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I know there has been some research relating chess and education. Is anyone aware of any other research relating boardgames and education, critical thinking, development, or related topics.
I've been talking to teachers who want to write grants to buy boardgames for an after school game club, and a grant is much more likely to get accepted if it is linked to research.
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I am interested in this kind of thing too, and I have been keeping an eye out for discussion threads on this topic. The following links have some of the kind of thing you're looking for.
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/119135
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/123003
good luck!
--John Green
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Ryan Full
United States
Vienna
West Virginia
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There is an academic publication by Sage press that is publishing recent research on this topic. Their focus is a little more on electronic games but much of the research and data seems applicable to paper games as well. I actually got my school to subscribe to it for me next year. http://www.sagepub.com/journalsProdDesc.nav?prodId=Journal20...
Also there are some books on the subject as well. The one I'm currently reading is entitled What Video Games Have To Teach Us About Learning and Literacy by James Paul Gee. He is based out of the University of Wisconsin - Madison and they have a program running through their Education department on Games, Learning, and Society. You can read up on what they are doing online. They even have some video files of lectures from their conferences available online.
I actually did this exact thing (other than the grant) last year. Started up an after school club, got money from Faculty Senate to buy games, got donations from some companies, and run a club the entire year. It was very popular and very successful. I'm continuing it next year as well and the club has even given birth to a new class. I'm teaching a year-long elective on higher Order Thinking Skills through Puzzles and Games. If anyone wants to contact me I'd be happy to share any lesson plans, companies that are good to work with and support teachers, and generally anything I have created. I'm actually in the process of working on a blog outlining my design of this class and I'm completely open to comments and/or sharing anything I create.
-Ryan
edit: added a link to the journal
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Eddy Richards
Scotland
Allanton
Berwickshire
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There's an international professional society for people involved in education and gaming called SAGSET. They have a regular publication and an annual conference. I went to the last one as it happened to be in Manchester where I live, and it was interesting.
Details are at http://www.simulations.co.uk/sagset/
It's more about simulation games than boardgames, but they did have Martin Wallace talking about uses of Eurogame mechanics in simulation game settings in one of the sessions.
Eddy
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Joseph Balcuk
United States
New York
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I am looking for teachers who are interested in using games in the classroom. I invented a game called "The Spoils of Civilization." The game was specifically designed for group play (classrooms with 20 to 30 kids) and uses the same logic that kids see in everyday computer games. The best way to describe the game is to think of a game which combines "Monopoly, Risk, and Diplomacy" it basically turns into diplomatic financial warefare that is educational for students. The students learn social skills, logic, how a stock market grows, inflation, recession, ect.. I would be willing to offer these games at cost in order to get teachers to demo them. You can see more information at the web site www.themerbs.com . Please email me if you have teachers who are looking for out-of-the-box ideas to promote learning. The game is currently used by math, science, english, and social studies teachers. Please email me if you would like to try it, I can get the games for much cheaper than what is described on the site. I know about a tachers budget, being a fellow math teacher on Long Island, NY. I can be reached at precisionmath@aol.com
Looking to reach open minded teachers who are tired of dittos,
Mr. B
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Ryan Full
United States
Vienna
West Virginia
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I sent you an email from my work address.
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anthony dawson
United Kingdom
swindon
wiltshire
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Try getting in touch with Scott Nicholson (username snicholson) of boardgames with scott and on boardgames- he is a professor of library studies and this kind of thing is his bread and butter
(Scott- i hope you don't mind me putting your name forward).
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Giles Pritchard
Australia
Shepparton
Victoria
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I'd also suggest checking out www.gamesforeducators.com
They have plenty of good articles and links to stuff all around the web, they also have forums specifically related to teaching and games. I write a monthly article for them, and past articles of mine have talked about research and games.
They also have a podcast called Teaching Strategies (which Tom Vasel and I run) on games at schools.
If you have any stories, ideas or even questions - we'd love to read them!
Cheers,
Giles.
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Mary Couzin
United States
Illinois
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Thanks, Giles, our readers love your columns and podcasts!
We welcome comments, articles and posts to the website. It is associated with a monthly e-newsletter that you can sign up for as well.
In addition, we are looking to expand our Games in Education Forum, which is part of the Chicago Toy and Game Fair,this November. The State of IL has continued to approve our Forum as a recognized event for teachers to obtain CPDU credits to maintain their teaching certificates. Chicago School Supply is one of our partners on the expansion this year.
Also of interest, the Strong Museum of Play publishes a Journal of Play that contains play research. http://www.strongmuseum.org/about_play/play_journal.html
Onward and Upward,
Mary Couzin
Chicago Toy and Game Fair
GamesforEducators.com
Toy and Game Inventor Conference and Awards
DiscoverGames.com
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