New Hortizons for Learning

Need some inspiration... a chance to see what others are doing and thinking about learning? This site is for you. It has grown as a e-resource for students, teachers and parents alike for ten years. Find out about brain research, people who use MI- in their approach to teaching, students doing project based learning and much more. Articles are archived here, and new articles are posted regularly. Check out New Horizons for Learning

Making Substance Abuse Education More Fun

D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education), the program for substance abuse prevention for middle school kids, is revamping its curriculum to make the program more effective. Previously, the program consisted of mostly lectures delivered by police officers. Studies demonstrated the program was not effective in helping kids avoid drugs. The new lessons are more interactive and include games and role-playing. Initial test results show the new curriculum to be more effective in giving students the skills and knowledge they need to stay away from drugs. Read all about it in the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Online Game Giant Eyes China Market

NCsoft, Korea’s online game giant, expects to top $54 million in profit this year thanks to its wildly popular medieval adventure "Lineage." Three million global users pay a monthly fee to participate in this multi-player game where they descend into dark dungeons and slay dragons. NCsoft's latest business strategy has been to enter a joint venture with Taiwan’s Gamania with the intent to lock down the Chinese market. With more than 45 million citizens logging on, China has the third largest Internet population. A very lucrative move indeed.

read the article

Virtual Lemonade Stand

A fun game for kids (and even adults) to learn about running a lemonade stand and making their own virtual profits. I thought it was fairly simple to get started on this game and the game does a good job of teaching kids the fundamentals of math in a contextualized way that afffirms the need for understanding math as well as currency flow.

A Lesson in Making Learning Fun


In Heidi Anderson's article "A Lesson in Making Learning Fun" she presents evidence for the argument that incorporating games into learning motivates learners, even (or especially!) adults. The History Channel wanted to show history teachers how they could use The History Channel's resources to teach both in the classroom and at home. The marketing challenge was to get as many teachers as possible to log in to the website and download the study guide. By offering a chance to play the game Save our History - Frontier Homes The History Channel enjoyed the kind of success that marketers can only dream of.

Read the article

The Tycoon Games and Csikszentmihalyi's Flow

Despina describes Zoo Tycoon and how it can provide hours of entertainment. This is very true! My children love it and like Rollercoaster Tycoon even better. In Rollercoaster Tycoon they build and run an amusement park, complete with rides, attractions, landscapes, and weather challenges. I enjoy listening to them plan business strategies and troubleshoot a poorly performing ride without even realizing they are learning! I have seen them so engaged in the game that "self-consciousness disappears," a true sign of Csikszentmihalyi's flow. One of the newer games in the Tycoon line is Mall Tycoon. My twelve-year-old daughter has been hounding me for this one. It is advertised as "every mall goer's ideal simulation." With the game, she'll learn basic retailing and marketing. The simulations are quite complex and difficult, but users find these games are gratifying in and of themselves - a great example of flow. These games also have online forums where users can discuss such things as strategies for beefing up security to get rid of the "punks" in the mall.

"Zoo Tycoon" - A simulation game

Zoo Tycoon is a simulation game developed by Blue Fang and Microsoft Games. In Zoo Tycoon you must build and maintain a zoo. To do that you have to take care of the animals, expand zoo’s operation, keep both animals and visitors happy and make money. You also have more than 40 different animals to choose from and you must be familiar with the types of animals you can adopt and their needs. The first expansion of the game, Dinosaur Dig, allows you to add dinosaurs to your zoo and the second expansion, Zoo Tycoon Expansion Pack Marine, allows you to add marine animals. Zoo Tycoon seems to be an interesting educational game that can provide hours of gaming entertainment. Download the free trial version and build your zoo!

The Mighty Palm

Handheld computers such as the Palm Pilot are becoming a common accessory almost everywhere, including the classroom. Some schools have even chosen to provide them to students. The small devices can be used to download additional software that includes programs for keeping class and assignment information as well as flashcards and some simulation games. Learners at every level will find programs to assist them. Sites such as PalmGear.com list thousands of add on programs.



There is no shortage of educational programs including games like High IQ and 7th Sense. These games and other helpful programs can be found at the General Education Listing

"Tutorial in Bad Behavior"?

So says Senator Joe Leiberman (D-Connecticut) about "Vice City", Rockstar Games' newest addition to their "Grand Theft Auto" series. Gratuitous crime, violence, prostitutes and profanity combined with the game's objective (find the guys who stole your cocaine and kill them) are some of the elements in Vice City that are contributing to its pre-release status as the groundbreaker in complete lack of morality/ethics in video games. The game is due to be released on Tuesday, and received unbiased front page coverage in today's Styles section of the New York Times.

