the three sets of DC cards which results in 72 images due to them being double-sided. They scanned decently but sometimes you can see a little of the other side bleeding through. I used a black background rather than the scanner’s default white which helped decrease the bleed through significantly; that’s also why all of the card holes are black (corners are curved too so you’ll see black there as well). ew with multiple characters.
https://www.vault1541.com/2017/11/the-electronic-learning-machine.html
Chapter 2 Coleco Vision contribution to the Vido Game Lineage
2.1
An excellent library of Colecovision game cartridges already exists that has been supplemented to a limited extent by the ADAM library of games and educational software. Many of these games are timeless and can hold the interest of young and old alike. In addition to Coleco’s offerings of productivity software, more and more independents are producing products to fill the gaps in those areas. Use your ADAM until it gives up the ghost. There is hardly any reason to throw away the investment you have made. Yes, there will be other computers that you will probably buy if you are like me. But, I still go back to the ADAM when I want to play a high quality arcade game. No I’m not a cheerleader for this product, we picked the ADAM to support because it had the potential to be the home computer of the future. I still believe that if Coleco had given the product the support it deserved, it would have achieved that goal.
That company Lazer Microsystems was the company that developed SmartBasic. You remember SmartBasic and the mysterious spaces that appear in REM and DATA statements. Well I have recently learned that Lazer is supposed to have been involved in adapting CP/M for the ADAM. Now I wonder who was responsible for not including a commented copy of the BIOS for the ADAM on the distribution media. Developing patches for CP/M without a commented BIOS is truly a nightmare. Just another example of the kind of things that guaranteed ADAM’s failure.
I hate to end this column on a down note, but we have been advised that Westico, the primary supplier of commercial CP/M software for the ADAM, has gone belly up. We ere advised that they had stopped taking orders and had filled those on hand, but have not been able to verify that information. Commercial CP/M software will be available from another source and this is covered in one of our CP/M articles in this issue.
In an effort to overcome the negative information in this column, I should report that Sydney Software is supposed to be shipping WIZTYPE. Sounds like the BEST OF BC may have been successful enough to justify additional products from that company. Well, let’s hope so. Maybe they will release some more products that are not already available in cartridge form.
l fifteen programs were written for other computers and rewritten for ADAM. The programs are written into a larger program that allows one to return to the main menu by pressing CONTROL-C then RETURN. I will give a brief description of each.
Three Dimension Plotter plots graphs from formulas that can be modified or replaced by the operator. There is no provision in the program to return to the main menu.
Teacher asks a series of questions to which yes or no can be answered to determine the identity of an animal. Animals can be added to the file and the program can be changed to include different subjects.
Binary Search is a simple program that produces a random number between 1 and 100. You are given six chances to find it by setting lower and upper limits and adjusting them in response to program feedback. There was a typographical error in line 330 that doesn’t affect the running of the program.
Bull-Cow allows you to select a five digit number and the computer also selects a number. You type in a five digit number and the response is the number of bulls (correct number, correct position) and cows (correct number). The program then prints a number and you enter it’s score. Both myself and my daughter have written down the program’s numbers and our responses numerous times and end up with the same response from the computer after it “thinks” long enough for us to eat-breakfast. It then responds: “YOU GAVE ME IMPOSSIBLE SCORES.”
Civil War allows you to fight the major battles of the war all over again. It has been many years since I have studied the Civil War, so I cannot attest to the accuracy of the program. My daughter and her friends lost interest in the game quickly.
Depth Charge allows you to sink an enemy sub using three-dimensional coordinates. It is of passing interest.
Hamurabi gives you a chance to run a town and has ‘cute’ little statements in response to your inputs. I’m not sure how this ended up in an educational program.
Monster Speller presents a series of blanks for which you are to guess the word. A monster starts out of hiding as you miss letters. It doesn’t look much like a monster and just about any version of hangman is much more educational and exciting. The only way to adjust for age levels is by changing data statements.
Math Dice shows two dice and you use the keyboard to input the correct number.
Cash Register asks for the cost of the item and the amount tendered and then lists the change due and the denominations. It is more educational to sit down with your child, some items, fake bills and some change and go through the process.
Adam’s Newspaper asks for adjectives, adverbs, nouns, names, locations, liquids and items and creates a senseless story. The program won’t tell you if your adjectives, adverbs or nouns are correct.
Rocket Pilot gives you control of fuel burn to safely land a damaged rocket. There are no graphics or need for a joystick. One would have to graph out each response to determine if the program works properly, but it does not hold the child’s attention long enough to make it worth the effort.
Synonyms gives you a word and you type a word that you think means the same.
Trivia Quiz is exactly that.
Math Battle allows you to enter a number which the program changes to a new number. You enter a math function and you battle the computer to reach the number or a derivative of it.
