Nine students from University High School in Urbana, Illinois, learned to maneuver 3-D computer modeling software this week in a course that NPRE Prof. Rizwan Uddin made available.
The students chose the model development course as part of the high school’s tradition of Agora Days. Agora sets aside one week in each school year so that students can choose alternate learning options, with classes ranging from knitting to biology to video games.
Uddin’s student, NPRE senior Imran Haddish, helped organize and teach modeling to the Uni High students using Kinect game software. Kinect is Microsoft’s motion-sensing input device for the Xbox 360 video game console and Windows PCs.
Uni High seniors Dax Earl and Steve Morse also were creating a game. The object was to move a ball along a flat plane without allowing the ball to fall off the plane’s edge. The plane would tilt from the weight of the ball.
Earl, who is considering studying computer science at the University of Illinois upon graduating from high school, said he enjoyed the course, but time constraints kept him and his partner from tackling a more complicated project. “If this was a year-long course we could do some really crazy game,” he said.