News in Games-Based Learning

The Benefits of Using Games in Leadership Training and Skills Development

Surprisingly, you can learn a lot more in an hour of play than in a one-year conversation. The endless benefits of games in different sectors have made gaming activities, especially video games, important learning methods currently.

games, contributed article, leadershipDave EngFebruary 23, 2023games, leadership, training, contributed article, skills developmentComment

Trombone Champ Makes a Hit Video Game of an Unlikely Instrument

Thanks to the popular new video game Trombone Champ - a sort of Guitar Hero for brass players - Buckle was having a go at its exhilarating opening as if he were one of the first violins. Buckle, 29, who gamely agreed to test out Trombone Champ last weekend, gripped a mouse, which he would move up and down to change the pitch of his virtual trombone, and placed his left hand on the laptop's space bar, which he would hit to play notes.

gamesDave EngFebruary 12, 2023Video game, music, trombone champ, virtual trombone, laptop, playnewsComment

Palestinian Scholar Uses Games in Project to Build Mentally Disabled Students’ Skills

The students participated in her training program of 20 sessions that aimed to develop their skills in arithmetic, language, concentration, differentiation, and remembering.

Disabled Students, gamesDave EngJanuary 24, 2023Games, project, disabled, students, skills, build, scholar, activities, university, newsComment

FarmVille for agrivoltaics? Illinois team aims to teach solar concept with game

An educational game designed to teach kids the emerging concept of agrivoltaics will get a test run this fall at two kid-friendly Midwest museums. A team led by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers is developing an educational game it hopes can inspire future farmers to think differently about solar power.

gamesDave EngJanuary 6, 2023Game, educational, science, biological, app, agricultural, newsComment

Gaming can power up learning

One of my nephews sometimes explains to me about how he develops an avatar for his Minecraft game. Applying games in teaching is one way to spark students' interests, especially in pursuing STEM education. The types of games and the components that could be included in a game are virtually endless.

learning, gamesDave EngJanuary 4, 2023Gaming, learning, standard, teaching, education, STEM, newsComment

Analysis of the Player Experience Across Digital and Physical Worlds

The aim of this research is, following the example of Litherland,23 to analyze the quality of the player experience while accounting for a range of factors: the emotions of the players; the agents involved; the institutions like the rules of the game or the framing of game context which indicates the process in which the participants negotiate a shared understanding and conventions in interpreting said rules;25 and lastly the contexts which may refer to the physical medium in which the game in played.

gamesDave EngDecember 31, 2022Games, player experience, digital, physical worlds, analysis, newsComment

Tabletop RPGs as Environmental Text

While scholarly analysis of TTRPGs often focuses on player's experiences of role playing as human-like agents, scholars of TTRPGs recognize that role-playing games simulate "Worlds" or "Places"7 - or, alternately, though TTRPG scholars rarely use this language, "Nature" or "Environments." Tabletop RPGs may not be "Virtual" worlds in the sense of a highly-realistic, highly visual, high-polygon representation of the natural world.

gamesDave EngDecember 30, 2022Video games, educational, environmental, gameplay, tabletop, newsComment

Ancient board games and a few visual narrations

Board games/indoor games have been depicted in many ancient Indian paintings, sculptures and literature of ancient periods. From the 2nd century BCE onwards, the depiction of the Chaturanga board games became a subject of great interest.

gamesDave EngDecember 7, 2022Board games, indoor games, art, painting, Indian, medieval, newsComment

For Young Kids, The Power of Play-Based Learning

Students, even our youngest students, should be "Playing" at home. Incorporating key elements of play-like wonder, exploration, and student agency-into loosely structured lessons that are gently supported by teachers provides an "Optimal" approach for students, according to the researchers.

gamesDave EngDecember 6, 2022Students, play-based learning, engagement, games, motivation, curiousity, newsComment

Implementing Gamification Successfully To Close Performance Gaps

Keep your games simple, easy to understand, and fun to play to build engagement and enhance performance. Goals are an inherent part of the sales process; why should games be different? Whether it's to win money, own all the properties, or capture the king, well-crafted games have goals-and several challenges to overcome to reach them.

