SIAA Paper

From Tim Holt on the listserv today ...

The SIIA (Software & Information Industry Association) has a paper out titled "Best Practices For Using Games & Simulations In The Classroom: Guides for K-12 Educators" which you can access on their website.

Here's a bit from the executive summary...

"We start from an assumption that games have positive impacts and our objective is to support the growth of this promising and emerging market. We have distilled the hard–won lessons from the schools and companies that have pioneered this space in order to provide guidelines to new users.

This paper is intended for teachers, administrators, policy makers and developer companies. They will get practical hands–on tips and insights on successfully integrating games into classroom practice."

AbleGamers Survey

AbleGamers has an important survey that is designed to learn more about folks with disabilities and their use of video games - with questions about their opinion of the use of video games for rehabilitation purposes. They are asking for your help in getting the word out about the survey. Please share the survey with anyone you know with a disability and ask them to pass the word along as well. They are going to analyze and publish the results. We are interested to see how the results impact the gaming industry.

Please find the survey at Survey Monkey.

WOW for Math

Lucas Gillespie believes that at-risk students do poorly in school because they’re not motivated by traditional teaching topics. Enter WoWinSchool, a wiki for educators to share World of Warcraft-themed lesson plans for after-school programs.

A sample writing and literacy lesson: “In fantasy literature, the bard plays a key role as a traveling musician and storyteller. What song or poem would the bards of Azeroth sing about your character’s adventures?”

The math lessons are the best part. “Healing Analysis: Which types of heals produce a greater number of recovered hit points during an encounter? quick burst heals, slower more powerful heals, or heal-over-time spells?” And then they send the kids to EJ.