ULM — At Ulm school, it’s "game on" for eighth-grade student Addy Jensen. Her passion for trees and knack for technology and game design has earned her top honors in an international competition.
What at first looks like fun and games is actually the end result of a tech assignment for Jensen. “You were supposed to create a game, it could be digital or a board game,” she explained. “To get full credit it would have to be educational about ecosystems, or trees, recycling maybe.”
The assignment, which earned Addy runner-up status, also mixed coding skills the students learned with practicing the engineering design process.
Addy designed a "Candy Land"-like game she calls “Tree Dares.” It’s focused on trees, something she’s always had an interest in: “I like how they give off oxygen and different types of trees that have different qualities."
In Addy’s game, a group of players take turns rolling the dice. If they land on a tree, they have to answer a question about trees. If they get the answer wrong, they have to complete a dare specified on the card.
Students from all over the world took part in the game-based STEM competition sponsored by Legends Of Learning, with support from Dell Technologies.
“I was kind of surprised to see her name on there, but also I’m not surprised,” said Severin Gilbert, who teaches math, science, and technology at Ulm Middle School. “She put in a lot of work to making really detailed components and a lot of thought into her theme, and she does really well at everything she sets her mind to.”
For her effort, Addy won a $200 Amazon gift card.