2. Presented by Ann Crewdson for The CSLA Conference November 22, 2008

3. By the end of the presentation, you will have:  Identified a useful method for evaluating video games for educational content.  Learned about why engaging children with digital content is important.  An understanding on why using electronic resources is a powerful way to teach children effectively, in classrooms.

4.  Formerly Notables, Established: January 1987. Transformed: February 2007. Chair + 5 Term: Fall, 2 year  Committee Charge, Terms and Criteria for Evaluation:

5. (Scope): Birth to 14 years old. “To select, annotate, and present for publication, within the criteria and procedures established for selection, a biannual list of exemplary computer software and multi-platform media currently available. To define and develop guidelines and criteria for the evaluation of interactive software and electronic media.”

6.  Content must be enhanced by the use of the graphics  Games should be user-friendly  Ease of use  Educational and entertaining  Age-appropriate  Collaborative play

7.  KONAMI Playground  Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree  Animal Genius  Nancy Drew PC Series

8. Challenge Frustration Boredom Game Flow Time Difficulty “Flow”

9. Alphabet Circus and Dinosaur Shapes & Colors  Children refine motor skills  Letter knowledge  Primary colors  Reinforce letter, color, and shape recognition

10.  Activities to improve brain stimulation  Puzzles are both visual and audio  Thinking, memorization, computation, analysis, and identification  Challenge friends  Socialization

11.  Ages: K-2 -- Motivates learners toward goals and learning experiences.  Vocabulary Building, Life-Science Concepts, Sorting/Matching/Categorization  Skills acquired can be carried forth in new games or applied to real world contexts

12.  Requires active problem solving  Encourages nonlinear and higher order thinking  Develops sequential, logical, reading and organizational skills

14.  6 Roadmaps + Executive Summary ◦ Instructional Design ◦ Question Generation & Answering Systems ◦ Simulations and Exploration Environments ◦ Learning Modeling & Assessment ◦ Building & Maintaining Learning Systems ◦ Games for Learning  Multi-disciplinary, multi-year effort ◦ Input from over 100 learning science and computer/information science researchers from academia, industry, DoD, other gov’t ◦ 3 multi-day workshops ◦ Numerous interviews ◦ Detailed description of research priorities, R&D chronology, metrics LS&T Roadmaps

15. Technology Can Make Learning: More productive (quicker mastery, better retention) More compelling More personal More adaptable to local needs More accessible Source: Bloom et al., current technology data from Fletcher (IDA)

16. 1.Immune Attack: basic immunology education for high school (NSF) 2.Discover Babylon: humanities for 8-14 year-olds in classrooms and museums (IMLS)

17. Immune Attack Goals: Teach basic immunology concepts Create a more positive attitude towards biology Help teach young adults to choose better life-style behaviors to protect themselves from infection Expose young adults to the exciting fields of healthcare and biosciences Features: Navigate realistic, biologically accurate settings Explore human body environments, including blood vessels and connective tissue Explore cell structures and teach behaviors using game-based controls Defeat invading bacteria to prevent infection

18.  Highly motivating challenges  Embedded assessments  Scaffolding  Question Generation and Answering  Simulated environments that allow players to build, experiment, operate equipment, explore  Collaboration

19. Goals:  Engage learners, ages 8 – 14, in challenges and mysteries that can only be solved by understanding the origins of writing and the path from pictures to phonetics Mesopotamian society, business practices, and trade  Demonstrate new ways to reassemble artifacts and knowledge about them now spread across many different museum and library collections Features: Accurate historical and scientific information 3D photorealistic simulations of cities & temple complexes that allow open-ended exploration and discovery Contextualization of museum artifacts used by characters in virtual environments Compelling, age-appropriate challenges and assignments

20.  Games support: Active learning Experiential learning Problem-based learning Immediate feedback Learner-centered learning  Games support: Active learning Experiential learning Problem-based learning Immediate feedback Learner-centered learning

21.  Form Partnerships  Youth Advisory  Look in your own backyard  Continue to do Research

22. Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed people can change the world: indeed it's the only thing that ever has! -Margaret Mead

23.  Ann Crewdson Children’s Section Supervisor Issaquah/Sammamish Libraries King County Library System crewdson@kcls.org  Angelique Kopa Materials Selection, Librarian Harford County Public Library kopa@hcplonline.info  Michelle Roper Director, Learning Technologies Federation of American Scientists mroper@fas.org