GAMING

1
GAMING NEW LITERACIES
2
Learning principles in games

• Risk tasking in a safe environment
• Rewarding of practice
• Use of affinity groups
• Probing cycles
• Situated meaning
• Self-knowledge
• Identity formation

Gee, James Paul. What Video Games Have to
Teach Us About Learning and Literacy.
Palgrave McMillan, 2003
3
Side Effects of Video Games

• Hand-eye coordination
• Pattern Recognition
• Reading Writing
• Physics
• Math
• History
• Geography/Map Reading
• Social Skills

• Mentoring Leadership
• Critical Thinking
• Problem Solving
• Creativity
• High self-esteem
• Loyalty
• Teamwork
• Calculated, Strategic Risk-taking
• Fun

4
Gaming Reinforces New Literacies

• Exposing Knowledge
• Employing Information
• Expressing Ideas Compellingly
• Ethics on the Internet

Warlick, David. The New Literacies. Scholastic
Administrator. Mar-Apr2005 http//www.scholastic.c
om/administrator/marapr05/articles.asp?articlenew
lit
5
Exposing Knowledge

• Find information
• Understand and explain found information
  regardless of its format
• Evaluate information
• Organize information

6
DDR screenshot
7
World of Warcraft
Example of information gathering in game
8
Employing Information

• Computation
• Measurement
• Analysis
• Application

9
Set Game
http//www.setgame.com
10
Expressing Ideas Compellingly

• Mechanics matter
• Creativity efficiency highly rated
• Text, images, audio, and video are used to
  express ideas in many digital formats

11
Fan Fiction
http//www.fanfiction.net/cat/209/
12
Machinima / Podcasting
Warcraft TutorialWarcraft MoviesRed Vs.
BlueMugglecast
13
Connecting Games and Books
14
Ethics on the Internet

• Modding recreating game content
• FanFic writing stories about characters
  created/owner by someone else
• Machinima films/videos created through
  recording video game play

15
READERS ADVISORY

• INSTEAD OF
• What authors do you like to read?
• What are the last 3 books you read and enjoyed?
• What did you like about them?
• ASK
• What movies do you like?
• What TV shows do you watch?
• What games do you play?

16
Roleplaying/MMORPG Games

• GAMES
• Everquest
• Runescape
• World of Warcraft
• Dark Age of Camelot
• Ultima
• SUGGEST
• epic fantasy
• historical
• war
• Authurian legend
• fractured fairy tales

17
Historical Simulation Games

• GAMES
• Civilization
• Caesar
• Age of Empires
• Oregon Trail
• Americas Army?
• SUGGEST
• biographies
• historical fiction
• mythology

18
Sports Games

• GAMES
• Madden Football
• NBA Street
• Need for Speed
• Tiger Woods
• Golf
• WWF
• SUGGEST
• sports
• adventure
• biographies

19
Strategy Puzzle Games

• GAMES
• Myst
• Tetris
• Bejeweled
• Where in the World is Carmen San Diego?
• SUGGEST
• mystery
• thrillers
• travel
• puzzle books

20
First Person Shooters (FPS)

• GAMES
• Doom
• Quake
• Halo
• SUGGEST
• military fiction
• horror
• apocalyptic fiction
• science fiction

21
Simulations

• GAMES
• The Sims
• The Urbz
• SUGGEST
• sociology
• dysfunction
• relationships
• romance
• architecture

22
Japanese/Manga tie-in

• GAMES
• Katamari Damacy
• Final Fantasy
• Dragonball Z
• Pokemon
• SUGGEST
• manga
• Japanese culture
• graphic novels
• drawing books
• anime films

23
Superhero Games

• GAMES
• Spider-Man
• Fantastic Four
• City of Heros
• SUGGEST
• comic books
• graphic novels
• biographies
• mythology

24
10 YOUNG ADULT NOVELS WITH GAMING PLOTS

• Bloor, Edward. Crusader.
• Card, Orson Scott. Enders Game.
• Horowitz, Anthony. Eagle Strike.
• Lubar, David. Wizards of the Game.
• Skurzynski, Gloria. The Virtual War.
• Tangherlini, Arne. Leo_at_fergusrules.com.
• Vande Velde, Vivian. Heir Apparent.
• Vande Velde, Vivian. User Unfriendly.
• Werlin, Nancy. Locked Inside.
• Wieler, Diana. Ran Van series.

25
Incorporating Games into the Curriculum
26
Civilization III

• History
• Biography
• Geography
• Military tactics
• Mythology
• Culture
• http//www.civ3.com

27
Dance Dance Revolution

• Pattern Recognition
• Aerobics
• Music
• Math
• http//www.ddrfreak.com

28
Fantastic Food Challenge

• Health
• Nutrition
• Food Safety
• Meal Planning
• Math
• http//commtechlab.msu.edu/products/foodchallenge.
  html

29
Lemonade Stand

• Math
• Probability
• Economics
• http//www.lemonadegame.com

30
Oregon Trail

• History
• Statistics

31
Revolution

• History
• Culture
• Geography
• Biography
• Politics
• http//educationarcade.org/revolution

32
Roller Coaster Tycoon 3

• Physics
• Business
• http//www.atari.com/rollercoastertycoon/

33
Runescape

• History
• Geography
• Economics
• Culture
• http//www.runescape.com

34
Spore

• Biology
• Genetics
• Evolution
• http//www.spore.com

35
Games for Training
36
Americas Army

• Military Strategy
• http//www.americasarmy.com/

37
Cold Stone Creamery

• Portion control
• Economics
• Customer Service
• http//www.persuasivegames.com/games/game.aspx?gam
  ecoldstone

38
Diner Dash

• Waiter/waitress sim
• http//www.shockwave.com/gamelanding/dinerdash.jsp
  

39
Sim School

• Classroom simulation
• http//simschool.org/

40
Success Stories

• Gaming in School

41
Success Stories

• North Hunterdon High School (NJ) hosts a
  student-run game night in the cafeteria
• University of Waterloo Library uses a video game
  to train library staff in GovInfo Reference
  questions
• Carencro High School (LA) hosts a Game Academy
  for future game designers

42
Resources

• Education Arcade
• Games for Health
• Serious Games