Games: The Next Generation of Ed Tech by Jim Brazell

1. Spring 2015
Video
Games in
EducationA special digital supplement to ASBJ
02
Games: The Next
Generation of
Ed Tech
06
Gaming and 21st
Century Skills
10
Video Games
Capture Student
Interest

2. 2 asbj.com APRIL 2015
TODAY, THERE IS A HUMAN CAPITAL ARMS RACE
among nations. The race is for invention, innovation,
and transformation—in short, creativity and wealth cre-
ation through science and technology. The popular call
to action is STEM—science, technology, engineering,
and mathematics.
Most people define STEM as a set of jobs (roughly 6
percent of the U.S. workforce), disciplines (science and
mathematics or engineering), or even pedagogy (linking
engineering, science, and math through software design
and even the arts). To fully understand STEM, you must
also connect the dots to social transformation, public
policy, public-private partnership, and global innovation.
In this regard, STEM is also:
1) A catalyst redefining social institutions including
family, work, economy, education, law, and government;
2) Public policy including science and technology research
and development (R&D) investment;
3) Public-private strategy for wealth creation, workforce
preparation, educational transformation, and national
security; and,
4) A measure of innovation in education, workforce, and
economic development systems.
STEM change is affecting jobs, disciplines, subjects,
pedagogy, public policy, public-private partnership, mea-
surement of innovation, and the structure and change of
social institutions. In K-12 education practice, STEM is
the systemic preparation of citizens to meet the current
and evolving challenges of the world—preparation for
our students’ future rather than our past. With regard to
STEM, social change will soon drive educational change
to a standard of K-12 education that will soon require com-
puter and software literacy across the disciplines.
To support public school STEM education and the
broader innovation agenda trumpeted by industry, govern-
ment, and academic actors over the past decade, the U.S.
Jim Brazell
Games: The Next Generation
of Ed Tech
2 asbj.com MAY 2015

3. MAY 2015 asbj.com 3
EdTech
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
has spent millions of dollars on research, development,
and commercialization of a new generation of educational
technology—games and game tools for education. The
most compelling aspect of this investment is the catalyst is
a requirement for talent (labor) who can design and code
software and design a next generation of robotic, or cyber
physical computer systems (think drones as well as cars,
trains, planes, and rocket ships).
Investments by DARPA and moves by the U.S. Depart-
ment of Education and the White House Office of Science
and Technology Policy have set the stage for reallocation
of $3.1 billion in funding for STEM. Part of this money
has been used to seed several hundred million dollars, by
the author’s calculation, to games for learning, computer
science education, and digital design for next generation
manufacturing (using 3-D printers and 3-D software stan-
dards for mechatronic engineering such as CATIA).
DEFENSE TRAINING SPURS NEXT GENERATION OF ED TECH
The connection between STEM and video games may
seem strange for many because we generally perceive
video games as entertainment. However, the very first use
of a computer in a classroom in America used simula-
tion-based computer games.
This first use of a computer-based simulation game was
by Gen. Robert F. McDermott, founding academic Dean
of the U.S. Air Force Academy, in the 1960s. McDermott
taught astronaut candidates space physics through using a
model of the solar system.
This is what we call serious games today. A common
definition of serious games is the use of video games for
purposes other than entertainment. Game genres include
role-playing and strategy games for improving health,
learning, and operational technology use. A second catego-
ry of serious games, problem-solving environments, is also
emerging today.
Identified in 2004 by the author and a team of re-
searchers in Video Games: Implications for Texas Community
and Technical Colleges, problem-solving environments are
software-programming environments designed for real
world research and development. Download the TSTC.
edu Video Games report free at: http://forecasting.tstc.
edu/forecasts/video-games.
The contemporary movement to use commercial off-
the-shelf video game technology for learning was ignited
by DARPA DARWARS in 2003. According to Jason Robar,
DARPA’s lead game industry consultant for the project,
“DARWARS was used to prove the efficacy of games to
achieve learning objectives for combat soldiers.”
Lightly foreshadowing the book Ender’s Game,
DARWARS is important because it is the first learning
game platform designed to connect training, rehears-
al, and operational battle systems for performance
improvement.
FROM FRINGE TO MAINSTREAM
According to Skip Smith, President, iCarnegie Global
Learning: “Led by DARPA, video games are moving
into the mainstream space occupied by computer-based
training and more traditional e-learning…” For exam-
ple, one of the DARPA Engage projects, Computer Sci-
ence Student Network (CS2N) offers game, robot, and
media design and programming online to build student
interest in computational and design thinking. Learn
more at http://www.cs2n.org.
