Virtual Lesson Plan Integration

• US 20120172100A1
• Filed: 01/03/2011
• Published: 07/05/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/03/2011
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Miller, John W., Young, Charles K., Colar, Gerald D., Diggs, Melanie R., White, Terrence E.
• Application Number:
  US12/983,508
• Publication Number:
  US 20120172100A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/9
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/46 Computing the game score
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/493 Resuming a game, e.g. after pausing, malfunction or power failure
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/80 Special adaptations for executing a specific game genre or game mode
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/5593 involving scheduling aspects
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/609 for unlocking hidden game elements, e.g. features, items, levels
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/636 involving process of starting or resuming a game
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/8064 Quiz
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 7/06 of the multiple-choice answer-type, i.e. where a given question is provided with a series of answers and a choice has to be made from the answers

Abstract

A student personal computer (PC) presents educational questions at break points in a video game. It receives an identifier of a student. It receives a selection by the student of one of a plurality of video games, each of the video games including break points. It correlates the identifier of the student to a corresponding set of educational questions from a plurality of sets of educational questions. It begins execution of the video game. It, responsive to occurrence of a break point, interrupts the execution of the video game and render to the student playing the video game a question of the corresponding set of educational questions. It receives from the student an answer to the educational question of the corresponding set and determine whether the answer is correct. The student PC continues execution of the video game after receiving the answer from the student.

Claims

1. A computer program product for presenting educational questions at break points in a video game, the computer program product comprising:

one or more computer-readable, tangible storage devices;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, to receive an identifier of a student;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, to receive a selection by the student of one of a plurality of video games, each of the video games including break points;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, to correlate the identifier of the student to a corresponding set of educational questions from a plurality of sets of educational questions;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, to begin execution of the video game;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, responsive to occurrence of a break point, to interrupt the execution of the video game and render to the student playing the video game a question from the corresponding set of educational questions;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, to receive from the student an answer to the educational question of the corresponding set and determine whether the answer is correct; and

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, to continue execution of the video game after receiving the answer from the student.

2. The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising:

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, to render to a second student playing the video game at least one educational question of a second set of educational questions selected from at least two sets of educational questions in response to a determination that the break point has occurred, wherein the second at least one educational question is based on a second identifier of a second student.

3. The computer program product of claim 2, wherein the program instructions which render to the student playing the video game a question comprises program instructions to receive the educational questions stored in a repository.

4. The computer program product of claim 2, wherein the program instructions which continue execution of the video game comprises program instructions to render an entertainment feature selected from the group consisting of ballistic movement, elimination of obstacles and race navigation.

5. The computer program product of claim 2, further comprising:

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, to determine whether an academic score merits a game advantage, wherein the academic score is based on answers to a subset of the set of educational questions; and

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, to execute enhanced video game entertainment features, responsive to a determination that the academic score merits the game advantage.

6. The computer program product of claim 5, wherein the game advantage is at least one selected from the group consisting of outfitting a character, narration and score animation.

7. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the identifier of the student is a pass-code.

8. The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising:

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, to determine whether the lesson plan has an associated lesson plan pass-code matching at least one lesson plan pass-code of the video game, and

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, to execute entertainment features responsive to the determination that the lesson plan has an associated lesson plan pass-code matching at least one lesson plan pass-code of the video game, wherein the lesson plan code identifies a set of questions correlated to a teacher.

9. The computer program product of claim 8, further comprising program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, to receive from a student the at least one lesson plan pass-code of the video game.

10. A method for regulating game play in a video game, the method comprising:

a computer receiving a pass-code;

the computer receiving a video game selection from among a set of video games, wherein each video game of the set is linked to a lesson plan, thereby forming a selected video game, wherein the selected video game is adapted with break points that correspond with at least two lesson plans;

the computer executing first entertainment features of the video game;

the computer determining whether an break point has occurred in the execution of the video game;

the computer rendering to a student playing the video game at least one educational question of a first set of educational questions selected from at least two sets of educational questions in response to a determination that an break point has occurred, wherein the educational question is based on the pass-code;

the computer receiving from the student an answer to the educational question and determining whether the answer is correct; and

the computer executing second entertainment features selected one from the group consisting of reward feature, unmodified feature, and diminished feature, based on the answer.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

the computer second rendering to a second student playing the video game at least one educational question of a second set of educational questions selected from at least two sets of educational questions in response to a determination that the break point has occurred, wherein the second at least one educational question is based on an identifier of a second student.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein rendering and second rendering comprises the computer receiving the educational question stored in a repository.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein entertainment features are at least one entertainment feature selected from the group consisting of ballistic movement, elimination of obstacles and race navigation.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

the computer determining whether an academic score merits a game advantage, wherein the academic score is based on answers to a subset of the set of educational questions; and

the computer executing enhanced video game entertainment features, responsive to a determination that the academic score merits the game advantage.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the game advantage is at least one selected from the group consisting of outfitting a character, narration and score animation.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the identifier of the student is a pass-code.

17. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

the computer determining whether the lesson plan has an associated lesson plan pass-code matching at least one lesson plan pass-code of the video game; and

the computer executing entertainment features responsive to the determination that the lesson plan has an associated lesson plan pass-code matching at least one lesson plan pass-code of the video game.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the break points comprise a minimum number of break points.

19. A data processing system for presenting educational questions at break points in a video game, the data processing system comprising:

one or more processors, one or more computer-readable memories and one or more computer-readable, tangible storage devices;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, to receive an identifier of a student;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, to receive a selection by the student of one of a plurality of video games, each of the video games including break points;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, to correlate the identifier of the student to a corresponding set of educational questions from a plurality of sets of educational questions;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, to begin execution of the video game;

responsive to occurrence of a break point, to interrupt the execution of the video game and render to the student playing the video game a question of the corresponding set of educational questions;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, to receive from the student an answer to the educational question of the corresponding set and determine whether the answer is correct; and

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, to continue execution of the video game after receiving the answer from the student.

20. The data processing system of claim 19, further comprising:

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, to render to a second student playing the video game at least one educational question of a second set of educational questions selected from at least two sets of educational questions in response to a determination that the break point has occurred, wherein the second at least one educational question is based on an identifier of a second student.

21. The data processing system of claim 20, wherein rendering and second rendering comprises program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, to receive the educational questions stored in a repository.

22. The data processing system of claim 20, wherein continuing execution of the video game comprises program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, to render an entertainment feature selected from the group consisting of ballistic movement, elimination of obstacles and race navigation.

23. The data processing system of claim 20, further comprising:

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, to determine whether an academic score merits a game advantage, wherein the academic score is based on answers to a subset of the set of educational questions; and

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, to execute enhanced video game entertainment features, responsive to a determination that the academic score merits the game advantage.

24. The data processing system of claim 23, wherein the game advantage is at least one selected from the group consisting of outfitting a character, narration and score animation.

25. A method for regulating game play in a video game, the method comprising the steps of:

a computer executing first entertainment features of the video game;

the computer determining whether a break point condition is met;

computer rendering at least one educational question to a screen in response to a determination that the break point condition is met;

computer determining whether a correct answer to the at least one educational question is met, based on a lesson plan;

computer calculating an academic score based on the correct answer, and any previous answers in a session of play;

computer determining whether the academic score exceeds academic goals; and

responsive to a determination that the academic score exceeds the academic goals, executing second entertainment features of the video game.