I rated this a 1 for the following reasons: 1) A number of the programs are of little educational value without extensive modification. 2) There are a variety of programs in the public domain that are similar. 3) I have one data drive that is used exclusively and about six weeks ago this tape came partially off it’s reel while loading a program. No other tape has done this before or since
2.2
There are two versions of the Adam computer. The machine used for this review is a stand-alone unit with a Colecovision game system built into it (see photo 1). The other version consists of an expansion module that plugs into an existing Colecovision game system and converts it to a computer. The one feature of the Adam that I have had no problems with is its ability to function as a video game. After producing hundreds of thousands of these game machines, Coleco has that process down pat. Would that it were so for the rest of the system. The Adam comes in three parts. The main system console includes a Colecovision game unit, main processor and memory, digital data pack (cassette) drive, and expansion interfaces. The daisy-wheel printer includes the only power cord for the system, passing power to the main console using the same cable that sends printer information back. The keyboard is connected to the main console with a coiled telephone-type cord. Two Colecovision joysticks (one of which can be mounted to the keyboard using an adapter that comes with the system) and three digital data packs are also included. One tape contains SmartBASIC, one is a preformatted blank tape to store programs or word-processing files, and the third is a game, Buck Rogers Planet of Zoom
SmartBASIC was not located in ROM but must be loaded from a digital data pack as described previously. Early purchasers of the Adam computer got one of several versions of SmartBASIC with bugs. BASIC wouldn’t even load properly in the first machine I bought. Other changes were made to SmartBASIC. To mimic Apple’s DOS 3.3, one section of the tape is reserved for directory information. In early versions of the SmartBASIC tape, this information is stored at the beginning of the tape. Later versions have the data stored in the middle of the tape to cut down on the access time to any particular program. In early versions of SmartBASIC, the CHAIN command does not work. If you’re wondering which version of BASIC came with 212 BYTE April 1984 your computer, you’ve got a problem: despite the many changes to the language, all versions are labeled 1.0. Although Coleco boasts that its SmartBASIC is compatible with Applesoft, there are a number of differences in the languages. SmartBASIC was not written by Microsoft, as was Applesoft, and does not have the same internal construction as Microsoft BASIC. A positive result of this difference is that new ideas in interpreter design were included. For example, SmartBASIC checks syntax on entry. SmartBASIC is also more highly tabledriven than Microsoft BASIC, increasing the operating speed. SmartBASIC may be the fastest 8-bit BASIC around. Another advantage of SmartBASIC not being written by Microsoft is that it doesn’t have the bugs associated with Microsoft BASIC. The author of this language made sure that all floating-point numbers are properly represented, with no round-off errors occurring as with IBM’s Microsoft BASIС. The SmartBASIC interpreter’s unusual way of storing
http://dunfield.classiccmp.org/adam/byteap84.pdf
At the time the Adam was introduced, Coleco claimed that its SmartBASIC was faster than Applesoft BASIC, with which it was to be compatible, and also that its digital data pack (cassette) drive would operate at “transfer rates comparable to floppy disks.” As can be seen from BYTE’s standard benchmark programs (see table 1), SmartBASIC is indeed faster than Applesoft at some operations, but a comparison of the mass-storage speeds shows that the Adam is much slower. A lack of compatibility is also apparent in running the benchmark programs. The prime-number algorithm normally uses a 7000-element array (see listing 3), an acceptable value for the Apple and most computers with 64K bytes of RAM (random-access read/write mеmory). But the Adam, for reasons unknown, cannot dimension an array larger than 5112 elements. As a result, no direct comparison can be made for the prime-number benchmark. A version with 5000 elements shows the Adam to be much faster than the Apple, but the incompatibility should alert users to the possibility of other limitations in the Adam. The Adam was also unable to run the standard Applesoft BASIC benchmarks to write and read a 64K-byte file (listing 2) because that program writes text data to a file as five hundred 128-character blocks. The Adam’s SmartBASIC cannot accept a 128-character string as input (listing 2b, line 180), and thus it could not run the program using the file written by listing 2a. A new program, writing a 64K-byte file as one thousand 64-character lines, was used (listing 1). As the table shows, it takes the Adam about nine minutes to access the 64K-byte file, compared to Applesoft’s three minutes. (Note that Applesoft is already slow compared to the 32-second run-time for the IBM Personal Computer.)