CS2N offers integrated robotics design, including
computer science/programming and mechanical engi-
neering. Technically, the design practice for integrating
cyber and mechanical engineering is called mechatron-
ics. A multidisciplinary design process, mechatronics
integrates mechanical systems and computers, software,
and electronics to achieve optimal performance in me-
chanical systems such as electric car motors.
In CS2N, teachers can set up virtual classrooms
and interact with students related to their progress in
thematic learning content. While mechatronics, video
games, or media may be the practice, the educational
lessons are also about topics such as proportional rea-
soning, geometry, or trigonometry.
For example, CS2N has a free game called Expedi-
tion Atlantis that combines robots and fantasy to teach
elementary and middle school students about propor-
tional reasoning, a big idea in mathematics that leads
to Algebra readiness. Expedition Atlantis integrates an
engaging story, an in-game measurement toolkit, a robot
transformer that enables players to modify their robots,
differentiated instruction, badges that enable teachers
to track students’ progress, and abstraction bridges
designed to generalize a student’s understanding.
According to Robin Shoop, the principal investi-
gator of CS2N, “Researchers have tested the game

4. 4 asbj.com APRIL 2015
in classrooms and have developed a comprehensive
teacher’s guide that models how the game can be used
in classrooms.” There is a follow-up game called Ruins
of Atlantis, with the same level of support as Expedition
Atlantis. The game will teach students how to write
computer software.
“CS2N’s badges are also illustrative of next genera-
tion assessment moving into the marketplace. Badges
typically denote one’s demonstration of learned skill,
rather than demonstrating knowledge proficiency inde-
pendent of contextual performance,” Shoop explains.
The remedial aspect of games can identify learning
needs and present the appropriate instruction in the
context of use, at the point in time of need. According
to iCarnegie’s Smith, “The adoption of video games by
the global military-industrial base, global government
agencies, and the presence of DARPA says one thing:
Games, especially modeling and simulation-based learn-
ing games, are what is next for educational technology.”
The holy grail of educational technology here has been
a desire to dial in remediation the way games remediate
learning based on performance.
FROM PLAY AND LEARNING TO DESIGN AND INVENTION
Think of the new emerging era of games as one where 3-D
environments and models of the natural and man-made
world become available through open source (free soft-
ware) projects. For example, there is a layered 3-D browser
from Google dating back to 2012. This model is not a
game—but many of the same tools and techniques used
for games production are fueling innovation in human
health, architecture, movie effects, and many other areas.
Zygote Media offers access to the human browser for
free at Zygotebody.com. You can also subscribe for $4 a
month or $38 a year. Models like ZygoteBody.com are
completely transforming online learning from click and
browse linear web browsing models to 3-D immersive
experience.
Another leading human modeling system is vis-
iblebody.com, while Jerry Heneghan and his team
are creating Biogears. This is a multi-year software
development program funded by the Defense Medical
Research Development Program and administered by
the U.S. Army’s Telemedicine & Advanced Technology
Research Center. Under this program, Heneghan’s team
is creating an open source, extensible virtual physio-
logical human software engine that is made available
via an Apache 2.0 distribution license. The engine can
be used as a standalone application or integrated with
simulators, sensor interfaces, and models of all fidelities
to drive medical education, research, and training. See
www.biogearsengine.com.
These systems are being used for research and
development in clinical settings. Now the learning
tools available to schools are being adopted, at very low
cost, at the same time the tools are state-of-the-art in
industry and academic R&D. It’s unprecedented for K-12
schools to have access to this level of R&D innovation,
in near real-time.
It is as if the economy driving innovation in comput-
er processors, memory, storage, and bandwidth is now
applied to educational technology in the form of open
source software. The impact is leading edge knowledge
and tools available to schools at a fraction of the cost of
other media, which is often out of date by the time it is
published as a book or online web site.
Smith from iCarnegie, explains, “The primary goal
[of these games and problem-solving environments] is
to enhance student learning outcomes related to the
use and programming of software to affect social and
economic transformation.”
For example, 3-DEXPERIENCE, ultimately funded
by DARPA, places the power of design into the hands of
teachers and students, supported by public-private part-
nership, to create real-world designs for competitions
and to meet social needs in one’s community. Students
use the software to design, test, and manufacture solar
cars, robots for FIRST Robotics competitions, or any-
thing they can imagine.
A game-like production and programming environ-
ment, 3-DEXPERIENCE is a problem-solving environ-
4 asbj.com MAY 2015
EdTech

5. APRIL 2015 asbj.com 5
Gaming
ment—a digital collaboration sandbox where students
can design cyber and physical systems including com-
plex computer and mechanical systems such as trains,
planes, automobiles, and robots. DARPA’s investment
has done much to fuel mainstream use of 3-D printers
in schools, but it is the software where one can con-
ceive, design, and even make any operational technolo-
gy. Learn more at: http://academy.3-Ds.com.
