68. 10 practical ways to bring
gamer superpowers to the
classroom
Jane McGonigal, PhD
@avantgame
GET THESE SLIDES: slides@avantgame.com
69. 1. Get inspired by gameful schools
• Quest to Learn: http://Q2l.org
• RIT student achievement system:
http://research.microsoft.com/apps/video/def
ault.aspx?id=145734
• Indiana University Gaming the Classroom
project:
http://gamingtheclassroom.wordpress.com/
70. 2. Tap into HASTAC competitions
• Mozilla’s Open Badges infrastructure
https://wiki.mozilla.org/Badges
• Learning Lab winners
http://www.dmlcompetition.net/Competitio
n/3/winners.php?comp=ll
• Winners Hubhttp://hastac.org/competitions
71. 3. Play worldchanging games
• FoldIthttp://fold.it
• Galaxy Zoo http://galaxyzoo.org
• Canaries in a Coalmine
http://www.inacoalmine.com/canaries/tryit.php
• EVOKE http://urgentevoke.com
• Find the Future http://game.nypl.org
• World Without Oil http://worldwithoutoil.org
72. 4. Teach digital game design
• Gamestar Mechanic
http://gamestarmechanic.com/
• Game Maker
http://www.yoyogames.com/make
• Game creation resources
http://www.ambrosine.com/resource.html
73. 5. Make a school or town ARG!
• Alternate Reality Game design for kids
http://www.slideshare.net/avantgame/make-
an-alternate-reality-game
74. 6. Join Gameful get help
• Gameful: a secret HQ for anyone who wants
to change the world with games
http://gameful.org
75. 7. Celebrate superpower
development
• 3D spatial
• hand-eye coordination (surgeons!)
• history
• reading
• teamwork
• problem-solving (trial and error)
• knowledge sharing (wikis, forums, youtube demos and
walkthroughs)
76. 8. Play world-building games
• Minecrafthttp://minecraft.net
• Minecraft in the classroom http://minecraftteacher.net/
• Little Big Planet http://littlebigplanet.com
• Little Big Classroom
http://www.brainygamer.com/the_brainy_gamer/2011/03/
lbp-classroom.html
• LBP Teacher packs
http://www.1up.com/news/littlebigplanet-teach-math-
science
77. 9. Accommodate diverse player styles
• Girls are more motivated by cooperative gaming,
boys typically gravitate to competitive gaming
• Everyone responds well to “personal bests”
competition
• Multiplayer co-op and social gaming has the
broadest appeal
• Girls may initially face higher cognitive load with
3D gaming and interfaces
• Some players prefer exploring vs. creating
78. 10. Tap into theparticipatory teaching
culture
• Games & Learning Society
http://gameslearningsociety.org
• Videogames and Learning: Teaching and
Participatory Culture in the Digital Age
http://amzn.to/tIYE4f
Intro + positive emotions = 10Quest to Learn + Fold it = 5Evoke + Find the Future = 15The power of games to create whole-hearted engagement with difficult challenges, and the ability of online, collaborative games in particular to teach 21st century skills
21st century skills of extreme scale collaboration and resilience in the face of epic challenges
When we’re depressed, according to the clinical definition, we suffer from two things: a pessimistic sense of inadequacy and a despondent lack of activity. If we were to reverse these two traits, we’d get something like this: an optimistic sense of our own capabilities and an invigorating rush of activity. There’s no clinical psychological term that describes this positive condition. But it’s an absolutely perfect description of the emotional state of gameplay. A game is the opportunity to focus our energy, with relentless optimism, at something we’re good at and enjoy. This is a crucial point, so I’ll repeat it: Gameplay is the direct emotional opposite of depression.
Curiosity – what the hell is MMTW? Creativity – how do we get all the thumbs connected? Surprise – what happens when you actually try to wrestle two thumbs at once? Excitement – as people start to really try hard, or win Pride – we all mastered a new skill! Contentment – happy to be spending our time that way Awe & Wonder – MMTW is more epic than plain old TW
Curiosity – what the hell is MMTW? Creativity – how do we get all the thumbs connected? Surprise – what happens when you actually try to wrestle two thumbs at once? Excitement – as people start to really try hard, or win Pride – we all mastered a new skill! Contentment – happy to be spending our time that way Awe & Wonder – MMTW is more epic than plain old TW
Public release date: 2-Nov-2011[ Print | E-mail | Share ] [ Close Window ] Contact: Linda Jacksonjackso67@msu.edu517-353-7207Michigan State University Video game playing tied to creativityEAST LANSING, Mich. — Both boys and girls who play video games tend to be more creative, regardless of whether the games are violent or nonviolent, according to new research by Michigan State University scholars.A study of nearly 500 12-year-olds found that the more kids played video games, the more creative they were in tasks such as drawing pictures and writing stories. In contrast, use of cell phones, the Internet and computers (other than for video games) was unrelated to creativity, the study found.Linda Jackson, professor of psychology and lead researcher on the project, said the study appears to be the first evidence-based demonstration of a relationship between technology use and creativity. About 72 percent of U.S. households play video or computer games, according to the Entertainment Software Association.The MSU findings should motivate game designers to identify the aspects of video game activity that are responsible for the creative effects, Jackson said."Once they do that, video games can be designed to optimize the development of creativity while retaining their entertainment values such that a new generation of video games will blur the distinction between education and entertainment," Jackson said.The researchers surveyed 491 middle-school students as part of MSU's Children and Technology Project, which is funded by the National Science Foundation. The survey assessed how often the students used different forms of technology and gauged their creativity with the widely used Torrance Test of Creativity-Figural.The Torrance test involved tasks such as drawing an "interesting and exciting" picture from a curved shape, giving the picture a title and then writing a story about it.Overall, the study found that boys played video games more than girls, and that boys favored games of violence and sports while girls favored games involving interaction with others (human or nonhuman).Yet, regardless of gender, race or type of game played, greater video game playing was the only technology to be associated with greater creativity.The study appears online in the research journal Computers in Human Behavior.
It’s because of how unnecessary obstacles make us feel.
(total here is 943)
Play EVOKE trailerhttp://vimeo.com/9094186
Urgentevoke.com
(trailer can be downloaded at http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10332846/Trailerv6FIXForReview.movOr viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HjjMv4LvbM
21st century skills of extreme scale collaboration and resilience in the face of epic challenges
