What people are saying
Read what people are saying about How Computer Games Help Children Learn, the definitive work on games for learning in the digital age of global competition:
Seymour Papert, Professor Emeritus, Media and Education Technology, MIT Media Lab
‘A must read for anyone who cares about learning…. Studying games–how they are designed and how they are played–is one of the best sources of insight about learning, and Shaffer is an excellent guide to making the most of it.’
Kurt D. Squire, Assistant Professor of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Game Designer
‘Like Dewey, Piaget, and Papert before him, Shaffer challenges us to rethink learning in a new age. He uses vivid examples – backed by solid research – to show what education should look like in the 21st century.‘
Barry Joseph, Online Leadership Director, Global Kids
‘Shaffer offers practical advice to assist parents and educators to respond to his call to radically transform an increasingly outdated educational system…’
Further reading
If you’ve read How Computer Games Help Children Learn and want to learn more about thinking and learning in the digital age you can…
Read papers about epistemic games and the future of learning
Browse a list of related books at amazon.com
Read a bibliographic essay on related readings on amazon.com
Additional suggestions welcome in the comments….
Urban Science in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
In November 2008, the Epistemic Games Research Group collaborated with the Milwaukee Public Schools’ Division of Recreation and Community Services to run a week-long Urban Science game. This version of urban Science was notably different from previous versions. In-game mentors, who in previous versions of the game had been physically present, guided students remotely, via instant messenger. Over a dozen students from Riverside University High School took on the role of urban planners. In an article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Stanley A. Miller writes that, “The students had to consider issues such as affordable housing, parking, ecological issues and crime, while balancing the desires of special interest groups such as businesses, a cultural preservation organization and other community advocates.”
He also quotes epistemic games researcher Elizabeth Bagley, “There are tradeoffs and consequences, and these are things they need to deal with as a planner. They are learning how to really facilitate compromises because there are stakeholders whose goals don’t overlap.”
While the game facilitates collaboration and critical thinking, it also connects young people to the environment and to their neighborhoods. View the full article on the Journal Sentinel website, or a PDF here.
David Williamson Shaffer’s Presentation at Eduverse Symposium 3
In Amsterdam, September 2008, the Eduverse Foundation hosted Eduverse Symposium 3, an event that included noted speakers such as David Williamson Shaffer of Epistemic Games; Philip Rosedale, former CEO of Linden Lab; Julian Lombardi, head of the Croquet Consortium at Duke University; Chuck Hamilton, director of the Center for Advanced Learning at IBM, and many more.
The symposium itself was divided into three main sections: 1) serious gaming and the future of game technology, 2) new virtual platforms and the 3D web, and 3) the science of education and virtual learning in the 21st century.
In his presentation, David Williamson Shaffer argues that “games create worlds” and that “a game is always a culture.” While members of a culture require certain knowledge, skills, and values in order to participate in it, they need to share that culture’s epistemology. As Shaffer explains, that epistemology includes the way that decisions are made and actions are justified in that particular culture. He highlights his work with epistemic games, and differentiates these from educational games that simply entail rote learning. A video of his full talk is available on the Eduverse website.