Schools can purchase the Dassault Systems suite of
engineering, collaboration, and communications tools
for $10,000—a system that retails for $3 million for
commercial use and $1.5 million for higher education.
With 3-D game engineering tools, children in high
schools throughout America and the world are design-
ing a new generation of computers—cyber physical sys-
tems, computers integrated with motors, and robots. A
new generation of computing requires a new generation
of engineers—people capable of integrating knowledge
across fields and acting beyond the disciplines to solve,
where possible, the world’s grand challenges.
LEARNING THROUGH PLAY
Video games, serious games, and problem-solving envi-
ronments hold the promise of teaching about and even
solving some of the complex challenges we face in the
21st century. If you are interested to learn what serious
games can do for your school today, try one. Here are
two that are free:
Radix Endeavor, from MIT Education Arcade and
Filament Games, is a massive multi-player online
role-playing game for high school STEM. In de-
velopment today, Radix Endeavor is a quest-based
game with adventures in biology, algebra, geometry,
probability, and statistics. Players in Radix assume the
role of a scientist developing hypotheses, conducting
experiments, and defining how biological and math-
ematical systems function. Learn more at: https://
www.radixendeavor.org.
Whyville is designed for children 8- to 14-years-old.
Launched in 1999, Whyville is a massive multi-player
online role-playing game with a primarily female
demographic. Rather than a single game, Whyville
is a virtual world hosting 100 plus games on topics
such as art, politics, environment, energy, health,
diet, science, mathematics, and careers. Jim Bower, a
computational neurobiologist, founded the Whyville
virtual world. Learn more at www.whyville.net.
STEM-based global education is the way to
well-rounded students. Topics of STEM and global edu-
cation, or what I call classical contemporary education,
is future for our schools. Rather than sacrificing human-
ities and arts for STEM, the innovative schools system-
atically integrate modern technologies and processes
into the fabric of classical instruction. Rather rejecting
the old ways, or shunning the new technology and
knowledge, schools create thinking and caring students
who are technologically literate global citizens.
The key to understanding video games in the context
of STEM change is to experience Whyville.net from the
point of view of your students. According to Bower, who
is chairman and CEO of parent company, Numedeon,
"Whyville is designed to engage children in a virtual
version of a global world, immersing them in issues
important for their futures, including intercultural
relations, human rights, gender equity, economic and
environmental sustainability, as well as the traditional
disciplines such as art, music, design, science, technol-
ogy, and environmental science applied in a new and
immediate way to their own virtual lives."
Whyville expresses who we are, our art and our
world, and it provides an opportunity for children to
learn in a natural way—through play.
Jim Brazell (jim@armour.io) will deliver a general session
keynote to the International Society for Performance Im-
provement in the Spring of 2015. He is CEO of armour.io, a
cybersecurity firm based in San Antonio, Texas. In collab-
oration with Bob Allen, from IDEAS Orlando, his work has
contributed to learning designs for CASIS, the International
Space Station, and the Dr. Philips Performing Arts Center, in
Orlando. For the past 13 years, Brazell has been a featured
speaker at NSBA and NSBA T&L events. In 2003-04, he was
project manager for DARPA’s Digital Warrior, designing vid-
eo games to improve decision making for Army Battle Cap-
tains. In 2009, Brazell was the only person to give comments
to OSTP and the President’s Council of Advisors on Science
and Technology (PCAST) on the topic of STEM and modern
career and technical education (CTE). Learn more about
Brazell’s message about STEM, social change, and emerging
technology at http://www.ventureramp.com.
MAY 2015 asbj.com 5

6. How do you use online games as an
educational tool?
The best way for kids to be engaged is
not for me to lead them down a linear
path so that every student follows the
same path to the end, and every student
is marked on how much or how little
they’ve deviated from that path.
I’m looking to draw inspiration from
game designers, to make my class the
kind of class where instruction is differ-
entiated for different types of learners.
Kids have multiple means of representa-
tion of their knowledge, and I’m provid-
ing lots of different “hooks” for kids to
engage with the content that I’m trying
to teach, in ways that are personal and
meaningful and relevant to them.
Can you describe a classroom project
you’ve done that has involved gaming?
My students are just finishing up a project
right now that I gave them to build me
a swimming pool in Minecraft, but the
swimming pool needs to be a torus, which
is basically a doughnut shape. It could
never exist in real life, but in Minecraft it
can—though it’s a very difficult engineer-
ing challenge.