How to Improve Learning Outcomes

We all know by now that creating a great e-learning environment takes more than converting traditional content and pedagogy into a technical format. But how do you create compelling e-learning content that gets learners interested and keeps them coming back? Well, the key is to make sure your learning environment embraces self-directive skills that are intrinsic to the learner. Translated into 670 speak this means motivation, self reliance, self confidence, and risk tolerance.

read the article

Games at a Higher Level

No less prestigious institution than Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is adopting the use of games and simulations in the highly complex world of scientific and engineering education. Games include Extreme Sports Tycoon, a statistics game using introductory algebra and physics as well as La Jungla de Optica, an adventure game teaching optical physics. This is, after all, MIT. Check the Games to Teach Project site to see others.

Famous Games

I was recently perusing the NETS (National Educational Technoloy Standards) for Teachers website
when I was pleasantly surprised to see Bernie Dodge acknowledged as the famous designer
of WebQuests (a learning activity which was further described as a motivational tool for use in integrating technology into
classrooms). This website is an excellent resource for teachers seeking knowledge about national standards
and links for technology lessons for both elementary and secondary education including games.

Making Lectures Fun

One of the biggest offenders for classroom boredom may be the lecture. Thiagi, in the October '02 edition of his Play for Performance newsletter, introduces his technique for Interactive Lecture or Lecture Games. This technique incorporates the advantages of lecture as an instructional format (efficiency) while attempting to remove or reduce its disadvantages (boring).

Fun Brain's Curriculum Guide

Teachers in K-6 might find this interesting. Fun Brain has this curriculum guide for teachers and it allows teachers to select online games for their students, according to subject, grade level, and title. For example, I played Grammar Gorilla, one that reviews parts of speech, nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc..., which I think would be perfect for 2nd graders who are barely learning what each part of speech is. I found that most of the focus in these games is on language arts and math. The instructions are not too terribly difficult to read and understand. I can see myself using this web site with 2nd graders and above. It feels a little like "worksheets," but just on the computer. I can see the novelty of some of these games wearing off after a while.

Brain Pop Games

I was looking for an e-game for my after-school math class when they finish early. I found a Brain Pop games on Yahoolagins.com. Students can pick a any subject matter, then watch a Flash movie. Afterwards, they can take a quiz or review the movie. It seems like a review of content rather than an interactive game. However, students did not want to give up their seat to someone else.

Learn How to Run Your Own Bar or Brewery

A friend introduced me to beermogul.com, a highly entertaining and fairly educational site on how to open and run a business. Once you've logged in, you are given 1 million beerbucks to open your own virtual bar, pub, or brewery complete with features, amenities and advertising campaigns. You can then go on the BeerMarket to sell or acquire your beer. Overall, a great way to learn about fundamental business operations...and beer making. --t. thai

Blogging Talked About on KPBS

Dirk Sutro, The Lounge

BLOGGING IN THE LOUNGE
Dirk Sutro hosts KPBS's The Lounge weekdays from 6:30 to 7:30pm at our very own KPBS (FM 89.5). His topics and guests are as eclectic as any on the radio, and yesterday he talked about the relatively new internet pastime of Blogging. I tried to find the online archive to last night's show, but there doesn't seem to be an online archive. In fact, there were a number of broken links and The Lounge schedule hadn't been updated since August (Dirk, need some edtec help?).
Anyway, I only caught half of last nights show. A journalist/techie type named Mitch Wagner who started the blog, 24 Hour Drive-Thru, was a guest. The show brought up questions like how long has blogging been around (a: since the beginning), and why do people do it (a: individual not corporate owned/run and it's fun). It was cool to learn a little more about blogging.

High School Science Teacher Takes Fun and Excitement out of Science

okay, so the onion isn't exactly news, but this piece is funny and hits the mark for our boredom analysis
http://www.theonion.com/onion3839/science_teacher.html

The Phonics Game and The Math Game

I've used The Phonics Game many times with 1st and 2nd grade learners and it works really well, especially in small groups of about 4-5. I have never used The Math Game or The Vocabulary Game but I ssume they are similarly effective. In case you are unfamiliar, it The Phonics Game is described as "a total phonetic reading system, cleverly disguised as a series of fun, interactive games" and it truly works. It has a variety of difficulty levels and is useful at home as well as the classroom.

Virtually Real

Neil Stephenson ends his commentary with the thought-provoking statement “This time, gamers will also face the ultimate challenge: social interaction.” He’s talking about the up and coming online game, THE SIMS ONLINE. He adds, “The Sims promises to be one of the most interesting human experiments in the history of the Net.”
Maybe it’s about getting a chance to simulate our own truth, or have an opportunity to practice life’s lessons. Learning doesn’t always have to feel like learning.

Read the article
Go to THE SIMS ONLINE site

E-mail Learning Games

After some Web surfing, I came upon a great article about e-mail learning games. Wouldn't you know, Sivasailam Thiagarajan wrote it. He talks about the benefits and limitations. He gives some examples of different e-mail games. Something worth taking some time to read.

Flash Simulations

My friend Jonathan Kaye, author of Flash MX for Interactive Simulation, published a white paper called How to Build Product Simulations with Flash MX. This interesting paper describes the process for developing device simulations to be used for training. Jonathan's emphasis is on using simulations toward achieving performance objectives. There are many interesting learning applications for the practical methods described in this paper and in the book. There's more information at the Web site supporting his book.

