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I use Educaplay and I

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I've never used games at school.

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Pictionary Game: To practice vocab

http://www.isketch.net/

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I never used games at school... Now I am very interested, I will soon see, at least, the movie Wall - E as a first step...

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I often use learningapps because there are different types of games which con be easilu and fast prepared. My students enjoyed these games.

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I often use learningapps.

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It's very important to know the differents types of players and what kind of gamification is more useful for your students.

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I have never used, or intended to use, the games at school. In the platform engage.learning you can find many games, well classified and easy to find, according to the characteristics that a teacher search for in a game for the class. Students can be more involved if you start a job in the classroom with a game that introduces the topic.

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I didn't use computer games for learning.Games can be nice to use to start a project, but it has, my school,my contry,my city not money for education. You allready have ot invest a lot of money in it and that isn't always possible. Our school needs to invest in decent computers. Even for that there is not enough money!

Maybe in the future I will try to use educational games in classroom ???

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my students love the matter millionaire game made by town of mansfield

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A good site to go through and find games for your PBL.

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Play 100+ NYC-made games at Playcrafting's Summer Expo! ☀

You've likely heard about Playcrafting here before, whether it was from this year's
G4C Awards + Opening Night Party or one of the G4C Demo Nights we co-hosted together. We'd like to highlight their work in supporting the local game development scenes in New York City. If you're a game developer in NYC, Boston, or San Francisco, see how Playcrafting can support you in making your game a reality!

Playcrafting NYC's seasonal celebration of games made in and around NYC is next week! Check out the full list of confirmed games, with more to come, and some of the games for change-related projects below.

We'll once again welcome over 100 games and their developers as more than 700 fellow developers, industry pros and enthusiasts get hands-on playtime with the latest from these creators. Complimentary gourmet pizza will be provided.

New to Playcrafting? Check out May's Spring Expo.

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Play 100+ NYC-made games at Playcrafting's Summer Expo! ☀ - Games For Change

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PLAYCRAFTING NYC SUMMER EXPO IS NEXT WEEK! You've likely heard about Playcrafting here before, whether it was from this year's G4C Awards + Opening Night Party or one of the G4C Demo Nights we co-hosted together. We'd like to highlight their work in supporting the local game development scenes in New York City.

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The Mobile World Capital Barcelona, put in place an initiative called 'mSchools'. One interesting thing is the apps catalogue they are putting in place (similar to what is mentioned in the video). Apps are rated by teachers, and they can also share specific projects done in class with that app. This is an important resource to keep teachers updated and share knowledge.

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, a programme of Mobile World Capital Barcelona, comprises a series of events and activities across all four days of Mobile World Congress 2017 focused on the empowerment of new generations and education professionals in the use of digital technologies.

New this year, mSchools will participate in YoMo Barcelona, the first Youth Mobile Festival that focuses on STEAM ─science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics. 20,000 students from Catalunya will gather first-hand knowledge on the opportunities that careers in science and technology offer.

YoMo Barcelona will host education exhibits, talks, interactive workshops and hands-on activities aimed both at students and professionals. mSchools, located within the educational resources area, consists of two zones: the mSchools Classroom and the Experience Zone.

The mSchools Classroom area, led by outstanding institutions ─ European Schoolnet, UNESCO─ and research centres ─ Crecim, Science on Stage-, offers education professionals information sessions on innovative teaching.

The Experience Zone, a dynamic space dedicated to exhibitions and interactive, hands-on workshops, showcase visitors mSchools' initiatives, such as App Education, Mobile History Map, Toolbox or Edu_Hack. Teachers from Catalunya will present classroom experiences based on digital tools and new technology.

mSchools at YoMo is an excellent occasion for teachers to discover the digital tools needed for today's connected world. Teachers and students will explore exciting and rewarding career opportunities that are available in the mobile and STEAM ecosystem.
Find out more about YoMo Barcelona.

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Discover the mSchools activities at YoMo Barcelona

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a programme of Mobile World Capital Barcelona, comprises a series of events and activities across all four days of Mobile World Congress 2017 focused on the empowerment of new generations and education professionals in the use of digital technologies.

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I use Kahoot with students with their smartphones.

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8 september it’s International Literacy Day. I don’t know yet how to do it, but I would like to associate the idea of having little libraries in school with the use of games.

