Game to try?

Last year the Horizon Report predicted that gaming will become mainstream in education in 2-3 years.There are already some games being used in our school and some teachers are starting to see their potential as a powerful tool in learning. Mark Dolbel highly recommends the role playing game Ayiti for year 10's where players take responsibility for a family in Haiti.He also loves Traveller IQ: World Challenge for all year levels.It's a fun game that teaches map awareness skills.Both Mark and Toni Salevson also use annually the ASX Sharemarket Game to teach students about personal investment.Our Maths Department has also just introduced the Mathletics Program that uses games to promote learning and engagement.

I have recently come across Adrian Camm's wiki Games in Education which is a fantastic resource that will help familiarise us with how games can help students to learn. Adrian is a teacher in Northern Victoria and I was fortunate to attend a workshop that he was running a few years ago.He was the first person I knew who was using wikis in his classroom (Physics) and since that time he has won many awards for his innovations.He is certainly an inspirational educator who is passionate about technology in education.

His wiki will be of particular interest to Maths, Science and Literacy teachers as well as those teachers who cover global issues. He provides lists of games and explains how they relate to the particular curriculum and suggests age levels. He also provides current research into gaming and a "Game Creation Tools" link which is exciting for those who want to dip their toe in the deep end.

You may find that the games that interest you are blocked but if there is anything that takes your fancy email Mike and he will unblock pronto! I also liked this Slideshare presentation that was on Adrian's wiki that gives a good rationale for games in education.

Good Video Games and Good Learning

CSI:The Experience Web Adventures Last year I passed on to Steve Anderson a great game that his Year 9 students enjoyed about forensic science called CSI:The Experience Web Adventures. Funded by the US Science Foundation they are a series of interactive cases featuring characters from the TV show CSI:Crime Scene Investigation. These cases allow players to experience different types of forensic analysis and solve mysteries with the team. Each game takes about 30 -45 minutes and students are able to register as a guest. However games can not be saved and resumed at a later date which is a downside. All in all, it's a fabulous resource with an educator's guide, online activities and cool sites to other forensic sites. Stop Disasters Game One of the games on Adrian Camm's wiki which will appeal to our Geography teachers is the Stop Disasters Game.It was developed by the UN International Strategy For Disaster Reduction and seems extremely pertinent to our current global situation. The aim of the game is for students to learn how they can stop disasters from occurring.It covers five disasters- flood,fire,hurricane, earthquake and tsunami.Each scenario takes 10 -20 minutes to play, depending on skill level. There are also teacher fact sheets,videos and links to other resources. Cool Maths-Game.com Finally, maths teachers might like to explore Coolmath-Games.com which allows students to play games and learn maths at the same time.