Games in Education
Conveners
Angela Daneshmand, Santiago Canyon College
Nancy Chen, harvard-westlake school
Ander Sundell, College of Western Idaho
Building community in the classroom and engaging students in their learning can improve retention of information, increase student motivation, and support a sense of belonging in the classroom. Games are a great way to immerse students in the content by introducing a fun and educational method for learning. During this workshop, facilitators will provide an overview of the benefits of using games in the classroom, offer hands-on experience with a selection of educational games across various Earth Science subjects, and explain how they have been successfully integrated with traditional teaching methods. Additionally, participants will learn how to create an educational game and will have the opportunity to collaborate and start designing a game and/or co-create an assignment for a specific game in small groups based on shared interests. Due to time constraints, the designing of the game may not be fully completed by the end of the workshop; however, we encourage participants to continue their work after the workshop.
Overview
We will introduce and playtest multiple educational games that have successfully been implemented in undergraduate courses. Participants will learn how to create an educational game and will have the opportunity to collaborate and design a game in small groups based on shared interests.
Target Audience
Instructors who teach K-12 or undergraduate courses and are searching for engaging, active learning activities to incorporate into their classrooms and/or are interested in learning how to create and publish a game will benefit from this workshop.
Goals
Participants in the workshop will:
- Discuss the benefits of using games in the classroom.
- Have hands-on experience with a selection of educational games across various Earth Science subjects.
- Develop a plan to successfully integrate educational game(s) into their teaching.
- Co-create an educational game.
Format
Each day will include an introduction to the topic(s) for the day, group game play to demonstrate how to utilize a game in the classroom, learning new games, and discussions on how to incorporate them into your curriculum. Participants will also have the option to co-create an educational game during Day 2. The hope is that you leave the workshop with a plan to implement at least one of the games presented here into your classroom. See the detailed program for more information.