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Games are not only great fun for kids, they also provide a non- threatening learning environment. There are a lot of resources for ESL teachers, I just come up with a few:

http://gamestolearnenglish.com/

and http://www.eslgamesworld.com/members/games/

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Free ESL Fun Games & Interactive Exercises Online

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ESL Fun Games and Activities online for Grammar, Vocabulary and Pronunciation Practice, Interactive fun games for ESL classrooms, flash games and quizzes, grammar games, vocabulary games, spelling games, hangman, snakes and ladders, mazes, memory games, wheel of fortune, TV games, betting games and more

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Using games in school has a lot of advantages. Most of all it is about meeting the children in an arena where they fell comfortable. It is not my opinion that young peaople today are very skilled using computers, they are very skilled when it comes to using the computers in narrow areas but they need to widen this areas and that where games are good. A good teacher uses good tools; we make the tools good by coming up with ideas of how to use them. I myself uses Zondle a lot. In Zondle I can create games for my students where they can practice different things we have been working with, they can team up, it is in their own langagues, they have fun and they can overview their own progress.

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Here is a page of different games that you can use this page

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Another good game to apply in classrooms could be this, because it works in any mobile operative system (Android, IOs, Windows) and you can make your own questions. You can build a student network and favor playing by topics, using science in biology classes for example, history as well and so.

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In my school we don't have funds for acquiring or tablets, so I use only online games.

Game that helps literacy, playing with letters, words and syllables:

http://portal.ludoeducativo.com.br/pt/play/ludo-primeiros-passos

Games that helps learning math, money, traffic rules, meet Portugal, etc...:

http://www.sitiodosmiudos.pt/brincar/

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As we said in the first form games and video games are a good tool, as are other tools, and a good teacher has to use good tools. Not just a good tool but it takes a creative teacher who is able to use to achieve certain goals. I never used to play tablet or consol but I used to PC, do not always declared as educational games. Among these I used: http://www.physicsgames.net/game/Dynamite_Blast_2.html

and http://www.physicsgames.net/game/BridgeCraft.html for understanding the structures http://www.math.it/tetris/tetris.htm and http://benfold.com/will/applets/pent/pent.html for understanding the modular structures. https://phet.colorado.edu/it/simulations/category/new/index or http://phet.colorado.edu/it/simulations/category/physics/ know this contains simulations and physical I used especially those on electrical circuits and on the levers in the site but there are plenty.

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The best way for students to learn, is to experience; to be faced with an authentic situation, to make decisions, to face the consequences of those decisions and to react under pressure.

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Learning Games For Kids | Educational games, videos and songs that help build skills in math, language, science, social studies, and more.

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For Secondary level I would like something involving the creativeness of students, maybe interfering to the game or making a personal aspect of the main idea...Any suggestions?

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There is still much prejudice about the use of video games in the classroom. I use them often successfully, even if parents and colleagues are surprised. Students' motivation and participation are strongly increased and the learning process is much easier.

If we are to keep pace with technological and social development we have to change our teaching styles and keep an open mind to innovation.

www.sitiododmiudos.pt

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I looked at the resource Kinect Adventures in the Classroom. There are several great ideas for learning, e.g. Idea 5: Character Studies and Idea 15: Marine Studies. There are 25 ideas only you need the resource...

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Speaking of educational use of video games opens a world of possibilities interesting and very stimulating. I think the hardest part will be to select the right game. But perhaps the best idea might be from a game, maybe the ver played by children, and build from it a unit of meaningful work. They are certainly very useful repositories (as engagelearning), but for those who enter into this new world the enthusiasm could be as such to disorientation. Certainly, as you usually do with books, it is useful to go to a specialist shop and experience firsthand the games suitable to the age of their students and then "trust" them to the gameplay itself, but knowing the plot and the arguments of the game, you can build innovative and stimulating activities in optical inclusive.

What you link under article perhaps I dated, but still I find it very interesting to develop a process of reflection on the use of games in education. http://sheu.org.uk/sites/sheu.org.uk/files/imagepicker/1/eh203mg.pdf

and for dummy like me ;) :P

http://oedb.org/ilibrarian/50-educational-video-games-that-homeschoolers-love/

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I have been using table games for years with my students. They are great as motivators and well as helping them develop strategies. Most of the short ones can be played during the last few minutes of class.

The use of video and computer games has added a whole new dimension to classroom learning as they offer far more curriuclum coverage. As you imagine, using FIFA World Cup 2010 would be an excellent game particularly as Spain came away as the champions.

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It is true. Students don't need to be encouraged because they are already addicted to games. The main point is to encourage teacher to change their way to teach. This is for my further readings:

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I will definitely use games more in future in the learning process. Now I understand better that this is not only possible, but also very useful and welcome.