https://wiki.console5.com/tw/images/b/b5/Coleco_ADAM_Technical_Reference_Manual.pdf
Significance of the Study
Games and Learning Game-based learning is designed to balance theoretical content and learning through the use of games. Game based learning allows students to explore rigorous learning environments and concepts and targeted learning outcomes (Chen et al., 2018); this is especially effective in the context of the English-language learning environment (Mozelius & Hettiarachchi, 2017). Games should be designed to ensure that the students can repeat the cycles within the game context without becoming bored. Further, a good educational game should, during such states of repetition, elicit desirable behaviors in students; this can be achieved through fostering certain emotional and cognitive reactions to interactions with and feedback received from the game (Boctor, 2013). Between games, a debriefing process and a review of learning outcomes should be implemented (Mozelius & Hettiarachchi, 2017). Post-game debriefings allow the teacher to establish a connection between the game and the real world. It also creates an association between occurrences within the game and those of real life, thereby connecting the students’ understanding of the game to education (Bundick et al., 2014). Game-based learning programs should provide students with the capacity to be involved in their education, and to reflect on, understand, and apply the acquired knowledge in real life (Boctor, 2013). The adoption of an adventure approach in educational games can be effective in this regard. Educational adventure games are purposefully designed to provide “edutainment” (a mix of education and entertainment); such games are generally complex and feature clear demonstrations of deterministic problems (Bundick et al., 2014). For instance, in adventure games, problems are often part of the game, and players must find solutions to these problems in order to advance in the game. Thus, players’ in-game decisions can have direct consequences on the game’s progression, meaning the player is in control of the game. In adventure games, the puzzles can be difficult to solve, but it is not difficult to try different possible solutions (Bundick et al., 2014). Importantly, Boctor (2013) noted that the learning process associated with adventure games can improve players’ general ability to identify solutions to problems.
Collaborative learning involves students obtaining knowledge through sharing information with the class community, and the use of technology in learning is known to encourage students to be more interactive and less passive during learning sessions. Game-based learning also provides a constructivist learning environment in which students utilize existing skills to solve problems relating to the subject matter in question; game-based learning can also help students process and decode essential information for understanding learning materials. Thus, game-based learning affords students opportunities and structures to engage more strongly with the education process. Through game-based learning, students can exchange information and ideas with each other, and collaboratively perform simple tasks and solve challenges. Moreover, Boctor (2013) pointed out that game-based learning converts teachers into participants in and teachers of the learning process; this contrasts with the traditional method of imparting a repository of information to passive students who may often be uninterested and inattentive.
The main reason for adopting learning-supportive technology is to support and improve students’ educational outcomes. Therefore, combining traditional and technology-based approaches (in the form of game-based learning) is highly important for improving students’ motivation to engage with educational material (Wu, 2015). Application of the game-based educational strategy is facilitated by the increasing accessibility of technology and the increased time students spend playing video games, which has resulted in a gaming culture that ought to be capitalized upon by the education sector (Wu, 2015). According to Wu (2015), children exhibit increased levels of contentment when they learn through a mode that is interactive and fully utilizes their problem-solving cognitive abilities. This implies that applying a technological approach is the optimal means of achieving classroom contentment. However, most teachers are not fully abreast of gaming-based approaches to education and, thus, have little appreciation of its potential. Many teachers exhibit reservations regarding the use of games and, when adapting them for class activities, do so with little understanding of the game-based learning approach itself. However, this situation is improving following extensive research indicating the increase in academic performance afforded by gamification in learning. According to Wu (2015), teachers play a vibrant role in implementing game-based education tactics. Therefore, it is critical to understand teachers’ attitudes toward the gamification of learning.
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1311472.pdf
Copier Marinka, (2005) found out that, educational games are enhancing learning, because it increases children’s enjoyment, attention, effort, and concentration skills. Digital games and Virtual worlds have the potential to be an important teaching tool because of interactive, engaging and immersive activities (Gee, J. & Shaffer, D. 2010). Games are used in education – informal and formal; Simulations can act as a safe introduction to various vocational careers (Squire, K. 2005). Games are teaching and assess 21st century skills, such as problem solving, collaboration, negotiation etc. Currently games are more likely to be used if they can be seen to inspire, or there is a direct link to the curriculum. The criterion for using a game is often whether it will make the teacher’s life easier or the game fits into existing lesson structures. In order to determine if the game will make life easier the teacher needs to assess whether the game will enhance their students’ learning. This requires time to learn and comprehend the game. In 2006, Teaching with Games project was started in U.K. (Sandford, R.M. & Ulicsak, K & Facer, and Rudd, T 2006) and the teachers to select assess and blend games into current teaching practice.
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1102028.pdf
https://vztimg.exent.com/Prem/products/302450/manual.pdf
References:
https://openpublishing.library.umass.edu/cpo/article/47/galley/47/view
http://dunfield.classiccmp.org/adam/byteap84.pdf
https://wiki.console5.com/tw/images/b/b5/Coleco_ADAM_Technical_Reference_Manual.pdf
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1311472.pdf
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1102028.pdf
https://vztimg.exent.com/Prem/products/302450/manual.pdf
https://www.vault1541.com/2017/11/the-electronic-learning-machine.html