"...it made me glad that I had these memories and reminded me that we should also seize whatever opportunities we have to make more."
Games and Education
87 posts
Content warning: Sexism in historical based games are discussed. Many articles that are linked contain hostile comments. Some of these comments are mentioned or paraphrased. If you visit Total War: Rome II’s Steam page you’ll notice something interesting: Over the past week the reviews for this game have spontaneously […]
I recently watched two TEDTalks. The first was titled ‘Why tech needs the humanities’ (2017) and was presented by Eric Berridge, the cofounder of BlueWolf, an IBM company. The second was ‘Teach arts and sciences together’ (2002) presented by Mae Jemison, the first black female astronaut. While neither are exclusively […]
For the last several years we have used the category “Play with Your Kids” to talk about how we play games with our children and which games we have enjoyed playing with them the most (or sometimes the least). For the last year I have been homeschooling my own daughter […]
Episode 165: Thunderbird Strike and the Power of Indigenous Game Design: A Conversation with Elizabeth Lapensee (Right click and save as to download, or find us on iTunes, BlogTalk Radio, Stitcher, Google Play, or TuneIn). This week we had an amazing conversation with the fabulous Elizabeth LaPensee, Indigenous scholar, artist, and game designer who talks with us […]
The magic circle is an interesting place. This is particularly true when looking at values, morality, and consequences for our actions. By Huizinga’s definition of the magic circle, things that happen in a game cannot have consequences in our daily lives. This is why, despite many similarities, school isn’t a […]
This is a post about board games, but I do spend a little time contextualizing it so you can stick with the personal anecdote or jump straight down to the review bits. All games discussed in this post were purchased by me for personal use. When I first decided homeschooling […]
Episode 148: It’s All Fun and Games: On Childhood, Play, and Video Games (Right click and save as to download, or find us on iTunes, BlogTalk Radio, Stitcher, Google Play, or TuneIn). This week are joined by early childhood education specialist Heather Bernt (@ece_nerd) of the Cause An Effect podcast and Lauren Woolbright, Assistant Professor of […]
For the past few semesters, I’ve been playing text adventures once or twice with my students (9:05 and Zork). For most the format is completely unfamiliar—typically, I have one or two students who’ve at least heard of text-based games—and they struggle with the step-by-step commands. Look. Open. Take. Read. It’s […]
So my gaming has been quelled a bit by a freak accident. I somehow managed to take a sizable chunk of my thumb out with a bottle opener. I will spare you the gory details, but suffice it to say that even the ER nurse was impressed by my incredible […]
I spent a large portion of my winter break on the road. I went up to Minnesota to visit my parents for a week, and as soon as I touched down in Indianapolis I began my drive South to visit my partner in Kentucky and my friends in Alabama. Other […]
Bianca: In light of the election, the two of us have found ourselves returning to the conversations we have had on building feminist coalitions–that is, we have found ourselves reflecting on both the consistent, perpetual need for such work and the challenges that result from embarking on such work. Previously, […]
Games and Culture recently published a fascinating article,”Framing Gaming: The Effects of Media Frames on Perceptions of Game(r)s”, written by Anna Sophie Kümpel and Alexander Haas, about the influence of media portrayals of video games and gamers on beliefs about gaming. Now, it might seem like the simplest thing in the […]
It’s that time of year for academics. The time when we are frantically trying to finish our course planning for fall classes (done!) and do something…anything to make ourselves feel like we’ve made adequate progress on our research projects over the summer. Did we read enough articles or books, did […]
This year at the Games+Learning+Society conference, I’ll be presenting with my friend and colleague Cody for the Well Played series. Our presentation, titled “Just Give me the Controller: Scaffolded Learning, World Building, and the Witness,” will focus on how the game The Witness is able to create an environment that […]
Last week I was lucky enough to be part of a really cool program: an IT camp for girls between 12 and 15. I taught a game design unit, and we talked about game theory and the positive impact of games on our world. We made games, some of which […]