Digital games can provide a form of "hard fun" that engages students and fosters higher-order thinking skills. An education professor advocates allowing video games in schools to help tech-savvy students learn. Several educational philosophers dating back to Plutarch supported active and relevant learning through social interaction, similar to video games. Creating digital games allows students to develop important cognitive, metacognitive, and affective skills in a challenging context.

1. Digital Games ... "hard fun" An exploration by staff and students of Belmore South Public School

5. "The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled." Plutarch (46 - 127) www.sgipt.org/hm/gesch/plut0r1.jpg

11. Games are thus the most ancient and time-honored vehicle for education. They are the original educational technology, the natural one, having received the seal of approval of natural selection. We don't see mother lions lecturing cubs at the chalkboard; we don't see senior lions writing their memoirs for posterity. The Art of Computer Game Design by Chris Crawford 1982 http://www.vancouver.wsu.edu/fac/peabody/game-book/Coverpage.html Chris Crawford http://www.etravelphotos.com/photo.php?pid=2164 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/6530827.stm http://photovault.com/show.php?cat=People/Little/gPlaygrounds?tg=PLGVolume01/PLGV01P08_18

17. By engaging children in conversations about learning new games, I observe most directly the greater sophistication about learning that is developing among children—for example, by asking a child to help me learn. To do this, you have to listen sensitively because most do not have a developed vocabulary for talking about how to learn. But if you take the time to listen, you will find that many surprisingly young people have very definite and sensible ideas on the subject. You will also verify that the level of discourse and the kind of help they can give you is dramatically superior to what you hear if you try to get them to talk about learning school math. www.papert.org/articles/Doeseasydoit.html Have you listened to the children ?

22. Mission Really Impossible

23. Space Challenge

24. Space Maze

25. Space Adventure

29. Links and References

30. Links and References continued