gamesDave EngNovember 30, 2022Gamification, games, performance, goals, sales, challenges, content, newsComment

Budding game designer wants to help those with brain diseases

Since eighth grade, Zoe Hubbard has known she wanted to design video games, but not for late-night bouts of "Fortnite" or "League of Legends." Hubbard, a May 2022 graduate of Renaissance High School in Franklin, wants her games to help people with Alzheimer's disease, dementia, ADHD and other brain-based conditions.

gamesDave EngNovember 26, 2022Games, game designer, diseases, brain, Alzheimer’s, college, exam, newsComment

Virtual Reality in Schools: Game Changer or Big Headache?

First, the very kind and patient volunteer helping out with the experience had trouble helping me figure out if my regular eyeglasses could go under the goggles. I finally got the hang of it-kindasorta-using hand controls to toss a virtual paper airplane and put a virtual disk in a virtual slot.

virtual reality, gamesDave EngNovember 7, 2022Virtual reality, games, schools, immersive, experience, educational, interactive, newsComment

A new game teaches financial literacy and decision-making

The online game, launched in February, lets students practice making financial decisions and examine the behaviors that influence how money is spent. In contrast to other financial literacy games, the lab focuses on behavioral principles related to spending and saving, and provides context for applying new knowledge to build healthy financial behaviors.

financial literacy, gamesDave EngNovember 3, 2022Games, financial literacy, decision-making, behavior, budgeting, interest, debt, newsComment

Cardboard Poachers: Fan Cultures and Paratext in Board Games

As Paul Booth notes, "Using board games to analyze media illustrates the performative aspects of media interpretation and reveals the multiple ways all viewers play with their media."7 Such notions of play can be analyzed and ultimately positioned within fan cultures and the industry as a whole, demonstrating how certain ways of interacting with media can have larger impacts on social, cultural, and economic contexts.

Paratext, Board Ga, gamesDave EngOctober 29, 2022Board games, paratexts, play, storytelling, transmedia, fandom, participatory culture, newsComment

Square Space

The Fifteen Puzzle, as New York Times crossword editor and puzzle guru Will Shortz has observed, was the first in the modern era to inspire crazes: the precursor to the crossword, the Rubik's Cube, and, most recently, Wordle.

Puzzles, gamesDave EngOctober 27, 2022Games, puzzle, play, groups, solve, wordle, crossword, math, newsComment

OPINION: Social, mental health benefits of playing board games

I personally think that board games can be in box form but also online and even video games. From my childhood to now, I have seen board games grow from tabletop Shoots and Ladders to online and digital games.

Social, Mental, gamesDave EngOctober 26, 2022Board games, brain health, games, hobbies, mental health, playing, newsComment

The Effect of Time and Knowledge on Decision Making

Whilst it may seem that having more time would lead to better decisions, if we look purely at Decision Field Theory, Construal Level Theory tells us that too much time will lead to postponing that decision in favour of other, more concrete decisions that need to be made.

Knowledge, games, timeDave EngOctober 24, 2022Games, decision making, time, knowledge, challenges, reality, newsComment

Ubisoft Will Help Climate Change With its Games – Here’s How

Ubisoft has decided to use its games to help climate change awareness and modify its games accordingly. This decision comes from the UN-led initiative that wants to use the games.

Ubisoft, climate change, gamesDave EngOctober 22, 2022Games, climate. Change, activities, video games, players, newsComment

Machine Learning in Gaming Is Smarter than Before

Machine learning interests players with Procedural Content Generation for gaming. There are many ways to include machine learning in video games, and we now see the expansion of this field in the video game industry.

machine learning, gamesDave EngOctober 20, 2022Gaming, learning, smarter, players, machine learning, AI research, developers, newsComment

Game-Based Learning Prepares K–12 Students for a Digital Future

Video games can be used to teach students about the complex problems in the modern world, and they can teach students how to be better prepared for the future. Interacting with the game itself, and with peers through the games, can teach students skills that will be necessary in a digital future.

gamesDave EngOctober 18, 2022Game-based learning, students, learning, digital, lessons, design, future, newsComment