For most people, gaming is something you do purely for fun, and although you may be fine-tuning motor skills or even learning history as you go along, it’s not likely you’re doing it with learning goals in mind. But for some people, gaming is a real learning activity, and "serious games" are an amazing teaching tool. In K-12 settings, games can motivate students to stay focused, or even create academic competitions that make it cool to be smart. At the college level, students work with games to become designers of the future, creating mass-market video games, and even learning games that schoolkids can use. Whatever the setting, these 10 awesome schools show that gaming in education is alive and well, and gamers of all ages can take advantage of the programs that they offer.
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Madison County Elementary School
Often, the hardest part of getting students to learn is helping them find the motivation they need to get excited about their own education. At Madison County Elementary School, the Kid’s College computer program helps students stay focused and engaged in their learning by simply giving them a little down time once they’ve achieved their tasks. Students answer reading and math questions, and once they’ve done that, they can play a short game, like basketball, volleyball, football, or even snowboarding. Students enjoy the program, which gives them ample time to take breaks and stay tuned in to learning. Teresa Craig, a computer lab aide at Madison County Elementary School shares, "A lot of times, they don’t even realize they’re learning. They’re motivated to do this." Students love the program so much that some of them even play outside of school, logging in from home to compete and see who can score the most points on games. Student Precious Maples praises the game telling The Huntsville Times, "I can concentrate because I get to play afterwards."
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Birmingham City University
At Birmingham City University, students can take advantage of the university’s game development finishing school, Gamer Camp, which offers industry-endorsed training programs. Students at Gamer Camp develop games for the iPad, PC, and PS3, with courses that are designed and run by veterans of the gaming industry. The school offers both the year-long Gamer Camp, as well as a nano and 10-week mini course that offers a bit more flexibility. Studio manager Iain Harrison shares that Gamer Camp is a step above other game development schools, offering hands-on experience that can better help students break into the industry.
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Champlain College
Champlain College in Burlington, Vt., has been called "a gamer’s paradise" after the introduction of its new electronic game and interactive development major. The degree is modeled after the game development industry itself, following a team-based approach that gives students realistic experience for their future careers. Students like Caitlin Goss appreciate the approach to game design that Champlain offers: "I’m taking courses like psychology, computer theory, and English, which will help me understand everything that goes into a game, not just how to do the graphics or write the story," offering a well-rounded education that will serve students well in the game design industry. Fellow student Steven Tanzola appreciates the program for the same reason as Goss: "The program is diverse, which will help me get a job because I won’t just know about games; I’ll have all sorts of other important classes under my belt that game developers in the gaming industry are looking for."
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Quest to Learn
In Manhattan, students can take advantage of a new school that teaches almost entirely through video game-inspired activities. Popular Science points out that this educational strategy is smart, and "geared to keep kids engaged and prepare them for high-tech careers." The magazine also highlights the fact that video games can command a student’s attention for hours, a fact that’s not lost on Quest to Learn. Main designer Katie Salen shares, "Games are exceptionally good at engaging kids." Teachers at the school have noted that while often students give up when faced with tough problems in a more traditional school setting, when they’re put into a video game, kids will try again and again despite failing. In this approach, Quest to Learn takes kids through several different courses, including math, English, social studies, science, game design, and wellness. The students are able to learn collaboratively through group projects in a research-backed environment that helps them learn at their best. Quest to Learn welcomed its first class of sixth graders in 2009, and plans to add a new class of sixth graders every year, continuing to educate current students through high school.
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ChicagoQuest
Manhattan’s Quest to Learn has a sister school in Chicago, appropriately named ChicagoQuest. The school follows the same structure as Quest to Learn, using game design principles and collaborative, project-based learning. In ChicagoQuest’s classrooms, you’ll find learning spaces that include virtual reality and even Rube Goldberg machines. Interestingly, the school does not practice traditional grading systems, instead using levels more appropriate for game-based learning, ranging from novice to master. Ultimately, ChicagoQuest aims to develop students’ abilities to find creative solutions to problems, fostering critical and independent thinking while working in a team setting and taking full advantage of technology. Like the Manhattan branch, ChicagoQuest is able to keep its curriculum rich with content and relevant within Illinois State and College Readiness standards, giving students a great chance for success now and in the future.