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I like the idea of using games for thematic and project based learning. However, I think it would be almost impossible in my classroom as there is hardly any ICT equipment. I can only dream about IBW or good wi-fi connection. So using games in school is still a little bit unreal for me.

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I remain a bit sceptical about games in schools, compared with other innovative approaches such as the flipped classroom, the active classroom, or PBL. I understand that games can be a good hook to start working on a theme or a topic, but I still can't see how you can get students to develop skills on at the same level as those methods mentioned above.

It is true that everybody likes games, and that a bit of friendly competition is good for your classroom atmosphere, student self-esteem, and even the relationship between teachers and students. However, I can't forget that, if we ask our students to do projects and presentations on the topic of a game, the role of the game then becomes just the starting point, not the reason why we decide to work on a given topic; as teachers, then, we can consider not just games for this, but also films, books, comics, songs, etc. Nevertheless, I realise that the difference between these and games are that games involve the user directly.

I also think that for us, not-yet-gamer types, a website like Engage Learning is a really helpful tool.

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When I was children, the "games school" was classic game: "hide and seek", "witch commands color",

"one, two, three... star" (probably, the last two are only italian games). This game was wonderful and

exciting but, nowadays, are games obsolete. The "digital natives" want to play with games for PC, X-Box,

Play Station, Wii. I think that for students of elementary school, is better to use games that develop

cognitive, spatial and motor skills. In this age, infact, the children needed to develop these abilities.

In this website, there are many games for the elementary school:  http://pbskids.org/games/science/

For the students of High School, instead, can be use the games for learning fun. There are many game

that the teachers can use to facilitate the learning; in this website, there are several:

http://www.sciencegamecenter.org/

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My students prefer to play mobile games and many of them are addicted to these games. Sometimes they can't stop themselves Next year I may ask them about the games they play and if I can find something common then I can plan a lesson according to their interest.

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I'll try to focus more on videogames next school year, even I know that it will be difficult to cope with lack of resources and parents/ colleagues obstacles. We could try with Byod ...

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I think that games about investigations or similar cuoud be usefull to encourage problem solving and to work in groups in order to work also on social skills.

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These sites there are several games that can be played in class.

http://nautilus.fis.uc.pt/mn/romana/index.html

http://www.softschools.com/games/

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I never used games in my lessons. I have to look for games for ipads and I have to play in order to create ideas for my students.

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I haven't used computer games in class. I think childr are motivated by a little game at the beginning of the course.

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I have never used console games in classrom but I used some sımple computer games for vocabulary learning.Games make student motivate to lesson .They really love it but I have to use games in a balanced way not to lose the aim of lesson :)

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I have never used computer games in the classroom and I hope to use some of them after the ideas learned in this course. I think they are good way to motivate and engage students into learning.

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I never used computer games in my lessons and I think the first challenge is to have game consoles and games for the students. I thinks have chance to learn playing it is a very motivating idea for all the students. Ihave found this interesting game in french:

Cap Odyssey

it is a game developed by

the french company KTM for the ministry of agriculture. Students can learn about economy, the market, nature and management.The learn how can they price their products and manage the risk that bad  weather means for the crop.

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I am thinking about the real chance we have in schools to get this playing consoles available...I am the school principal, so I am not afraid about permission. I am just wondering about economic resources we need to offer these new tools to all the kids and the teachers able to purposely use them. I count on the collaboration of our families...no other way to have them, sadly.

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I'm not a real teacher. I teach educational robotics in after school clubs and I teach teachers to use robotics in their classroom. So I never used video games, but I'm very curious about these learning methods. I found on line this role game "Quandary" and I think it could be nice to have a chance to try it also because it is free and it seems not required specific devices but a normal pc is sufficient. Even if it seems to be created for educational pourposes it seems attractive.

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Shape the future of a new society with ethical decision making. Play Quandary, a free educational online game to get kids motivated and excited to learn.

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I teach EFL and  I believe using a game in the classroom has a lot of benefits but the teacher has to be very careful when planning the activities around the game as well as timing the activities. I've seen some great examples in this course. I especially liked the Olympics.

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These games are new for me and i know that my students know better games than me. I have to ask them :) My students are more smart in games as me. And lot of them try to find games for free. But...the last games what I found and played with students and they liked are here:

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Arcademic Skill Builders - Math Games, Language Arts Games, and much more

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Arcademics games are built with the latest HTML5 technology, so they can be played seamlessly on any device using the Web browser. We also have apps available for the iPad and Android tablets.

