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offers practical advice to assist parents and educators to respond to his call to radically transform an increasingly outdated educational system…’
John Seely Brown, Former Chief Scientist of Xerox Corp. and Director of its Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), Senior Fellow, Annenberg Center, USC, Co-author, The Social Life of Information and The Only Sustainable Edge
‘This totally enchanting book shows what education in the 21st century could look like if we are willing to expand our notions of learning in ways that foster productive inquiry and design. Shaffer provides many provocative examples showing how to use simulations, games, and visualizations to get students to think like scholars, engineers, scientists, and other creative thinkers. An extremely readable book….’
Michael McCormick, designer, SimCity 4(tm), game producer of Star Wars – Gungan Frontier(tm) for Lucas Learning, founder of Learning Friends
‘You may have asked yourself if computer games are destroying the minds of our nation’s children. How Computer Games Help Children Learn shows that the exact opposite is true. Parents, educators, and computer game makers take note: by combining years of research and his front-line classroom experiences, Shaffer makes a cogent and compelling argument for the educational power of intelligently crafted games that can serve as tools to help children think and learn about real world problems and their solutions.’
Henry Jenkins, Director, Comparative Media Studies Program, MIT
‘Shaffer brings what he knows as a teacher, father, game designer, and educational researcher to bear on one of the most pressing issues of our time — how do we teach American young people how to innovate? His answer will surprise some — tap the instructional potential of games and simulations which help them to think like professionals. Shaffer’s book moves from vivid case studies and accessible accounts of key ideas from the learning sciences to practical advice on how parents can help their kids learn more from the games they play. This book represents the logical next step in a conversation started by James Paul Gee’s What Video Games Have To Teach Us About Learning and Literacy (Palgrave Macmillan) and Steven Johnson’s Everything Bad Is Good For Us.’
R. Keith Sawyer, Washington University in St. Louis, USA
‘This well-written and important book will introduce parents and teachers to a radical idea: videogames can be good for children. When children play games like Sim City or the Oregon Trail, they learn about urban planning or the American West in spite of themselves. But these games are just the tip of the iceberg; Shaffer describes a wide range of fascinating new learning games…In each chapter, Shaffer advises parents how to pick out a good learning game, how to play it with their children, and how to make sure they are learning from it.’
James Paul Gee, author of What Video Games Have to Teach Us about Learning and Literacy
‘Deep learning, technical learning, learning that leads to the ability to innovate: these are the most important natural resources in our global high-tech world. Will our children be able to compete with kids in China and India? David Shaffer shows us how to mine the potential of video game technologies to transform learning at home, in communities, and in schools.’
Deborah Lowe Vandell, Chair, Department of Education, University of California, Irvine
‘Beautifully written . . . How Computer Games Help Children Learn breaks new ground in exciting ways. What a treat! A book about the development of innovative thinking that is refreshingly innovative… A tour de force.’ -
Ben Sawyer, co-founder, Serious Games Initiative and Games for Health Project
‘Shaffer has provided a key framework for how you marry games-based learning with professional practices to create next-generation training and education powered by videogame technologies and design methods.’ -
David Perkins, author of Smart Schools and Outsmarting IQ
‘Shaffer’s vision productively blurs the border between learning games and learning for the real world.’
Tak-Wai Chan, National Central University, Taiwan
‘Shaffer’s book points out forcefully a paradigm of future schooling: To better prepare our kids for a globally competitive world, we have to bring the thinking, practices, and cultures of various professions into school learning. With convincing examples of simulated professional games that can integrate learning, working, and playing, he proves that this is feasible.’
Yam San Chee, Associate Professor, Learning Sciences & Technologies Academic Group & Learning Sciences Lab, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University
‘This groundbreaking book raises fundamental issues concerning the goals of education and highlights the need for innovative thinkers in the 21st century. Written in a clear, lucid, and direct manner, David Shaffer makes his ideas easily accessible to professional as well as lay readers. The book will benefit educators, school administrators, policy makers, and, most importantly, parents.’