It’s what I would call a true “group”
challenge, in the sense that you need
everybody’s input. You need people who
understand the physics of water. You need
people who understand how the materials
work. You need people who are organizing
the project and gathering materials and
resources. Everyone has something to do.
This is a project that no single child
could complete on his own, because the
scale is so massive. It involves mathemat-
ics, an understanding of scale, and a lot
of executive ability in terms of planning.
I had the students create artifacts as they
went, either reflections or videos about
the thinking they were putting into the
project. To me, the important part is not
the doughnut-shaped swimming pool—it’s
the process they went through and how
they self-organized.
6 asbj.com MAY 2015
Dennis Pierce
GAMING AND TWENTY
FIRST CENTURY SKILLS
Computer science teacher Douglas
Kiang says digital games have
helped make his students better
problem solvers and collaborators
What tangible benefits have you
observed from these kinds of activities?
More substantive collaboration. Kids
rely on each other to share information,
rather than coming to me as the sole
source of information about how to
do something. They’re already used to
learning from games and from YouTube.
How do you do something? They’ll look
it up. And if they don’t find it, they’ll
figure it out and film it—and they’ll put
it up on YouTube.
My students who have been using
games in the classroom are better at
teaching each other how to do things
as a result of their game play. The kids
know each other better, and they trust
each other more. That really helps.
Also, taking a large problem and
breaking it down into smaller steps,
or collaborating by having different
groups do different things—that helps
to scaffold the collaborative process
more effectively than anything they
could do outside of the game. So when I
ask my students how to build a dough-
DOUGLAS KIANG
Manyschoolsystemsnowvalueso-called“21stcenturyskills”asmuchascorecurriculum
skillslikereadingandwriting.Problemsolving,criticalthinking,creativity,andcollaboration—
thesearethekindsofskillsthatdigitalgamesareperfectforhoning,sayseducatorDouglas
Kiang.
Kiang,whoteachescomputerscienceatPunahouSchoolinHonolulu,Hawaii,isanauthor,
speaker,andeducationaltechnologytrainer.HeoftenusescomputergamessuchasCiviliza-
tion,SimCity,andMinecraftassettingsforacademicprojects.

7. MAY 2015 asbj.com 7
nut-shaped swimming pool, they say,
“OK, what are the steps we need to do
to accomplish that? We need design
experts, we need people who can collect
resources, and we need people who can
provide security for the group while
they’re working.” Taking a large problem
and breaking it into smaller steps is an
essential part of critical thinking—and
we model that through games.
HOW WOULD YOU RESPOND TO CRITICS
WHO ARE SKEPTICAL OF GAMING’S
POTENTIAL AS A TEACHING TOOL?
Games have a place in the classroom,
but they shouldn’t be used for free time
or for recess. They should be used the
same way you would use a video in class.
Sometimes we watch a video in class and
then have a discussion about what the
characters are thinking. But games are
just so much more powerful, because
they’re so much more immersive. Instead
of watching a video about Columbus, why
not be Columbus? When you got to the
New World, what did you do? Why did
you do those things?
Teachable moments occur during
those discussions. And that’s why you
need a good teacher. The games aren’t go-
ing to teach the kids. The games on their
own are just entertainment. A teacher
helps kids make sense of the decision
that they made in the gaming context.
And a good game allows for different
ways to solve problems—as in real life.
Dennis Pierce (denniswpierce@gmail.com)
is a freelance writer who has been covering
education and technology for nearly two
decades.
Games like Minecraft and SimCity
are being used in classrooms for
instruction.
Gaming
Publisher Thomas J. Gentzel
Editor-in-Chief Kathleen Vail
Senior Editor Del Stover
Contributing Editors Nora Carr, Glenn Cook
Graphic Designer Chris Rogers
Production Assistant Donna J. Stubler
Senior Manager, Circulation Fulfillment
Liana L.Glasco
Advertising Contact J Daly Associates
advertising@nsba.org
National Offices
1680 Duke St.,Alexandria,VA 22314
703.838.6722, Fax 703.549.6719
Editorial editorial@asbj.com
Subscriptions asbj@icnfull.com
Advertising advertising@nsba.org
Letters letter@asbj.com
Reprint Permissions reprint@asbj.com
Article Submission articles@asbj.com
Founding Publisher William George Bruce
1891-1912
American School Board Journal (ASBJ) is published
by the National School Boards Association.
Thomas J. Gentzel, Executive Director
Marie S. Bilik, Deputy Executive Director
ASBJ is a member of
Association Media & Publishing
(AM&P) and the Association
of Educational Publishers
(EdPress).
