Spotlight on Digital Media And Learning

11.2.09 | “After years of watching technology transform the way children play, socialize and learn, a range of academics, foundations and now start-ups are working on games that will put the passion children have for the genre to good use,” writes the Times’ Stefanie Olsen.

“Gamestar Mechanic, for example, is part of the curriculum of Quest to Learn, a New York City public school focused on game-based learning that opened in New York City this fall. A nonprofit group called the Institute of Play set up the school, and its executive director, Katie Salen, helped design the game with financing from the MacArthur Foundation.”

“The difference in many of today’s educational games,” continues Olsen, “is that they are online and social, allowing children to interact and collaborate to achieve common goals. Unlike the stand-alone boxed games of the 1980s and 1990s, the newest educational games are set up like services where children can enter a virtual world, try on a character and solve problems that may relate to the real world.”

Gamestar Mechanic‘s designers previously have shared their ideas for the project with Spotlight. You can read their posts here.

The Times also mentions Quest Atlantis, a critical-thinking game with an environmental science component. Spotlight recently covered the learning gains attributed to Quest Atlantis and provided tips for teachers using the game. Here’s a short video of Quest Atlantis creator Sasha Barab discussing why he designs games.

Photo by: emjameson