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Games that can be the basis of our program: - Minecraft - The Sims - Simcity - There are day - Farm Story

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Games are amusing and educative, but the choice for buying them must totally belong to parents, at home, while we, as teachers, filter them for class. Some of the gams might not be suitable for the children, probabbly because of the age group or content displayed. Anyway, they should be introduced more and more, because games offer an excellent alternative to traditional teaching and learning.

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It is really engaging, fun, educational, creative and relaxing to have games in the class, but the strongest barrier for my students is represented by the reduced possibilities of the parents to contribute to such devices for their children. Parents don't have material means to invest that much and most often, I am the person who brings devices to school. I use my tablet for exercises, games and songs, for children.

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I think the main obstacle in using elearning games at school is only the time , but only at the beginning. In fact, you have to plan perfectly your activity, try to game at home (as teacher) and focusing your activity. there are many interesting games, in particular seroius games which I want to experiment to do and to create a real physical model

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Serious games can help students to understand a lot of things. Minecraft, a sandbox game, is used a lot in the schools beacuse it involves creativity and allows students to create a world. Minecraft is a open world where students can manage a virtual world. Teachers can do debriefings with students about what they have done in the video game and stimulate reflection and critical thinking.

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Console games are expensive for schools and students. but some free games for android platform could be used for education. Maybe some puzzle games for language teaching.

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Ollie was right  about the fact that kids don't need motivation and encouraging but the teachers do. If we let the students be in charge they very often find ways to solve problems. We teachers are more like assistants but I agree with Sanela, we should try to make our own games as well.

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I use some gaming elements in my class, mainly educational games. The biggest obstacle to introducing games is not management, but parents.... Parents don't view gaming as an educational tool, but something which their chidlren should do less. Unfortunately, the type of parents who see the opportunity in gaming is rare. I much often encounter parents who limit gaming or forbid it, and do not want to see it in school. This is the biggest challenge now, to get parents on board. I am a gamer parent and I still have hope that one day all this will be recognized by parents too.Games are great and develp a lot of skills, and motivate students.

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If we want to implement video games in our curiculae we have to be firm advocates.

We need to learn more about games, and always be one step ahead of our students.

I also think that not only we should use existing games for learning but rather make our own...

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I read in the handbook Electronic games in school that one of the principals features of online games is motivating, involving and immersing players. That’s enough to convince me that it can increase Learning.

Because , I’m not a player and I don’t know much about games, I will asked my students which games they play with.  Then I will do research on how can I used them in class.

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I feel that children that lack enthusiasm in learning, could be motivated to learn with games with which they are accustomed to.

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I have not experience in the games because when I was a child I did not play. I never played with playstation games of my son even,  though I know that some were very beautiful. It would be important to try and to understand their potential in classroom lesson.

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On this course I enrolled for the sole purpose to find the new method of work of teachers from Europe who use games in the classroom. In my work in primary school I realized that weaker students who have little motivation to learn , learn only by means of games. I hope that I will find this course through new geographical games.

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I've never used video games in my lessons, but I want to try them in next school year. I'm convinced they are a powerful tool to foster students' attention and motivation. I would like to try video games on Ipad and therefore I've found a website which suggests some games for this tablet. I hope you find it interesting.

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Parents and teachers who trust little Muffy and Junior with their shiny iPads don't have to worry about how access to shoot-'em-up video games will rot their precious little gifted and talented program minds. Instead, they can download some of the following alternatives to help them build up their brilliant brains that will totally go on to win Nobel Prizes someday.

30 Of The Best Elementary Education Games For iPad

1. Classic children's magazine Highlights brings its widely beloved hidden pictures games to the iPad to delight another generation of kiddos needing to build cognitive skills.

2. Kids pick up some basic physics lessons and construct their very own machines to digitally play with in real time.
This is a cross-post from onlinecollegecourses.com; Image attribution flickr user flickeringbrad

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30 Of The Best Elementary Education Games For iPad

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Parents and teachers who trust little Muffy and Junior with their shiny iPads don't have to worry about how access to shoot-'em-up video games will rot their precious little gifted and talented program minds. Instead, they can download some of the following alternatives to help them build up their brilliant brains that will totally go on to win Nobel Prizes someday.

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Francesca from Italy, you made my day! Thank you for sharing this outstanding science game hub!

http://www.sciencegamecenter.org/

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Students can be urged and guided to create their own computer game for Olympic Games via the 'scratch4teachers': decide on the games to be included, the rules and constrictions, table scores, etc..