Spy Games

The training games this organization offers sound like a lot of fun! I like the idea of taking people out of their normal surroundings and situations - field trip games? Dr. Dodge's comment that not too long ago sudden changes meant something was about to eat us - therefore any change will get our attention during training - made me think that doing extreme things with games would really make the learning fun and permanent.

Check out the Spy Games web page

Learning Theory and Student Motivation

Interested in reading more about the difference between extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation? The Searle Center for Teaching Excellence at Northwestern University publishes this bibliography of articles on Learning Theory and Student Motivation. Mark Lepper's work is included in the list.

Some inspiration for us all...

The Fortress of infinitude: a random repository of interests and information has some random thoughts "published" from game designers. Though the folks quoted are a wee more prominent than us Ed Techies, their thoughts are somewhat similar...

Enjoy.

Play Anywhere

Over the next few years, cell phones are going to become more versatile as they take over the functions of your Palm Pilot and your GameBoy. Wireless Gaming Review covers all the latest in this realm.

Yet Another Way to Make a Game

In Netscape's last days as a viable company, they gave away the source code of their once cutting edge browser to the open source movement. The hope was that volunteer hackers everywhere would upgrade the code dazzlingly for the sheer satisfaction of it. And in fact they did, though it took several years. The history and results of all this are described in a new book Creating Applications with Mozilla. Mozilla is at least as good a browser as Internet Explorer. But, as indicated by the book's title, Mozilla isn't just a browser, it's a platform for doing all kinds of communication tasks. Here's something new to me: they're using Mozilla to develop games.

"Mozilla is an excellent platform for building classic arcade and console - style games. It provides the developer with many of the features that these games rely upon, such as images, sound, network connectivity, application logic (scripting) and UI (via XUL)."

Ignorance Is No Excuse for the Law

Ian Parberry, author of several books on gaming and a professor at the University of North Texas, lists his Laws of Game Programming. He also lists the Laws of Combat.

Scenario-Based E-Learning

Somewhere in between simulation and boring e-page-turning instruction is where the category of "scenario-based e-learning" fits in. It is an method we are aggressively trying to employ at my military training organization, and one I suspect many private organizations will soon pursue as they discover (as we did) that page turners, even when you put them online so they reach lots and lots of people, aren't that effective, really. This is an excellent and well-written article by Randall Kindley- and he's not trying to sell you a piece of software or his consulting services (rare), it's just good solid "why" and "how-to" information.

read the article

Veni, Vidi, Ludi

If you needed any evidence that board games have a long history....

Here you will find descriptions and images of game boards and playing stones for nine Roman board games. Directions for playing each game also are provided. Kowalski describes the context in which each game was played and notes which games were the favorites of regular folks and famous Romans, such as the Roman emperor Augustus.

Maya in IGDA

I went to the IGDA meeting and it was really interesting. They had a presentation on Maya (you can download a free personal learning edition that's good for one year) and also on DFC Intelligence, a marketing research company that specializes in games research.

Toys for girls

Sally Ride Toys With Engineering

The first American woman in space has a new mission: Get more girls interested in science and engineering. To that end, Sally Ride is sponsoring a toy design competition for middle schoolers. By Katie Dean.

Scenario-Based E-Learning

Somewhere in between simulation and boring e-page-turning instruction is where the category of "scenario-based e-learning" fits in. It is an method we are aggressively trying to employ at my military training organization, and one I suspect many private organizations will soon pursue as they discover (as we did) that page turners, even when you put them online so they reach lots and lots of people, aren't that effective, really. This is an excellent and well-written article by Randall Kindley- and he's not trying to sell you a piece of software or his consulting services (rare), it's just good solid "why" and "how-to" information.
Read the article

Fads as Symptoms of Fun

The Bad Fads Museum is primarily a page to plug a book, but it's an interesting way to examine what people do for no extrinsic rewards. Hula hoops, mood rings, streaking, Pez dispensers... these are a few of our favorite things. Is there an explanation for these things to be found in the theories and models of Keller, Csikszentmihalyi, Malone, and Lepper? Could we, if we sat down and thought about it for awhile, predict the next big collectible?

Humor and Game Appeal

After posting up 40,000 jokes and analyzing 2 million ratings, scientists have revealed the world's funniest joke And here it is...

"Two hunters are out in the woods when one of them collapses. He doesn't seem to be breathing and his eyes are glazed. The other guy takes out his phone and calls the emergency services.

"He gasps: "My friend is dead! What can I do?" The operator says: "Calm down, I can help. First, let's make sure he's dead." There is a silence, then a gunshot is heard. Back on the phone, the guy says: "OK, now what?"

"We find jokes funny for lots of different reasons. They sometimes make us feel superior to others, reduce the emotional impact of anxiety-provoking situations or surprise us because of some kind of incongruity. The hunters joke contained all three elements."

Here are the top jokes in several selected countries, and there are more details at LaughLab, the UK organization that conducted the study.

I wonder if these same three elements come into play in a really enjoyable game?