Opinions expressed by this magazine or its authors do
not necessarily reflect positions of the National School
BoardsAssociation.
CUSTOMER SERVICE CENTER: (800) 669-0071; Fax
(215) 788-6887; email asbj@icnfull.com. Hours 9 a.m.
to 5 p.m. EST. American School BoardJournal (ISSN
0003-0953) is published bimonthly inJanuary,March,
May,July,September,and November at 1680 Duke St.,
Alexandria,VA22314 by the National School Boards
Association,an education association incorporated
not-for-profit.Copyright © 2015 by the National School
BoardsAssociation.All rights reserved.American
School BoardJournal is registered in the U.S.Patent and
Trademark Office.Periodical postage paid atAlexandria,
VA,and at additional mailing offices.Subscription price:
United States and possessions,$39.00 a year; Canada,
add $6 for postage and handling ($45.00 a year); all
others,add $25 ($64.00 a year).Single copies: $10.
Change of address: Send change of address information
and a label from a previous issue to American School
BoardJournal,1680 Duke St.,Alexandria,VA22314.
Allow four to six weeks for address change to be
processed.Subscription renewal information must
reach magazine office before expiration date to ensure
uninterrupted delivery,POSTMASTER: Send address
changes to American School BoardJournal,1680 Duke
St.,Alexandria,VA22314.Email addresses and URLs in
this publication were active at press time.

8. 8 asbj.com MAY 2015
How important is data security?
The system’s security must be rock-
solid tight. School boards deal with
confidential data—health information,
student discipline, land purchasing,
and lawsuits—that has to be secured,
by law. Data must be encrypted and
be maintained on a secure server.
With BoardDocs, we believe board
documents must be as secure as
banking information. Local copies of
the data and email are very insecure.
Information needs to be physically and
electronically secured.
What about legal issues?
With BoardDocs we make sure the system
complies with applicable laws. Public
information needs to be distributed to
the public easily. We provide districts
the ability to make sure data that is
supposed to be secure cannot be seen by
the public. The system should provide
no collaboration with board members. If
there’s collaboration, it is an electronic
meeting and it would have to be open
to the public. If over half of the board
THE FUTURE OF TECHNOLOGY TOOLS:
SCHOOL BOARDS AND STUDENT
ARI IOANNIDES
PAPERLESS BOARD MEETINGS—
using an electronic system for agendas,
calendars, and other board materials—
can save districts thousands of dollars
in copying and paper costs, as well as in
staff time.
The benefits are many, but a pa-
perless e-governance system requires
changes in board culture, and consid-
eration of training, security, and legal
issues, according to President and Chief
Architect of Emerald Data Solutions Ari
Ioannides. His company developed the
BoardDocs e-governance system.
Ioannides talked with ASBJ Edi-
tor-in-Chief Kathleen Vail about what
board members should know when
they’re considering moving to an e-gov-
ernance system.
How much of a change is it to go
paperless?
Board members and administrators
perceive going to a board management
service as a radical change—like going
from a telegraph machine to an iPhone.
It’s not that radical. Done right, using a
board management service should look
like what you’re doing now, just easier—
like going from a typewriter to computer
for word processing. It’s not as dramatic
as people think.
Before widespread use of computers,
people had no concept what it was like
to use one. We all thought learning to
use one would be hard, we were fearful,
but we wanted to do it because there
was a huge benefit. People are most
afraid of using a board management
system right before it gets implemented.
After they’ve have been through train-
ing, the first thing out of their mouth is
why did we wait so long? Anyone who
has used our system loves it and would
never go back. It would be like saying,
“You can’t use the car anymore; you can
use a bike.”
How does a paperless system save time
and money?
Right now, if a district doesn’t have a
board management service, it has staff
gathering documents and printing out
a master copy. Then they go to scanner
and make a PDF. It gets printed, copied,
scanned, posted to the website, then
bound and shipped out to others. Any
changes to the packet starts the pro-
cess over again. If a board meets twice
a month, this is done 24 times a year.
With a good board management service,
the material automatically gets released
to board members and everyone else
who needs it via the district’s website.
A district can see $20,000 to $30,000
in cost savings the first year in labor,
printing, and mailing costs.

9. MAY 2015 asbj.com 9
members see each other’s electronic
comments and notes, you have a quorum.
What else should board members look
for?
Ease of use is huge. Most board
members are like me—born before
1960. Technology is not second nature.
Any board management system has got
to be easy to use. About 30,000 board
members use BoardDocs. This might
be the only computer software they
use. Also, no matter how they get to
it, whether it is an iPad, computer, or
laptop, it needs to look the same.
We know it’s important for school board
members to be good role models in
using technology so students can see
that adults are lifelong learners. What
else would you like to add?