I came across a quite interesting spanish project on Olympic Games!

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This project is being developed by 2nd ESO students of IES Infanta Elena working in the Enseñanza XXI Program.

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've used it in class console games karaoke with foreign students who come from other countries and do not know the language.
Through music become familiar with the language and know the basic vocabulary and linguistic structures

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I can suggest the game called Oslo, I hope my school could buy it!

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Il miglior gioco applicazione iPad per bambini dell'anno: Osmo

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I don't play this kind of games. It's hard for us to introduce them in schools because we don't have the technology. But i think we can explore this kind of games as we explore books, making activities and crafts related to the games.

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I am not familiar with any video game. I am going to try it now...

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as teachers and parent we have always put a limit on the games children play.But now, by integrating them into curriculum, we dont need to limit children.They will like this news :)

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I am more interested in games which run on tablets as we are running a 1:1 program at my school. I teach to high school students and it could be interesting to explore game design as it could involve more subjects of the curriculum.

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I am really afraid of addiction games/internet. So I am looking forward to hear any good idea about this problem.

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Jak na Internet - Závislost na Internetu

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Hello from Greece, I checked out engagelearning: great resource. I am deffinetelly going to use it :)

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I totally agree that videogames represents an important resource in the school. The lession in this module confirms that using a virtual contexts of the videogame to explore, reflect make, produce, share and collaborate improve the signifacative learning and the proposal of realistic activities in which children are more involved in what they do.

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When I was children, the "games school" was classic game: "hide and seek", "witch commands color", "one, two, three... star" (probably, the last two are only italian games). This game was wonderful and exciting but, nowadays, are games obsolete. The "digital natives" want to play with games for PC, X-Box, Play Station, Wii.

I think that for students of elementary school, is better to use games that develop cognitive, spatial and motor skills. In this age, infact, the children needed to develop these abilities.

In this website, there are many games for the elementary school:  http://pbskids.org/games/science/

For the students of High School, instead, can be use the games for learning fun. There are many game that the teachers can use to facilitate the learning; in this website, there are several:

http://www.sciencegamecenter.org/

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For me it is a new idea to integrate digital games in the classroom. I am not either for nor against it. I try to get to know to the idea of how I could use them in learning and above all how digital games could have a positive impact in learning.

- As for benefits, according to the handbook "Digital games in schools":

Digital games include several implicit educational benefits. They can develop cognitive, spatial and motor skills and help improve ICT skills. They can be used to teach facts (e.g. knowledge, recall, rote learning or memorization), principles (e.g. cause and effect relationship) and complex problem solving, to increase creativity or to provide practical examples of concepts and rules that would be difficult to illustrate in the real world. They can be particularly useful to perform experiments that could be dangerous in real life such as the use of hazardous chemicals. Despite their instructive features, not all digital games are built with learning objectives in mind; however, they all possess intrinsic learning qualities that challenge and foster learners’ cognitive abilities. Digital games are based on the premise that players need to learn, to memorize, to collaborate, to explore or to obtain additional information to progress further in the game. Playing is learning and one of the main advantages of digital games is their ability to let players learn in a challenging environment, where they can make mistakes and learn by doing.

- A game I found in http://www.engagelearning.eu/ for primary school students and I like it because it can be useful in learning is Farmerama.

This game is an online game, that you could play within your browser and with no violence possible. In the game the player is a farmer manager and you should build your farm. Once you are a high level farmer you could interact with other players, by commercing, designing a garden with them or grade the beauty of their farms.

The game is used as example of behaviour between the environment and us and the responsibility to manage correctly with the farm to obtain the results we need, and finally extrapolate this ideas to their relations with their environment (parents, teachers, friends and society in general).

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Farmerama Trailer November 2012 The new generation of cultivation is here in Farmerama! Till the land, grow a bunch of brand new plants and harvest all new crops. Check out the revitalized graphics, while trying your hand at all new crafting professions.

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I find very interesting the links because we can try to find some games appropriate for our needs or, at least, to recommend our students as a basis to begin something.

I found it interesting the use of Guitar Hero for Geography, for instance. I think I need to think about games in a different way even when I always see the matter of time.

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It's not easy job to find convenient and useful games for vocational school and beside that to convince the headmaster in the valdity of playing games in the classroom.

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I have resources about “game and education relationship”. I have articles about things that different from the video.

