Teaching Games And Game Studies In The Literature Classroom

Teaching Games and Game Studies in the Literature Classroom offers practical suggestions for educators looking to incorporate ludic media, ranging from novels to video games and from poems to board games, into their curricula. Across the globe, video games and interactive media have already been granted their own departments at numerous larger institutions and will increasingly fall under the purview of language and literature departments at smaller schools. This volume considers fundamental ways in which literature can be construed as a game and the benefits of such an approach. The contributors outline pedagogical strategies for integrating the study of video games with the study of literature and consider the intersections of identity and ideology as they relate to literature and ludology. They also address the benefits (and liabilities) of making the process of learning itself a game, an approach that is quickly gaining currency and increasing interest. Every chapter is grounded in theory but focuses on practical applications to develop students' critical thinking skills and intercultural competence through both digital and analog gameful approaches.

On the surface, it seems like teaching about games should be easy. After all, students are highly motivated, enjoy engaging with course content, and have extensive personal experience with videogames. However, games education can be surprisingly complex.

Have you ever wanted to know which games to use in your classroom, library, or afterschool program, or even at home? Which games can help teach preschoolers, K-12, college students, or adults? What can you use for science, literature, or critical thinking skills? This book explores 100 different games and how educators have used the games to teach - what worked and didn't work and their tips and techniques. The list of 100 goes from A to Z Safari to Zoombinis, and includes popular games like Fortnite, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, and Minecraft, as well as PC, mobile, VR, AR, card and board games.

Playing to Learn: Video Games in the Classroom is one of first practical resources that helps teachers integrate the study of video games into the classroom. The book is comprised of over 100 video game related activity ideas appropriate for Grades 4 to 12. Virtually every subject area is addressed. The book is augmented with several discussion articles contributed by scholars, journalists, and bloggers who routinely write about video games. In addition, the book includes dozens of activity modification and extension ideas, Web links, data tables, and photos.

"The possibilities of gaming for transformative and equity-driven instructional teaching practice are more robust than ever before. And yet, support for designing playful learning opportunities are too often not addressed or taught in professional development or teacher education programs. Considering the complex demands in public schools today and the niche pockets of extracurricular engagement in which youth find themselves, Playing with Teaching serves as a hands-on resource for teachers and teacher educators. Particularly focused on how games - both digital and non-digital - can shape unique learning and literacy experiences for young people today, this book's chapters look at numerous examples that educators can bring into their classrooms today. By exploring how teachers can support literacy practices through gaming, this volume provides specific strategies for heightening literacy learning and playful experiences in classrooms. The classroom examples of gameful teaching described in each chapter, not only provide practical examples of games and learning, but offer critical perspectives on why games in literacy classrooms matter today. Through depictions of cutting-edge of powerful and playful pedagogy, this book is not a how-to manual. Rather, Playing with Teaching fills a much-needed space demonstrating how games are applied in classrooms today. It is an invitation to reimagine classrooms as spaces to newly investigate playful approaches to teaching and learning with adolescents. Roll the dice and give playful literacy instruction a try. Contributors are: Jill Bidenwald, Jennifer S. Dail, Elizabeth DeBoeser, Antero Garcia, Kip Glazer, Emily Howell, Lindy L. Johnson, Rachel Kaminski Sanders, Jon Ostenson, Chad Sansing, and Shelbie Witte"--

Gaming the Past is a complete handbook to help pre-service teachers, current teachers, and teacher educators use historical video games in their classes to develop critical thinking skills. It focuses on practical information and specific examples for integrating critical thinking activities and assessments using video games into classes. Chapters cover the core parts of planning, designing, and implementing lessons and units based on historical video games. Topics include: Talking to administrators, parents, and students about the educational value of teaching with historical video games. Selecting games that are aligned to curricular goals by considering the genres of historical games. Planning and implementing game-based history lessons ranging from whole class exercises, to individual gameplay, to analysis in groups. Employing instructional strategies to help students learn to play and engage in higher level analysis Identifying and avoiding common pitfalls when incorporating games into the history class. Developing activities and assessments that facilitate interpreting and creating established and new media. Gaming the Past also includes sample unit and lesson plans, worksheets and assessment questions, and a list of historical games currently available, both commercial and freely available Internet games.

A wide range of activities put together by teachers to help teachers focus on specific skills, including listening, following directions, communication, problem-solving, interacting, using teamwork, practicing diversity, and so much more! The activities are fun and easy to understand. Sample questions provide a basis for discussion, and variations help teachers adjust skill levels.

An Introduction to Game Studies is the first introductory textbook for students of game studies. It provides a conceptual overview of the cultural, social and economic significance of computer and video games and traces the history of game culture and the emergence of game studies as a field of research. Key concepts and theories are illustrated with discussion of games taken from different historical phases of game culture. Progressing from the simple, yet engaging gameplay of Pong and text-based adventure games to the complex virtual worlds of contemporary online games, the book guides students towards analytical appreciation and critical engagement with gaming and game studies. Students will learn to: - Understand and analyse different aspects of phenomena we recognise as ′game′ and play′ - Identify the key developments in digital game design through discussion of action in games of the 1970s, fiction and adventure in games of the 1980s, three-dimensionality in games of the 1990s, and social aspects of gameplay in contemporary online games - Understand games as dynamic systems of meaning-making - Interpret the context of games as ′culture′ and subculture - Analyse the relationship between technology and interactivity and between ′game′ and ′reality′ - Situate games within the context of digital culture and the information society With further reading suggestions, images, exercises, online resources and a whole chapter devoted to preparing students to do their own game studies project, An Introduction to Game Studies is the complete toolkit for all students pursuing the study of games. The companion website at www.sagepub.co.uk/mayra contains slides and assignments that are suitable for self-study as well as for classroom use. Students will also benefit from online resources at www.gamestudiesbook.net, which will be regularly blogged and updated by the author. Professor Frans Mäyrä is a Professor of Games Studies and Digital Culture at the Hypermedia Laboratory in the University of Tampere, Finland.