When I look over the landscape of
successful leaders in the business world,
they are more than just technically
literate, they are technologists.
Unfortunately, they are also almost all
white men. I believe is our responsibility
to provide each student a firm foundation
that is deep in technology, specifically
the ability to code. Coding is a creative
process that should be integrated into
our education system and our homes at
an early age. Like creative writing, not
every child will grow up to be the next
great American novelist, but without
integrating the basics of creative writing
in our education system from an early
age, no child will reach that pinnacle
of literary success. Likewise, without a
system that integrates coding into early
education and the ability for interested
youth to dive deeply into programming,
she may never develop the next great
technology innovation. We need a new
systematic approach to creative coding
that enables girls and people of color
to reach their full potential in this new
environment.
Gaming

10. Michael D. Gallagher
Video games capture student
interest and produce results
10 asbj.com MAY 2015
VIDEO GAMES ARE UBIQUITOUS IN AMERICAN
homes, as well as on smartphones, tablets, and other
portable devices. Their knack for helping kids under-
stand complex topics in fun and accessible ways is driv-
ing teachers around the country to incorporate games in
their classrooms. But because we call them “games,” the
vital role they play in education, broadly, and helping
students to understand crucial STEM topics, in particu-
lar, remain critically under-appreciated.
Today’s video games not only capture students’
interest—helping mathematics, physics, geometry, lit-
erature, computer programming, and historical events
come to life—but they also result in concrete learning
improvements. A new survey from the Games and
Learning Publishing Council, for example, found that
nearly 80 percent of teachers who use digital games
in their classroom reported that the games helped im-
prove students’ mastery of core subjects. Additionally,
more than 70 percent said that games boosted student
understanding of “non-cognitive skills,” such as coop-
eration and collaboration.
Test scores reflect this progress. Students in Orange
County, Florida, who played the math game Dimension
M over an 18-week period scored significantly higher,
and demonstrated greater gains in their scores from
pre-test to post-test on district benchmark exams than
their peers who had not played the games. Schools in
Nevada that used ST Math, a game focused on abstract
math concepts, more than doubled the percentage of
students meeting or exceeding state math standards
compared to schools without the program.
In addition, an increasing number of teachers and
school administrators recognize the educational value
of video game design courses, especially their value in
imparting the STEM skills necessary to succeed in our
21st century economy. Education officials in several
states have standardized game design curriculum. The
Texas State Board of Education approved standards for
a high school Game Programming and Design course,
for instance. The North Carolina State Board of Edu-
cation approved introductory and advanced Game Art
and Design courses for high school students.
Some schools even use games to provide a frame-
work for their overall curriculum. Teachers at Quest
to Learn, a public school with New York City and Chi-
cago campuses, use a teaching model that draws direct

11. MAY 2015 asbj.com 11
inspiration from video games to create
challenging learning experiences.
Games also play a direct role in many
Quest to Learn classrooms, as teachers
require students to design their own
video games or play them as part of
their coursework. Each of these design
and development programs not only
offers students a solid foundation for
promising careers in the game indus-
try—and for continuing their studies
at one of the nearly 400 colleges and
universities that offer video game-relat-
ed courses and degrees—but also seeds
the valuable STEM skills crucial to the
modern economy.
Recognizing these successes,
policymakers are encouraging greater
improvements in educational video
games. For example, the U.S. Depart-
ment of Education provided initial
funding for the nonprofit Digital Prom-
ise to spur advancements in learning
technology. The center draws upon
the expertise of education leaders,
researchers, and developers and offers
grants to academics, nonprofits, and
businesses that research and develop
new educational technologies, includ-
ing simulations, video games, virtual
worlds, and avatars that serve as tutors.
The White House has also elevated
educational video games to national
prominence. The Senior Advisor for
Digital Media within the White House
Office of Science and Technology Pol-
icy, a position created by the current
administration, researches and shapes
policies around games that improve
education.
The video game industry is also
fostering educational advancements, with
the Games, Learning, and Assessment
Lab (GlassLab) serving as an illustration
of collaborative impact. GlassLab was
cofounded by Entertainment Software
Association (ESA), Institute of Play,
Electronic Arts, the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation, and the MacArthur Founda-
tion. A first-of-its-kind game incubator,
GlassLab connects commercial game
designers with education experts to
reimagine the next generation of learning
games and education platforms.
