This year's E-Learn conference has numerous exciting presentations and keynotes. Many speakers will be discussing how education is changing in the forthcoming years. Among them are Dale Stephens who works with the social movement "Uncollege" that empower students to create their own education, Saul Carliner who talks about Massive Online…

Intended to encourage children of all ages to read over the summer, this manual presents library-based programs, crafts, displays, and events with an Olympic theme. Based on responses to earlier Arizona Reading Programs, this manual includes more preschool materials, age-range suggestions on crafts and programs, and more glossy clip art than…

This book is designed to be used as a supplemental instructional resource by teachers of courses and training workshops on a variety of career-related matters. Along with almost 60 games, the book contains background information on numerous career subjects and a six-step game selection model to help users locate the game best suited to achieve…

This 9-12 hour organizational simulation enables participants to assume responsibility for operating a fictional technical college serving 10,000 students by taking on the roles of 10 college officials (president, vice presidents, deans, and campus administrators). Based on interviews with 117 vocational education administrators and instructors…

Instructional gaming, as distinguished from simulation, is defined as any overt instructional or learning format that involves competition and is rule-guided. The literature review identifies five categories of articles on instructional gaming: (1) research, (2) theory, (3) reviews, (4) discussion, and (5) development. Games have been found to…

The receptiveness or preferences of children to certain types of gaming is addressed. This study used six different games with four different classes in grades 1 through 4. The teacher demonstrated how each of the games was played and each class was asked to rate which game they would like to play the most. All involved solving basic facts of the…

A short exercise is presented designed to show in 45-90 minutes some of the aspects of simulation gaming as an educational tool. The simulation involves participants acting as members of a Community Advisory Council to the Board of Trustees and the President of a community college, meeting to discuss budget problems. The council represents diverse…

Eleven lectures on simulation and gaming delivered at a symposium in Western Canada are presented. Three articles concern ways of gaining knowledge about the effectiveness of the simulation method in teaching. Several articles describe the use of simulation in teaching specific areas: home economics education, agricultural engineering, and…

In an experiment conducted under classroom conditions with 8th grade students, the simulation game "Democracy" was shown to be effective at teaching that "log-rolling" is an acceptable part of the legislative process. Two aspects of the game--role identification and game structure--were shown to contribute independently to its effectiveness.…

Describes three games that one can play with or without a computer involving arithmetic, strategy, and problem solving techniques. Lists an abbreviated program for BASIC. Provides information on availability of the variable number game and the ARITHMETICULATOR which does calculations of large numbers and runs on IBM PCs. (RT)

Reviews children's software packages: (1) "Fun 'N Games"--nonviolent games and activities; (2) "Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo"--matching, logic games, and animal facts; (3) "Big Job"--12 logic games with video from job sites; (4) "JumpStart First Grade"--15 activities introducing typical school lessons; and (5) "Read, Write, & Type!"--progressively…

Discusses a study of undergraduates that was conducted to compare the perceived learning effects of mixing cases with either a simple or complex business game in a business policy course. The effective use of cases and of business games is discussed, and course design is explained. (42 references) (LRW)

Investigated fifth-, sixth-, and seventh-graders' ownership of, use of, and attitudes toward computer and video games. Found that more boys than girls owned and used video games, and found gender differences in preferred games. Students enjoyed video and computer games, along with a variety of other activities. (JPB)

The term "game-based learning" has emerged as a general name for the use of computer games in education. Despite early work showing rich inferential learning taking place as a result of gameplay, most game-based learning has been geared towards using a game as a host into which curricular content can be embedded. This approach can be problematic,…

Drawing on the work of researchers in several disciplines, this article describes and discusses methods which can be used for analysing joint activity during computer-based, side-by-side, collaborative activity in educational settings. It is argued that the choice of methods in any particular study should take into account the range of…