Video Games in Education: Why They Should Be Used and How They Are Being Used

Digital Games in Education: The Design of Games-Based Learning Environments

Game-Based Learning: How to Delight and Instruct in The 21st Century (Foreman, Joel)

Exploringthe potential of computer and video games for health and physical education: A literature review (Marina Papastergiou)

The educational benefits of videogames (Mark Griffiths)

Games, Motivation, and Learning: A Research and Practice Model (Rosemary Garris, Robert Ahlers)

Educational game design for online education (Pablo Moreno-Gera, Daniel Burgos b, Iván Martínez-Ortiz a, José Luis Sierra a, Baltasar Fernández-Manjón a)

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Games are an important source for teaching and offers a great variety of activities. They can be used in any stage of the lesson and represents an important learning motivator, for nowadays children. But in order to be able to use these games the school needs to have the right technological equipment. I will try to take advantage of the information I found here, about games and to adapt it to my school and classes.

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I had to search and make sure it exists, but thinking of a film and a later game, 'The Lion King' could be a great example of a game I could use with my younger students to introduce animals: mammals, birds, reptiles, what they eat, what their physical characteristics are... I have the music for the film (Karaoke version) and I have used it in my English Lessons before. Children like it and it could be well justified in front of parents.

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Laila/Finland Games for Vocational education?

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Laila/Finland Games for Vocational education?

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It seems to be difficult to find suitable games for vocational secondary education although these students (boys anyway) are usually very interested in playing all kinds of games.

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I am not familiar with any video games.

I have recently came across an article bout the use of video games in schools. The article suggests that games might be the future of education Also, it suggests that it is the low-performing students who generally benefit from the use of games. I hope you find it useful too.

"Fact or Fiction?: Video Games Are the Future of Education"

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As kids all across the U.S. head back to school, they're being forced to spend less time in front of their favorite digital distractions. Or are they?

Video games are playing an increasing role in school curricula as teachers seek to deliver core lessons such as math and reading-not to mention new skills such as computer programming-in a format that holds their students' interests. Some herald this gamification of education as the way of the future and a tool that allows students to take a more active role in learning as they develop the technology skills they need to succeed throughout their academic and professional careers.

Few would argue that video games can do it all in terms of education, says Scot Osterweil, a research director in Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Comparative Media Studies program and creative director of the school's Education Arcade initiative to explore how games can be used to promote learning. But games are a powerful learning tool when combined with other exploratory, hands-on activities and ongoing instruction from a teacher acting more as a coach than a lecturer, he adds.

Others, however, question whether a greater reliance on video games is in students' best interests, indicating there is little proof that skillful game play translates into better test scores or broader cognitive development.

In the past decade schools have become preoccupied with meeting national Common Core standards, which dictate what students should be able to accomplish in English and mathematics at the end of each grade and use standardized testing as a way of tracking a student's progress. Such demands are not conducive to creative teaching methods that incorporate video games, Osterweil acknowledges. He adds, however, that a growing backlash against the perceived overuse of standardized tests is starting to encourage creativity once again.

Gamestars
Testing fatigue, combined with more pervasive computer use in and out of the classroom and continued experimentation with games as learning tools, suggests that such video games will play a significant role in the future of education. The Quest to Learn public school in New York City offers a glimpse of how gaming is already transforming not just how students learn, but also what they learn. The teachers there have been using the principles of video game design to write their curriculum since the school opened its doors in 2009. This curriculum-organized into missions and quests-focuses on multifaceted challenges that may have more than one correct answer, letting students explore different solutions by making choices along the way, says Ross Flatt, assistant principal at the school.

More than simply playing video games, Quest to Learn students also study game design using Gamestar Mechanic and other computer programs. After students successfully complete Gamestar missions, they are awarded avatars and other tools they can use to build their own games.

If educational video games are well executed, they can provide a strong framework for inquiry and project-based learning, says Alan Gershenfeld, co-founder and president of E-Line Media, a publisher of computer and video games and a Founding Industry Fellow at Arizona State University's Center for Games and Impact. "Games are also uniquely suited to fostering the skills necessary for navigating a complex, interconnected, rapidly changing 21st century," he adds.

Digital literacy and understanding how systems (computer and otherwise) work will become increasingly important in a world where many of today's students will pursue jobs that do not currently exist, says Gershenfeld, who wrote about video games' potential to transform education in the February Scientific American. Tomorrow's workers will also likely change jobs many times throughout their careers and "will almost certainly have jobs that require some level of mastery of digital media and technology," he adds.