Last year, GlassLab launched its
second game—Mars Generation One:
Argubot Academy—which it developed
in conjunction with NASA. The game
tests students' mastery of the elements
of argumentation, including claims,
evidence, and reasoning—pillars of
the scientific process. To complement
its own educational games, GlassLab
examines popular game titles to iden-
tify elements that enhance classroom
performance. The lab followed up the
success of its SimCityEDU program (an
online community and resource hub
for educators to share learning tools
and assessments that use SimCity to
encourage students to think critically
about the challenges facing modern
cities) with SimCityEDU: Pollution Chal-
lenge!, which focuses on environmental
issues.
ESA also sponsors the National
STEM Video Game Challenge, a game
design competition that challenges
young developers to create games that
generate interest and provide instruc-
tion in STEM topics. Now in its fourth
year, the challenge enlists private com-
panies and nonprofit groups to encour-
age middle and high school students to
pursue such subject areas. Additionally,
ESA works directly with students and
teachers to encourage new educational
applications of video game technolo-
gy through the ESA Foundation, our
industry’s charitable arm. Dedicated
to supporting positive programs and
opportunities that make a difference
in the lives of America’s youth, the
ESA Foundation offers scholarships for
students pursuing video game related
degrees and grant programs for inven-
tive educators. In particular, its annual
Education Challenge Grant recognizes
and rewards forward-thinking educators
who are integrating video games and
cutting-edge educational technology
into their classrooms.
Video games have tremendous poten-
tial to transform our education system
and strengthen learning outcomes, but
we can only realize that potential if
teachers, school administrators, parents,
and business leaders work together. We
encourage the educational communi-
ty to embrace the movement toward
educational uses of video games and
to partner with our industry to expand
and enhance these programs, which will
better prepare our country's youth for
the modern economy.
Michael D. Gallagher is president & CEO of
Entertainment Software Association.
Gaming

12. A FEW YEARS AGO, AS THE VIDEO
game Minecraft was exploding in
popularity, long-time educator and avid
gamer Joel Levin saw an opportunity for
someone to create a version of Minecraft
specifically for schools. He just didn’t
expect it would be him.
Published by the Swedish company
Mojang, Minecraft allows players to build
and explore landscapes out of textured
cubes in a computer-generated 3D world.
Players can choose from among three
modes of play: a creative mode where they
have unlimited resources to build and the
ability to fly; a survival mode where they
must acquire resources to build, while
maintaining their health; and an adventure
mode where they explore custom maps
created by other players.
Minecraft “has a lot to offer to a teach-
er,” Levin says. “It’s so open- ended and
flexible that you can really use it in almost
any type of lesson.”
A history teacher can download a map
that recreates ancient Rome, for instance,
and have students explore the city or build
Roman aqueducts. Science teachers can
design experiments in the game to have
students test concepts such as gravity or
fluid dynamics. Math teachers can have
students learn math as they figure out how
to build various structures.
“It’s really more of a platform than a sin-
gle game experience, and you can layer in
whatever you want on top of it,” Levin says.
“To my great surprise, my blog went
viral,” he says. “I ended up with all these
Twitter followers and people watching my
YouTube videos, and almost immediately
other teachers were calling me, asking:
How can we get this going in our schools?”
At the time, Minecraft was challeng-
ing for teachers to use in a school setting.
“I realized there was an opportunity for
somebody to make a more school-friendly
version that takes away some of the barri-
ers to entry,” Levin says. “I did not expect
that this would be me.”
But one day Levin got a call from his
future business partner, an entrepreneur in
Finland who was finishing up his business
degree.
“He said, ‘What if we take your class-
room experience and what you’re doing
with Minecraft, and we approach Mojang
… about making a licensed school ver-
sion?’” Levin recalls. “I was very skeptical;
it’s not what I was planning to do with
my career. But one thing led to another,
and we did it. Mojang liked the idea, and
they’ve been incredibly supportive of their
game being used in schools. We just built it
up from there.”
MinecraftEdu now has more than
3,000 users in at least 40 countries. The
company offers a cloud-based solution for
hosting a Minecraft classroom server, so
students and teachers can connect and
12 asbj.com MAY 2015
Dennis Pierce
MINECRAFT AS TEACHING TOOL
Veteran educatorJoel Levin believes
Minecraft is the perfect tool for teaching
a wide range of subjects.Here's why.
play together with minimal setup—as well
as a library of free lessons and activities for
using Minecraft in the classroom.
While students can learn core skills and
content within the game, Levin says, it’s
also useful for teaching more intangible
skills—such as resiliency.
“When you’re playing a challenging
game, part of the process is that you fail
over and over again, and you refine your
strategy,” he says. “You try different ap-
proaches and tactics. There are studies that
show gamers have a higher resiliency and
are more able to rebound from failure in an
academic setting than non-gamers. These
are the kinds of characteristics we want
our students to have. We want them to see
learning as a process, and not just as filling
in bubbles on a test and getting a right or
wrong answer.”
