Yearly Archives: 2012

Computer game players are better at reasoning and short-term memory

“After conducting the largest online intelligence study on record, a Western University-led research team has concluded that the notion of measuring one’s intelligence quotient or IQ by a singular, standardized test is highly misleading.

The findings from the landmark study, which included more than 100,000 participants, were published today in the journal Neuron. The article, “Fractionating human intelligence,” was written by Adrian M. Owen and Adam Hampshire from Western’s Brain and Mind Institute (London, Canada) and Roger Highfield, Director of External Affairs, Science Museum Group (London, U.K)….

With so many respondents, the results also provided a wealth of new information about how factors such as age, gender and the tendency to play computer games influence our brain function…

Intriguingly, people who regularly played computer games did perform significantly better in terms of both reasoning and short-term memory.”

To read more on this research click here

http://www.uwo.ca/its/brain/iqmyth/

Teacher Turned Game Designer Shares about Math Game-Based Learning

Reblogged from Classroom Aid:

by Sarah Cargill, first published on GettingSmart.com : Q&A: Teacher Turned Game Designer Shares Lessons From The Biggest Story Problem

The Biggest Story Problem Trailer from Imagine Education on Vimeo.

The Biggest Story Problem, a independent documentary film aimed at examining the decline in math proficiency in the U.S. with global solutions, was produced this year. The team at

Read more… 1,247 more words

Yes, learning through a good story is better than learning with a worksheet. Games can place learning in a story context that is more engaging than a list of problems to be solved. Thanks for the great post!

Not only a day for mourning - Today is a day for action


On this site, I have never posted on a topic other than gaming and education, but today I need to make an exception to my rule. Today at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Connecticut, 27 people were massacred. As a parent and former teacher in the United States, I mourn with the people of Newtown Connecticut and the rest of my fellow Americans. But today is not just a day of mourning, today must be a day of action. Today, I called my congressman to demand that he support legislation for gun control in the U.S. House of Representatives. I encourage you to do the same. It is time that we stand up to the National Rifle Association (NRA) and also encourage our representatives to stand up to the NRA and pass gun control before the next massacre.
The full title of this site is Gaming and education: engagement in learning. How engaged in learning can students and teachers be while they live under the threat of another school massacre in the United States? How many more massacres can parents endure before we pull our children from schools? 3, 2, 1, or is this the last U.S. massacre before mass action?
I encourage you to call and let your voice be heard, (it takes less than a minute). Now is the appropriate time!
(202) 224-3121.
The United States Capitol switchboard

Crowdsourcing Science Research by Gaming

Reblogged from Classroom Aid:

Click to visit the original post
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EyeWire is a “citizen science” community to test the hypothesis that the uniqueness of a person, from memories to mental disorders, lies in his or her connectome. Created by the team at MIT’s Seung Lab, EyeWire will enlist “citizen scientists” to analyze nanoscale brain images using web browsers and mobile devices. They will trace the “wires” of the brain as if absorbed in play with a 3D jigsaw puzzle consisting of image pieces computed by artificial intelligence.

Read more… 466 more words

Made by Mom Gift Guide: Fairlady Media offers educational apps for young children

“In the last four years, Bossert and husband James have created more than 30 games for the iPhone and iPad with millions of downloads. Their latest focus: Educational games for young children. Bossert, who holds a doctorate in educational psychology, but has stayed at home for the past six years with their young daughters, does the graphics and illustrations. Her husband works on the programming.”

To read the full article by click here

BrainPOP’s Allisyn Levy on video games in education, BrainPop’s goals with animation, and top quality educational games through GameUp

In a world filled with boring educational games that are only purchased by grandparents, Allisyn Levy is part of a company that is creating games that are not only educational, but are also entertaining. Levy received her Bachelors of Elementary Education, Art, and Art History from Skidmore College, and earned a Masters of Education in School Administration and Technology from Western Washington University. This published scholar has coached a Lego Robotics team, developed documentaries with students, was an elementary educator for 11 years, and has received grants from Donors Choose and Nike. Now as BrainPOP’s Senior Director of Educator Experience, Levy is using her extensive background in education to help teachers better integrate technology into the classroom. We recently had the opportunity to talk with Levy about her thoughts on using video games in education, BrainPOP’s background and goals, and its latest feature, click GameUp.”

To read the full article by Clelia Rivera click here.

learn more and relieve stress through video games

Matt Johnston wrote about a Professor who affirms the power of video games.

“Johnny Nhan, an assistant professor of criminal justice and a part-time gamer, said that depending on the game being played, playing video games could be good. “

To read the whole article click here.

Coding and Gaming

Rebecca Grant wrote this article under the title “Why play when you can code? MakeGamesWithUs breeds next generation of gaming prodigies.

“A startup called MakeGamesWithUs is . . . teaching high school and college kids how to build iPhone games.

MakeGamesWithUs graduated from the YCombinator Winter 2012 and just launched its first social game in the AppStore. On the website, students take project-based tutorials that focus on hands-on, practical experience, rather than theory. Once they feel confident in their iPhone game development skills, they can begin building original games.

Students can engage with the MakesGamesWithUs community during the development process to get help, give/receive feedback, nurture ideas, and troubleshoot problems. As it nears completion, the MakeGamesWithUs team will incorporate professional art and music, help with debugging, and assist in adding trickier features. When the game is ready, MakeGamesWithUs will publish and promote the games for a share of the revenue.

To date, the startup has published seven games on the App Store. It just launched its first social game, Name That Jam!, where groups of friends challenge each other to name songs, earning more points the faster they guess. The game was built by a brother and sister team, still in high school, using MakeGamesWithUs’ Turn Based Multiplayer software development kit (SDK). This new tool makes it easy for aspiring developers to build social games, even without back-end knowledge.”

I believe that some of these kids will soon write better educational games than we have now. They know what they need to learn and they know how to make games that are more fun for their own generation!

Gamers out-perform surgeons in robotic surgery simulation

Does your surgeon play Halo? Perhaps she should!

“Researchers have found that high school and college-age gamers are better virtual surgeons than medical residents. Scientists from University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston had a hunch that students with a regular video game diet (high school sophomores who played two hours of games a day and college students who played four) would be primed for virtual surgery tools. They were right. When performance with those tools was measured, the game-playing students did better than a group of residents at UTMB.”

To read the full article by Colin Lecher click here.

6 Scholarships for Gamers

2012 Winner - David Doyle

2012 Winner of the The Penny Arcade Scholarship

David Doyle, University of Tennessee - School of Journalism

High school and College students really can earn real money for their College education through games! Here is the list.

The Penny Arcade Scholarship $10,000

The Evo College Scholarship, - two $10,000 scholarship awards as well as a $500 creative grant.

The Twitch & Alienware Scholarship Program five $10,000 scholarship

The Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) G.I.R.L. Scholarship Program -$10,000 award and an optional 10-week paid internship at one of SOE’s studios.

The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences awards four $2,500 scholarships each year.

To read more about the winners and details about these scholarships read the article by Matt Konrad by clicking here.

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