Gaming the system
Parents of school-age children are likely familiar with Minecraft, a digital game that promotes imagination as players build various structures out of cubes. MinecraftEdu, a version of the game that teachers created for educational purposes, teaches students mathematical concepts including perimeter, area and probabilities as well as foreign languages. SimCityEDU, a version of the popular city-building game, is likewise a learning and assessment tool for middle school students that covers the English, math and other lessons they need to master to meet Common Core State and Next Generation Science standards.

Beyond teaching, video games can also offer useful information about how well a child is learning and can even provide helpful visual displays of that information, says Brian Waniewski, social entrepreneur and former managing director of the Institute of Play, a nonprofit that promotes the problem-solving nature of game play and game design as a model for learning in secondary schools. Video games can also provide instantaneous feedback-typically via scores-that teachers and students can use to determine how well students understand what the games are trying to teach them.

Limitations
For all of the enthusiasm around games and learning, very few studies have examined whether video games improve classroom performance and academic achievement, says Emma Blakey, PhD researcher in developmental psychology at the University of Sheffield in England. "Because we know memory is a crucial cognitive skill for school learning, practice at playing games that challenge memory should, in theory, lead to improvements in classroom behavior and academic skills," she says. But only additional research can say if that notion is correct.

A 2013 University of Cambridge study joined by Darren Dunning of the University of York, found that the improvements in game scores for children with low levels of working memory did not extend to broader skills. Working memory is the cognitive system responsible for the temporary storage of information we need to support ongoing everyday activities, such as a locker combination or a friend's Twitter handle. The study gave seven- to nine-year-olds up to 25 sessions of either video games set to challenge their working memory-the so-called " CogMed" approach-or the same video games set at an easy level. The researchers then examined whether playing the more difficult games improved performance on additional measures of working memory as well as enhanced other skills, including math, reading, writing and following instructions in a classroom. The study concluded that brain-training video games improve children's performance only on very similar games, an effect that likely results from practice.

Digital games cannot be treated like the latest quick fix to the education system, Waniewski says. "They can seem like a godsend, a next-generation digital textbook that further reduces the need for human resources," he notes. Yet games alone will not make schools more efficient, replace teachers or serve as an educational resource that can reach an infinite number of students, he adds.

Video games are not necessarily the most cost-effective option for schools with tight budgets and crowded classrooms, either. They require computers, tablets or other specialized technology as well as dedicated Internet servers and other communications systems. There may also be a need for additional infrastructure, personnel and teacher training. A full, game-infused curriculum could cost millions of dollars and require ongoing support, Gershenfeld says.

The extent to which video games are the future of education remains to be seen. But if the present is any indication, teachers are embracing the medium and are likely to continue to do so. In fact, of those teachers who use video games in the classroom, more than half have kids play them as part of the curriculum at least once a week, according to a national survey released by education researchers at Joan Ganz Cooney Center in June.

Perhaps the biggest impact of video games will be on students who have not responded as well to traditional teaching methods. Nearly half of the teachers surveyed say it is the low-performing students who generally benefit from the use of games, and more than half believe games have the ability to motivate struggling and special education students.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S)

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Fact or Fiction?: Video Games Are the Future of Education

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As kids all across the U.S. head back to school, they're being forced to spend less time in front of their favorite digital distractions. Or are they? Video games are playing an increasing role in school curricula as teachers seek to deliver core lessons such as math and reading-not to mention new skills such as computer programming-in a format that holds their students' interests.

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i don't see any business games for secondary school

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I am not so familiar with these games

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I have read the comments and there are some aspects that I think the same as them, for example the economy of the school. If we want to have a console, I don't know if the school wanted to pay for it. For the games, doesn't matter because children and friends can have it. I know in BCN that there are a school called "SPLAI" that it has a very good teacher who has a blog only for games and activities for learning English. There are a lots of resources and from different ages.

This is the link:

http://blocs.xtec.cat/anglesceipsplai/category/6th-grade/

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Games can be nice to use to start a project, but it has, as mentioned before, a price. You allready have ot invest a lot of money in it and that isn't always possible. Our school needs to invest in decent computers. Even for that there is not enough money!

So, maybe in the future???

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8th Task: Any thoughts to share on the games and resources presented in the video?

I tried to see some resources online but there is crazy! Most of the games are fee required, and would not be fair to propose them to the guys. I must say it was very interesting site "http://www.engagelearning.eu".

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I like Ollie`s idea to recollect what it is like to be a child and what it is like to play games again! Unfortunately, we`ve almost forgotten this state with age and it`s difficult to understand modern children. The way out maybe games!