Levin points to Minecraft’s ability to
engage students as another key benefit.
“There’s a reason why middle school
libraries all over the country now have
large graphic novel sections,” he says. “It’s
because they have found something that’s
relevant to students, something that kids
are passionate about.” And Minecraft is
a similar tool, he says—one that makes
learning more relevant to students’ lives.
“I have teachers telling me things like, ‘I
had this kid and I never could connect with
him, he hated school and he hated coming
in—but now he’s the first one there in the
morning, and he’s always asking if he can
do an extra project in Minecraft,’” Levin
concludes. “When it all works, and all the
pieces are there, it’s pretty magical.”
Dennis Pierce (denniswpierce@gmail.com) is
a freelance writer who has been covering edu-
cation and technology for nearly two decades.

13. MAY 2015 asbj.com 13
Gaming
EDUCATIONAL GAMES
Minecraft has caught on as a teaching tool in many schools,but there are
many other educational games worth exploring as well.Here are a few:
American Democracy
democracygame.org/login.php
Created for the National Conference of State Legis-
lators by D’Vinci, this free online role-playing game
helps students in grades six through eight better
understand the workings of democracy in a fun,
immersive environment. Players assume the role
of an elected official, receiving their own office and
staff. They must listen closely to their constituents,
learn the details of each issue, and interact and
compromise with their fellow legislators. Feedback
is given at the end of every level, showing users
how effective they were serving as a representa-
tive. The site includes teacher resources to help
them review their students’ progress.
iCivics
www.icivics.org
Founded by former Supreme
Court Justice Sandra Day O’Con-
nor, this free website includes
multiple role-playing games in
which students learn how the
three branches of government
work. The iCivics games place
students in different civic roles
and challenge them to address
real-world problems and issues.
For instance, in Do I Have a Right?,
students run their own legal firm
specializing in constitutional law.
In Executive Command, students
get to be the President.
Lure of the Labyrinth
labyrinth.thinkport.org
Developed by MIT’s Education Arcade, this free
game targets middle school pre-algebra students. It
includes several math-based puzzles wrapped into
a narrative in which students work to find their lost
pet, while saving the world from monsters. Students
progress through three sections of the game, each
related to a different math strand that is part of the
pre-algebra curriculum: proportions, variables and
equations, and number operations.
Mayan Mysteries
www.mayan-mysteriesgame.com/mayan_mysteries
From Dig-It Games, this hands-on archeological adventure has stu-
dents explore the ancient Mayan culture. A looter has been digging
up Mayan sites, clearly looking for something specific. It’s up to
students to solve the mystery, with help from Professor Alex Quinn
and his niece and nephew, Fiona and Charlie. Other games from Dig-
It have students explore ancient Rome, Pompeii, and Egypt.
PLEx Life Science
www.filamentgames.com/plex-
life-science
Developed by Filament Games,
this online bundle includes four
main game-based curriculum
units and two enrichment units for
middle schoolers. In Reach for the
Sun, students manage a flower’s
seedling to help it grow and repro-
duce before winter arrives, learning
about concepts like photosynthe-
sis, pollination, and plant anatomy.
In Crazy Plant Shop, students learn
about genes and inheritance by
breeding zany plants. Cell Com-
mand gives students the ability to
shrink down to a microscopic level
and captain their own “cell ship”
and crew in the human body, and
Fossil Forensics turns students into
prehistoric experts examining a
collection of ancient fossils.
The Radix
Endeavor
www.radixendeavor.org
Created by MIT’s Education Arcade
and Scheller Teacher Education
Program with funding from the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,
this immersive, multiplayer online
game supports high school math
and biology instruction. In the
game, students explore a virtual
island world with unknown plants
and animals. They investigate and
collect evidence to help inhabi-
tants solve some of the island’s
problems. Teachers can assign
quests to students and can track
their progress in the game, which
is available free of charge.
SimCityEDU: Pollution
Challenge!
www.glasslabgames.org/games/SC
Developed by GlassLab Inc. in partnership with
Electronic Arts, SimCityEDU is a school-specific
version of SimCity, an open-ended game in which
players develop and manage a virtual city. Target-
ed to students in grades six to eight, SimCityEDU
is aligned with the Next-Generation Science
Standards and is available free of charge. In the
game, students play the role of mayor, addressing
the environmental impact of their decisions while
balancing the employment needs and happiness
of the city’s residents. Designed in partnership
with assessment experts from ETS and Pearson,
the program assesses and reports on students’
ability to solve problems and explain the relation-
ships in complex systems as they are playing the
game.