Intergenerational “WII battle” (with interactive Nintendo
games) competition
The event, described hereafter, consists in an
intergenerational meeting, based on an inter-ages interactive games tournament with Nintendo game consoles, which was
prepared jointly by the Daviel Cultural Center, the Youth Information
Point, a group of students from Paris X
university , and the team of the association E-SENIORS association.
Date :
The date (Wednesday afternoon, 18/02) was chosen for 2 reasons:
Wednesday is a day when grandparents take care of their grand-children
This date is located during the February school holidays, which is more
convenient for having scholars participating in such an event.
Location :
The meeting took place in the large area of cafeteria, where a dozen of tables
and many chairs are installed. This area
is located at ground floor and visible from the entrance hall of the Center. We
also used the space of the large corridor, through which comes anyone visiting the theater.
Configuration :
We installed 2 game consoles, each connected to a video projector in order to
obtain a large visual field for the
games, one on a screen and the other on a white wall.
For each console, we had loudspeakers for sound (the spoken explanations
represent a significant part of the games).
We had 2 game corners. We closed the curtains of the cafeteria and shut down
the lights as to have a better contrast on the projections.
We left the tables and chairs so that people could sit while waiting for their
turn to play.
We used a whiteboard with markers to record the names of the players and the results of the teams.
Scenario of the afternoon :
A large poster had been prepared by the Center to announce the event and was
visible at the entry.
The intergenerational association
"A l’Unisson" was present for the
first part of the event and proposed
some classical physical exercise to warm up the muscles
Having allowed free access to the games
early in the afternoon, we noticed that we very young children (under 10) had begun to play without any help, as they
were already used to the console.
As we wanted to have mixed (different ages) groups we decided to decide upon teams
and register the whiteboard, allowing a column to record the results.
We started with the Wii sports games, namely tennis,
bowling –the games you can play with a partner.
The teams who were waiting for their "turn", had the choice:
- To observe the play of others, to learn how to manipulate the joystick
- To sit and talk around the tables
To make the waiting time more enjoyable,
we purchased and offered a small taste:
- Drinks
- Different cakes
We also bought lollipops - sugar-free, which is important because girls and
grandmothers are very sensitive to dental caries and diet). The idea of
lollipops was, in fact, to be a prize for the winners ... but we gave them to
everybody!
Participants :
A number of senior students of E-SENIORS (from the 13 th
and 15 th arrondissements )
came, in part with their young children.
The person in charge of the PIJ (Youth Information Point) Center
actively participated in the event
and a number of local young people were
present.
The 3 students, who had proposed to study this tournament as an
"tutored project" for their studies, participated actively in the
preparation and conduct of the day.
A person responsible of another association in Paris 20 came with a few young
people of his
neighborhood.
Some other people, working with seniors clubs in the 13th arrondssement, came as they were interested in the
implementation of such actions, among others due to the fact that the Nintendo
Company had given a number of Wii game consoles to the City of Paris.
... Suggestions for next time
We need to prepare a scenario of the games most suited to the public and
prepare a detailed schedule of the tournament.
We need to consider the duration of the game for each team (
number of sets for tennis) and how to "note" the points and
teams.
We must have a consistent notation in order to designate a winner and award a
trophy.
There should be a prize / trophy for the winner (this may be a certificate! If there was no means!)
Photos
http://picasaweb.google.fr/monique.epstein/Daviel_wii_inter_180209?feat=directlink# 5304975433616326466