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There are so many great reasons to include digital games among classroom activities. But the landscape of learning games is very confusing and many teachers understandably have no idea how or where to begin.

On the other hand not all teachers work in such supportive environments. In those cases, or when an educator is more hesitant, teachers can check out game-rating sites like Graphite, run by the nonprofit Common Sense Media, to choose games that clearly align with the grade and standards they teach

(cf. How Digital Games Help Teachers Make Connections to Lessons and Students).

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Common Sense Education empowers students and educators with digital citizenship tools and teaching strategies to advance learning in the digital age.

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I like the concept of learning through playing this video advances. There is a huge variety of commercial titles available in the market for any taste and appropriate for every age. The resources presented in the video are not just another "stupid" game but a "smart" one for the children to have fun while learning and develop skills and emotions.

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Our games are sprinkled with a whirlwind of smile-inducing awesomeness and polished to a shiny sheen that keeps the world coming back again and again. And best of all, you'll find our games on mobile, console, PC, and many other devices - you may even be able to play them on the moon!

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I am interested in games that can be played with tablets. But I have a big step to take as I have never played computer games myself or been interested in them. I do, however, know that students are and am willing to include them in my lessons, at least some games every now and then.

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What has been said makes sense. I believe that it's quite time consuming to find the right game and then to plan the lessons around it. I do believe in thematic approach, project based learning and game based learning but teachers need to be self-motivated and creative. They need to be given more time to prepare and teachers need to share their work with other teachers as collaboration will help for more ideas and better lessons. Imagine I spend so many hours to plan a group of lessons around a game. If I share these lessons with another teacher who then shares his/her lessons with me, we would double time efficiency and get better products for more engaging learning.

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It's interesting to learn about using console games for education. I have never heard of anyone doing that before, so I've learnt something new!

As I've said earlier I have used computer games in education, Minecraft and Myst. Especially Myst and MystURUOnline are great for thematic projects, and fits the concept of a contextual hub.

MystURUOnline

www.mystonline.com

is a free multiplayer online game, with a lot of math for example.

My feeling is that console games are somewhat 'out' these days. Serious gamers tend to use computers, and not so avid gamers use smartphones and/or tablets, being a kid, teenager or adult. In my school all students have their own iPAD and we have some older computers to use.

I don't think consoles are something my school wants to invest in, but an idea is I could test if I find a student that wants to let us use his/hers for testing.

The resources given in this module can be of good use when engaging other teachers and parents into the concept of games in education.

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I need to learn more too. How I find the perfect game for my students? I ´m teacher of german language and have any idea.

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It opened up a world! But I can not understand how I can use games to teach algebra to high school students. I should invent a game that simulates the operations .. or ?!

Perhaps the idea is to teach mathematics, starting from reality. And use video games as simulators of reality?

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I think we were given a very creative input in this form. I never thought about the possibility of using a video game with this purpose. The imagination of the teacher is essential to teach, also involving less motivated by the game. Act on the motivation and the active participation of the student is very important to achieve the objectives. I have found some games online, like this http://www.dan-dare.org/freefun/Games/CartoonsMoviesTV/WALL-EPinball/WALL-EPinball.htm

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Tiziana  - English Language Teacher from Italy

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Tiziana  - English Language Teacher from Italy

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I need to learn more, maybe there are some games which can help me. My students are 24 hrs a day connected to a smartphone, I need to know more about what they like and they are using.

At school we have low quality devices and technology is a problem but this module has provided me with good ideas and I will try to get more ideas about games

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Sometimes ,when I ask my students if they like playing computer games, most male students' answer is Yes (mainly games about football) but most female students say No, becuase they have not found any suitable game for girls.

But actually in this module I've realized that games offer a lot of opportunities for the classroom.

I only need some time to get familiar with the games because I'm not used to playing computer games.And then think of which opportunities they offer to become contextualized hubs at school.

Finally use the selected game for project-based learning.

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There are some extraordinary ideias to use games in classroom. If I can´t use this games with X-Box or Nintendo, I suppose that I can use them with tablets, when I have them.

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i am not familiar with computer games or console games, neither have i any experience using them in classroom. i think that it could be very difficult to use such stuff in my classroom because we don't have consoles at my school and my headmaster wouldn't give permission for buying any because they cost several euros. for a start i could use the ict classroom and design activities for my students based on computer games.

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I have never use such games at school, neither play but Ollie is right first teachers must be engaged. Although it is a challenge for me to explore what is introduced and then bring them in class after the directors permission and the consent of parents.