The Education Ministry is launching a new elective course focusing on gaming for secondary school students starting from the second semester next year.
The course was teased on a ministry social media account, which quickly captured the attention of students and parents.
The announcement came in the form of a retro console that showed ‘Gaming 100’.
Education Minister Dr Mohammed Mubarak Juma told the GDN that the programme would be made available to pupils in government high schools and private schools that are willing to take it over as part of their course offerings.
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Dr Juma
An elective course is an optional class that a student can choose to take, as opposed to a required or core one.
The new course ‘Gaming 100’ will focus on the evolution of video games starting with Atari, advancements in the gaming industry, programming video games, besides highlighting potential game programming careers.
“We have carefully crafted the course through a panel of experts to ensure suitability, compatibility and its appropriateness,” he said.
“It is part of our ongoing plans to develop educational streams and curricula to match current and future needs, while equipping students with the necessary tools in line with modern advancements.”
He added that the initiative has already been met with ‘huge enthusiasm’.
In a sneak peak into the new course, it is set to have the following study options …
Chapter 1
Foundations of Video Game Culture and History:
Embarks on a historical journey of video games, the different consoles and how they evolved into an industry.
Chapter 2
Understanding Games:
It describes different games, their core mechanics, genres, similarities and differences.
Chapter 3
Game engines:
Explains game engines, the art behind games, coding and creation of prototypes with a variety of case studies related to games. In addition to an opportunity to explore coding to create a game or refine one.
Chapter 4:
Gaming and Society
It revolves around storytelling in games. It also touches on local to global in games and Esports. The chapter tackles ethics, violence in games and creating the balance to avoid addiction.
Chapter 5
Careers in Gaming:
It describes the different roles the creation of games, their core mechanics industry and how to get into it and its potential and how it is about community, curiosity and creation.
Final project:
Students engage in creating their own game from concept to playable prototype.
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