One of the key outputs of the two-year project, funded by the European Commission under the Lifelong Learning Programme, is a report and a set of recommendations to increase mainstreaming of games for learning in schools, vocational and adult education. The report outlines conclusions related to the use of digital games for learning, as they affect education policy-makers and decision-makers in school, vocational and adult education, presents the underlying evidence behind them and makes a series of recommendations arising from the conclusions and evidence.

There was a strong consensus that games have considerable potential for improving teaching and learning in Europe but there are some specific inhibitors. If games are to play a more central role 15 actions are needed:
1. Define the terms used in games for learning.
2. Develop a central repository of quality resources.
3. Vocational games should focus on outcomes and involve end users.
4. Include digital games in textbooks, the curriculum and assessment.
5. Make games eligible for funding in education system modernisation programmes.
6. Evaluate game-based learning practices and research the underlying cognitive processes.
7. Support the development of localised digital games.
8. Increase opportunities to bring together researchers, game developers, industry, education experts and learners.
9. Ensure that games are available for further development.
10. Provide professional support for practitioners using games.
11. Use the experience of the teachers working in this area.
12. Establish accredited courses for teachers.
13. Maintain funding streams for digital competence programmes and resources.
14. Link home and school learning through games.
15. Games developed for educational use should have PEGI ratings

You can react to the recommendations by completing the online survey.
For further information about the project and the recommendations, visit the IMAGINE site.

This is the conclusion of an important paper on games for learning from the Education Arcade at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The paper starts by making a case for learning games grounded in principles of good fun and good learning. From there the paper explores the commercial games market, gleaning lessons from this rapidly growing and diversifying place. In order to address the concerns of those who see “edutainment” as a dead market, the paper analyzes the downfall of edutainment in the 1990s and establishes how the current movement differs. As
there are many applications of games related (more or less) to learning games, the paper lays out the ecology
of games with a purpose beyond play. Much of the rest of the paper establishes principles and best practices
for moving the field forward in a positive direction. The paper should provide a good grounding in the field
and both motivate and inform those wanting to participate in this rapidly growing domain.

In Learning by Playing: Video Games in the Classroom, Corbett describes the Quest To Learn project running in New York schools. A carefully watched educational experiment funded by the MacArthur Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, among others, Quest To Learn provides equipment to schools and enables children to learn through collaborative and individual play and to design games themselves.

Scientists are studying the effect of game-playing on cognitive processes, looking at the science behind focused engagement — a psychological phenomenon known as flow. "Neuroscientists have connected game play to the production of dopamine, a powerful neuro­transmitter central to the brain’s reward-seeking system and thought to drive motivation and memory processing (and more negatively, addictive behaviors)." But there are no simple answers. "Games appear to trigger greater dopamine releases in men than women, which could mean that game-based learning is more effective with boys than girls. Or, it could be a matter of design: ideally, games can be built in such a way that they adapt to the individual learning styles of their players."

Long-term many take the view that game-based learning is a literally a 'game-changer' thanks to its motivating effect: "We will never get to the holy land in terms of educational performance unless we do something about the engagement factor," notes Michael H. Levine, who directs the Joan Ganz Cooney Center. According to Paul Howard-Jones, a neuroscientist at the school of education at the University of Bristol UK, as our understanding of both cognitive science and game design continues to advance, game play will find a central place inside schools. “I think in 30 years’ time,” he says, “we will marvel that we ever tried to deliver a curriculum without gaming.”

Coinciding with the World Cup is a new feature, enabling children to pool the reward points earned playing games and a class can then run their own Footee team and take on other teams in the same or different countries. Users only see their own language which means, for example, that an English school class can take on a Spanish one and each sees it in their own language. This motivates the children to try harder so the whole class / team can benefit.

Every time children use Footee, they complete wide-ranging curriculum-based activities, thereby acquiring and consolidating curriculum-related skills and knowledge in a playful way, and earn reward points. They can design their own avatars, explore the Footee Town – with its café, stadium, gym and marketplace – or ‘buy’ players for their teams with their points.

Parents have the option to become a monthly paying subscriber, and receive regular reports on their child’s activities and performance, with suggestions for more challenging games.

In football, just as in life in general, teamwork can often be the key to success. The five lessons offer the basis for classroom discussion and creative thinking that is aimed to improve their approach to working together and teambuilding.

Even the best teams lose football matches so coaches, players and supporters must learn the best ways to deal with failure as well as success. The lessons provide the basis for healthy discussion with the aim of improving the approach and attitude of your classroom towards winning and losing. Learning the best ways to deal with failure as well as success is an important trait every player, coach and supporter should have. The first lesson provides the basis for healthy discussion and engaging activities with the aim of improving the approach and attitude of your classroom towards winning and losing, helping them to understand that defeat does not mean complete failure.

Find out more at Grassroots Day]]> tag:games.eun.org,2009://138.4708 2009-10-08T12:20:09Z 2009-10-08T13:38:03Z

To start learning with MovieStarPlanet click here: http://www.moviestarplanet.com/noflash.html

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To access the Games in Schools community of practice: http://gamesinschools.ning.com/

To download The Games in Schools Community of Practice report: Download file

- Austria
- Denmark
- England
- France
- Italy
- Spain

Watch this space for the imminent publication of the teachers' handbook aimed at concretely helping teachers to effectively use digital games in the classroom, as well as the report on the Games in Schools' Ning community of practice. In the meanwhile..... game on!