Why we created Quests, our new tool for personalized learning
This school year, teachers and students will embark on a different kind of adventure in the classroom: Quests, a new tool for personalized learning that gamifies existing lesson plans.
Every learner has their own unique style of learning, but as a teacher, you only have so much time to spend on a lesson. This can make it difficult to meet the needs of every student in your classroom.
That’s why we ma
Why teachers should use games for PBIS success
PBIS can massively improve student behavior in a school, and using games for PBIS is a natural fit. Any new implementation takes effort, and by leveraging the social power of games, teachers and administrators can make that process easier.
Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) teaches students behavioral expectations by acknowledging and promoting prosocial behavior in order to prevent negative behavior from developing.
Naturally, we’re
What’s the difference between SEL & PBIS?
SEL and PBIS both foster prosocial behaviors, develop important 21st-century skills, and contribute to a positive school culture. But what’s the difference between SEL and PBIS, and how can you make sure you’re taking steps to integrate both into your classroom and school?
Aligning SEL and PBIS together will help you create positive, long-term change in students’ attitudes, behaviors, and academic performance. Below are easy ways to help you remember the difference between SEL and PBIS,
How to prevent bullying with PBIS
PBIS can be a game-changer for the classroom, and teachers and administrators can even prevent bullying with PBIS to improve culture at the school level, too.
Using PBIS helps you to promote prosocial behaviors and create an environment where it’s harder for bullying to thrive. Below are useful steps that you can follow to determine the severity of bullying among your students, implement PBIS strategies for assessment and impleme
5 educators try the best game-based learning tools of 2017
At Games for Change 2017 in New York, we asked five educators to pick out their favorites from the Marketplace, a show floor that features some of the best game-based learning tools of 2017.
Featured in the video are teachers Roy R. Rodriguez, Christian Patenaude, Louis Neglia, Steve Isaacs, and Matthew Farber, along with two students, Leila and Grace Cheo-Isaacs.
How one expert uses VR to encourage student collaboration
At Games for Change 2017, we spoke to Dave Culyba, an assistant teaching professor at Carnegie Mellon’s Entertainment Technology Center, about how educators can use VR to encourage student collaboration.
Dave primarily spends his time teaching students the ins and outs of working in creative industries like game development, theme parks, and virtual reality. He also
Why games in education are a positive force
At Games for Change 2017, we spoke to Kelli N. Dunlap, a psychologist and game designer, about why games in education are a positive force.
Dr. Dunlap uses games to reduce mental health stigma and increase awareness and empathy for psychiatric conditions. She has collaboratively developed games for organizations including the Natio
How 5 teachers are using games in the classroom
At the "How Teachers Use Games in the Classroom" panel at Games for Change 2017, a group of innovative educators and school administrators shared their experiences with games in their schools.
Education experts Randall Deich, Matthew Farber, Mike Farley, Heather Hibner, and Tammie Schrader led the talk. Here are their insights and creations using games in the classroom.
1
5 best practices for VR in the classroom
At the "VR in the Classroom" panel at Games for Change 2017, some of the best minds in education gathered together to share their best practices for using virtual reality in education.
Education gurus Steve Isaacs and Cathy Cheo-Isaacs and education game developers Dan White and Jesse Schell contributed to the talk. Here are their
Games can solve the ‘fake news’ problem by teaching critical thinking
Students need to learn to identify "fake news" in the media, and games could be the answer.
Oliver Lewis, the founder of charitable organization The Near Future Society, recently spoke about games as a solution for "fake news, bias, and extremism" at the Develop conference in Brighton, England, according to gamesindus
New Toca Lab game teaches students about the plants in their community
Toca Boca recently released a new entry in the Toca Lab science game series. Toca Lab: Plants teaches students all about botany and the everyday plants they can find all around them.
Available for iOS, Android, and
One teacher’s take on ISTE 2017 and its education trends
Editor's note: Reposted with permission from Michele Haiken of The Teaching Factor.
How do you envision technology in your classroom?
How do you utilize technology with your students to promote deeper learning, critical thinking, and creativity?
How do you see technology enhancing your teaching goals?
Technology is transformative. It is more than an instructional tool. Teacher
Games for Change announces its 2017 award nominees in learning, civics, and more
Games for Change has nominated its top games across the Neurogaming & Health, Civics & Social Impact, and Games for Learning tracks for 2017. All nominees are up for the top honor of G4C's Game of the Year award.
G4C holds an annual festival in New York City each year to celebrate games making a positive social difference, and many of those fall into education. The 2017 festival will take place on July 31-August 2.
Judges will select the winners, but G4C is also opening voting up t
Con ‘Em If You Can review
About the game:
In Con ’Em If You Can, the player — mentored by con artist Connor — uses a variety of fraud tactics to convince people to invest their money in bogus projects. By having players be fraudsters, the game hopes to make them more aware of persuasion tactics and more vigilant against fraud.
ISTE 2017: Best highlights and photos from the conference
We were busy at ISTE this year! From hanging out with the guys of EdTech After Dark and giving sessions at the Microsoft and Google for Education booths to co-hosting EdTech Karaoke, we had a blast at this year's conference in San Antonio. And we can't wait for next year in Chicago!
