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Behaviourism and Games

Recently I’ve been thinking about the relationship between Learning Theory and Game Design.  Clearly there are game mechanics that exploit particular learning traits and I thought it would be interesting to identify them. Researchers have long studied the way in which individuals learn.  Over the years, academics have proposed a number of theories to describe […]

What Games are Good For?

In spite of my criticisms of many educational games, I believe passionately in the potential of games to inspire learning. I don’t think that games are a panacea but they do have many characteristics that can make a profoundly positive impact on our lives.  The real educational value for gaming lies in four key areas: […]

Educational games

Yesterday I spoke at BAF Games.  This is a summary of my ‘Play with Learning’ talk.  I have embedded links to supporting information into the post .  Sadly, I couldn’t capture the lively Q&A session afterwards. I made my first game as a young teenager – a board game so incomprehensibly complex and tedious, it only […]

Play & Games articles

There’s a lot of really interesting work going on with play and games – here are some of the articles that have caught my eye in the last couple weeks. Play Bring Back Play and Disorganized Sports to Our Children. From The Innovative Educator. http://j.mp/n8tCG3 ChicagoQuest promotes game-playing at school – Chicago Sun-Times http://j.mp/qU8zEk Parents’ […]

What students want

After an eleven year break from formal regular lecturing, I have started a final year module at the University of Bradford. I’m really pleased to be working so closely with students again: I’ve always found it tremendously exciting to be surrounded by people with so much talent and potential. My years out of academia have […]

Why technology is failing in schools

Edudemic posted this collection of presentations recently describing not only why technology is failing to deliver real benefits in schools but more importantly, some ideas about how to fix it. Why it’s failing   The Future of Technology and Education   Changing Education with Web 2.0 tools   What are your experiences of using technology […]

Childhood & Family articles

Special needs students and their teachers are the victims of a “muddled” approach to schooling, says Leicester Uni http://j.mp/qB5qcd Socioeconomic status as child dictates response to stress as adult according to University of Minnesota http://j.mp/qDZRZ8 Parents are forgetting how to play with their children, study shows – article from The Guardian last year http://j.mp/jdoiSR Teenage […]