Dec 07, 2010 - Claremont, Calif. -

The National Science Foundation has awarded Harvey Mudd College $580,033 to advance a software development model that engages both college and middle-school students.
The three-year grant will expand a pilot program begun last year and fund the creation of a guidebook to help other schools start similar projects.

“The Games Network: Games for Students, Games by Students” challenges HMC computer science students to develop educational games based upon learning objectives set by real-world customers: middle-school social studies teachers. Sixth- and seventh-grade students then test the games and provide feedback.

Project Directors Elizabeth Sweedyk, associate professor of computer science, and Computer Science Chair Michael Erlinger, hope to shatter stereotypes about the computer science field by introducing younger students to the fun, creative side of software development.

Their project aims also to offer college-level students the opportunity to create games for an audience other than themselves.

The grant will allow the program, which successfully launched in Fall 2009 at Hillside Middle School in Kalamazoo, Mich., to add more participants and explore new game development options. A third teacher will be added to Hillside’s team and a history teacher from El Roble Intermediate School in Claremont will serve as the first California participant. Erlinger will join Sweedyk as a project director, and a host of middle-school students will be added to the mix.

Funds will also help introduce game development in other courses at HMC, extend development to include mobile games , and create a guidebook to help other schools follow the project’s example.

Sweedyk, who specializes in  gender, gaming and computer sciences, received an NSF grant last year for support of the project "CS Education: Computer Game Course, Curriculum and Gender?" which is funded through 2012.