This article asks how good video and computer game designers manage to get new players to learn long, complex and difficult games. The short answer is that designers of good games have hit on excellent methods for getting people to learn and to enjoy learning. The longer answer is more complex. Integral to this answer are the good principles of…

Summarizes conditions in the primary schools that suggest the appropriateness of using simulation games and describes the People GRID and Living Together Series for developing learning about the real world and the skills necessary for effective participation in it. (EAO)

Describes three simple games that do not involve numbers and that can be used to teach children problem-solving strategies and math skills. The games are Tick-Tack-Toe; Jest, a game that uses a blocking strategy; and Nim, a game that uses a capturing strategy. All three games force students to plan ahead and calculate possible outcomes using…

Most teachers only dream of their students spending the amount of motivation, attention, passion, and critical thinking on their classes that some students do playing videogames. This investigation examines the success, pitfalls, and lessons learned from incorporating videogame-like components into an educational technology class. For example,…

Free-form games are applicable to a range of problem-solving situations. This document discusses gaming as a procedure for organized study of the complex problems entailed in confrontations and crises. The major focus of the booklet is on the various forms of this game type, the kinds of problems to which it is best adapted, and some approaches to…

Provided is a mathematical recreation to strengthen student mathematics skills. The object of the activity is to build up an expression using the four digits of the current year, without rearranging the digits and using combinations of operations, to equal a prescribed value. Descriptions and examples are included. (RT)

This story is a chemical mystery with an emphasis on qualitative analysis, descriptive chemistry, and forensics. It is as well yet another article in the continuing series, first presented by Thomas Waddell and Thomas R. Rybolt, which presents a scientific problem in mystery format in the context of the popular and beloved characters of Sherlock…

This paper describes in detail the paper-and-pencil POE (Pelham Odd 'R Even) game, in which units of space are the allocated resources. The game is designed to provide an introduction to the rule structure common to the games of EQUATIONS, WFF 'N PROOF, and ON-SENTS & NON-SENTS. Techniques of playing POE, including goals, solutions, moves, scoring…

In February and May 1973, experimental forms of the mathematics game EQUATIONS were used in two seventh-grade classes which had been participating twice a week in EQUATIONS tournaments since the previous September. The purpose of the experimental games was to gain information as to the kinds of mathematical ideas players choose to concern…

Tools for Change, a new course in problem-solving, consists of a series of units, each dealing with a subject area based on a set of heuristic processes or strategies. It assumes that: 1) there is an identifiable and useful set of heuristic processes in problem-solving; ) a language of process will improve communication between problem-solvers; 3)…

Discusses some theorems and properties of figures produced when circles are tangent to one another. (GA)

The authors describe a simulation game for gifted children which involves three factions--government, business, and labor--who have to come to agreement on questions, contracts, and environmental controls. Sections outline pregame activities, statement of the problem, game objectives, the scenario, characters and their goals, procedures, and…

An accessory to a principal's repertoire of techniques used in managing administrative task areas is the role of the principal as an administrative gamesman. (Author/MLF)