Digital Gaming Goes Academic

Educators at Ocoee Middle School in Florida have built an online game lab to engage students and sharpen technology skills. Researchers at Rice University have created a virtual game to teach forensics to middle schoolers. North Carolina State University’s IntelliMedia Group has released a digital game to teach microbiology to 8th graders. Digital games for learning academic skills change depending on each student’s ability and course of action. Such games provide personalized feedback in real time—something a traditional classroom often doesn’t offer. Part of the appeal, and the value, of games is the perspective they bring to students.

Rice University partnered with the Forth Worth Museum of Science and History, the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, and CBS, with funding from the National Science Foundation, to create CSI: Web Adventures, a game designed to introduce middle schoolers to forensic science through cases based on the popular TV-show franchise about crime-scene investigations. During the game, students identify shoe prints, test DNA, and interview suspects in order to crack the case. But it’s not all fun and games. This is because teachers can’t really afford to play games that are interesting but irrelevant.

More information:

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/03/17/25gaming.h30.html