“Educators Got Game”

I recently read an article by Cindy Long called “Educators Got Game” in the October 2007 issue of NEA Today (p 42-43)    http://www.nea.org/neatoday/0710/trythis.html .  In the article, three or four teachers talk about using video games to reinforce concepts.   Examples that were given are using The Sims in a sociology class where the game player chooses the characters careers which then steer their social and future lives.  Another example is using a game called Civ in a Civilization class because it teaches students what is needed for a civilization to survice in terms of agriculture, commerce and government. 

 I think using games could provide a hands-on avenue for kids to make decisions and then see the consequences of their decisions.  I would love to see this whole avenue expanded so that teachers and students could use games for all sorts of situations and topics.  Being a math teacher, I would love to have a game where students had to make calculations to design and then build structures.  It would be great if these structures were then subjected to a whole series of conditions provided through nature and humankind.

 I’d love to know how other educators have used games to effectively teach various skills to students.

The NEA article makes reference to a resource to “test drive games” at WWW.NEA.ORG/REF?GAMING 

I’m not sure if this link will work – I had trouble finding it – maybe someone else will have more luck.  This link may be better:  http://www.nea.org/neatoday/0710/videogameresources.html