In case you missed it, here's a roundup of all our coverage, plus a fun gal
ISTE 2017: The best of the Playgrounds: Google for Education and Virtual Environments (video)
At ISTE 2017 in San Antonio, we took a tour of some of the best offerings on display at the Google for Education Playground and the Virtual Environments and Games & Simulations Network P
ISTE 2017: Jennie Magiera on her keynote and using tech to ‘enhance our humanity’ (video)
At ISTE 2017 in San Antonio, we met up with Jennie Magiera (@MsMagiera), the chief innovation officer at District 62 in Des Plaines, Illinois. She reflected on the highlights of her keynote session, one of three at the conference, and talked about her hopes for educators for the upcoming school year.
ISTE 2017: Virtual reality and social competence can keep kids in STEM
The use of Pokémon Go has exploded in education, and it's a powerful tool for a reason: real-world socialization.
In their session "Beyond Pokémon: Virtual and Augmentative Reality for STEM" at ISTE 2017 in San Antonio, Dr. Amber Rowland and Dr. Sean Smith of the University of Kansas spoke on how to teach social competence in a technology-driven world.
When educating students abo
Latest game reviews
ISTE 2017: Girls and STEM: ‘We can solve this problem,’ says keynote speaker
"I believe that girls are change-makers."
In her keynote session at ISTE 2017 in San Antonio, Girls Who Code CEO Reshma Saujani discussed how America is stricken by a huge problem: We don't have enough girls or women in computer science.
How she found herself worki
ISTE 2017: 5 big technology trends shaking up digital citizenship education
Jason Ohler opened his session at ISTE in San Antonio with some jokes — pun-filled fake news headlines on a slideshow set against music. Then his presentation shifted into the serious.
"I'm 64 years old," he said. "My lungs are about 25."
Ohler is a friend to technology. During his battle with pulmonary fibrosis, tech called a "lung in a box" kept him alive. But when he was at his sickest, the 40-year teaching veteran took a st
ISTE 2017: Legends of Learning began with an education game battle royale
Game developers are psychological Jedis.
In a roundtable session called "Simple, Curricular-Aligned Games in the Wild: Study Results" at the ISTE conference in San Antonio, Vadim Polikov of Legends of Learning (booth #2632) equated game developers to the famous knights of Star Wars fame. "They've figured something out about huma
Classcraft at ISTE 2017: schedule of events
Classcraft is attending ISTE 2017 in San Antonio next week, and we'd love for you to join us!
Stop by booth #2010 (near Microsoft and Google) anytime to meet the Classcraft team and the EdTechAfterDark hosts, who are hanging out with us this year. See Classcraft in action and get cool stuff! (
DIY science game teaches students about brain development
A Charlottesville school is using an awesome, homemade game to teach students about the brain's development in early childhood.
The "Brain Architecture Game" is a collaborative learning experience where teams of four to six people build a model brain from common materials like pipe cleaners and straws. Our Neighborhood Child Developmen
Microsoft’s new Code Builder is Scratch for Minecraft lovers
This month, Microsoft introduced a Code Builder for Minecraft: Education Edition that will change the way your students learn to code.
With Code Builder, students can write code in the virtual world of Minecraft. The feature provides familiar tools and tutorials for kids by connecting with other visual-progr
Make Learning an Adventure, Gamify your classroom today!
What Super Mario taught me about learning and success
Over the last four years, I have embraced and implemented gamification and game design principles in my U.S. History classroom. When I have presented this idea to colleagues, there is sometimes a fear that this might lead to a loss of rigor or relevance.
The most common misunderstanding is that video games are just easy fun. It is true that games are entertaining, but successful video games must also efficiently teach the skills of the game while engaging the player with meaning and purpose;
DoE’s EdSim Challenge finalists feature the best of VR in education
The U.S. Department of Education has announced the five finalists for its EdSim Challenge for next-generation computer sims—all of which feature virtual reality.
EdSim Challenge encourages developers in the VR, video game, and educational technology communities to design simulations to prepare students for the demanding 21st-centur
5 steps to becoming a Game Master in your classroom
[Editor’s Note: This is a guest post contributed by teacher Matthew Farber. Enter our giveaway to win one of five signed copies of the new, expanded edition of his book, Gamify Your Classroom: A Field Guide to Game-Based Learning — Revised Edition
Giveaway: Win a signed copy of Matthew Farber’s book ‘Gamify Your Classroom’
We're giving away five signed copies of teacher Matthew Farber's newly revised and expanded book, Gamify Your Classroom.
In the book, Gamify Your Classroom: A Field Guide to Game‐Based Learning – Revised edition, Farber interviews more than 70 authorities in education—experts like James Paul Gee, Lee Sheldon, Jordan Shapiro, Mary Flanagan, and Mizuko (Mimi) Ito—as well as dozens of organizations, including
Using iCivics and gamification to teach students about citizenship
Civic education is one of the most important things students will learn in school. Civics is where students gain an understanding of what is required of the citizens of a nation in order to maintain that nation's political structure.
In America, this involves an active and informed participation in the democratic process. Making sure students understand the founding constitutional principles and the rights, liberties, and responsibilities that come with citizenship is vital. In a technologica
McAfee’s new education game teaches kids about cyber security
McAfee has just made an online role-playing game that teaches kids how to stay safe in the digital world.
To celebrate World Password Day, internet security company McAfee teamed up with True Key, an alternative to text passwords that uses facial or fingerprint recognition, to release a game about cyber security.
Th