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University of Southern California
USC in Los Angeles does groundbreaking work in video game design on a regular basis, and their excellent program is evident in rankings from Gamepro Media and The Princeton Review, who came together to award the school with the top ranking for video game colleges not just in undergraduate studies, but graduate as well. School of Cinematic Arts dean Elizabeth Daley cites the school’s "extraordinary environment" that allows students, faculty, and staff to expand the boundaries of game design each day. USC offers courses in serious games, immersive environments, and game infrastructures, with not just bachelor’s degrees, but master’s and even PhDs as well. Interactive Media Division associate professor Tracy Fullerton shares, “I think it is the balance of practice and theory, entrepreneurialism and research, aesthetics and technology, individual expression and collaborative teamwork … that makes our program such a special place to study game design." One especially intriguing aspect of USC’s program is its incredibly popular Demo Days, where student projects are on display for representatives from the gaming industry and talent agencies.
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Delano Middle School
Delano Middle School in the San Joaquin Valley has discovered what so many other schools are catching on to: that gaming can make students love taking part in lessons. Eighth grader Ariana Gutierrez agrees, remarking "I think it’s pretty awesome," about the Dance Dance Revolution video game that she uses in her PE class. "It’s a better way to work out. PE used to be boring, but I really enjoy it now." Gutierrez’s enthusiasm is thanks to her PE teacher Ken Dyar, who took it upon himself to organize fundraisers to outfit the school’s gym with a suite of exercise-friendly video games, including Dance Dance Revolution and stationary bikes that plug into the PS2 for racing games. At Delano, they’ve seen a real improvement in physical education: in 1998, only 7% of students passed the state fitness test, but just last year, 41% passed. This achievement is even more impressive when you consider that the state average is only about 25%. Students have noticed a difference too. Gutierrez says that she’s grown out of her chunky stage, and together with her friends, they’ve "gotten healthier and we do more things, like we can run and get a better time on the mile."
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University of Delaware
While kids in K-12 classrooms take advantage of learning through video games, University of Delaware students go to work to create the games, learning as they develop skills for real careers in game development. As part of an Educational Games Development course in computer science, students created an interactive computer board game called Shape Shifters, which teaches fraction concepts to students at the Chester Community Charter School in Chester, Pennsylvania. Through the game, students answer multiple choice questions, moving spaces toward a finish line. Played in a social setting, the game offers both competition and teamwork, encouraging students to learn not just independently, but by helping each other as well. This course has been incredibly popular at the University of Delaware, and has sparked attention from Microsoft researchers, with whom the school may soon collaborate. Beyond Microsoft, the university also plans to publish the games on the XO website, allowing students participating in the One Laptop Per Child program to take advantage of the project as well.
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Fairmount School
Students at Fairmount School love to play games, so much that the campus has created a Gamestar Club, based on Scholastic‘s Gamestar Mechanic curriculum. In the club, they use Gamestar curriculum to create their own video games, learn about design, and collaboratively test and improve video games created by the club. With design and testing complete, the club held a Gamer Fair after school, highlighting their creations and allowing for an opportunity to share their work with their fellow students and families. Fairmount LRC director Kelly Farrow believes the Gamestar Club and Gamer Fair to be a success, acknowledging that "students in our Gamestar Club worked very hard, learning about game design and creating some games of their own," teaching students valuable lessons about not just design and technology, but also teamwork, editing, and sharing feedback.
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Sussex Elementary
At this elementary school, doing well in math is a status symbol, as evidenced by colorful wristbands that students receive for their work in First in Math, an online math game. Principal Tom Bowser says the program is great, allowing students to "intrinsically motivate themselves" as they compete not just against students in their own school, but other students in Baltimore County Public Schools. He says, "now it’s a cool thing to be academically achieving," thanks to the game and the wristbands that come along with it. The program is really paying off, helping students build their math skills in measurable ways. In 2009, students were 69.8% proficient and advanced in math, not a bad number, but a poor showing in comparison to the school’s 2010 percentage of 94.3. Although the school enacted other initiatives, Bowser believes that the math game has made a very large impact in the students’ skills.
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