The Game Believes in You: How Digital Play Can Make Our Kids Smarter
What if schools, from the wealthiest suburban nursery school to the grittiest urban high school, thrummed with the sounds of deep immersion? More and more people believe that can happen - with the aid of video games. Greg Toppo's The Game Believes in You presents the story of a small group of visionaries who, for the past 40 years, have been pushing to get game controllers into the hands of learners. Among the game revolutionaries you'll meet in this book:

*A game designer at the University of Southern California leading a team to design a video-game version of Thoreau's Walden Pond.

*A young neuroscientist and game designer whose research on "Math Without Words" is revolutionizing how the subject is taught, especially to students with limited English abilities.

*A Virginia Tech music instructor who is leading a group of high school-aged boys through the creation of an original opera staged totally in the online game Minecraft.

Experts argue that games do truly "believe in you." They focus, inspire and reassure people in ways that many teachers can't. Games give people a chance to learn at their own pace, take risks, cultivate deeper understanding, fail and want to try again-right away-and ultimately, succeed in ways that too often elude them in school. This book is sure to excite and inspire educators and parents, as well as provoke some passionate debate.

1120871459
The Game Believes in You: How Digital Play Can Make Our Kids Smarter
What if schools, from the wealthiest suburban nursery school to the grittiest urban high school, thrummed with the sounds of deep immersion? More and more people believe that can happen - with the aid of video games. Greg Toppo's The Game Believes in You presents the story of a small group of visionaries who, for the past 40 years, have been pushing to get game controllers into the hands of learners. Among the game revolutionaries you'll meet in this book:

*A game designer at the University of Southern California leading a team to design a video-game version of Thoreau's Walden Pond.

*A young neuroscientist and game designer whose research on "Math Without Words" is revolutionizing how the subject is taught, especially to students with limited English abilities.

*A Virginia Tech music instructor who is leading a group of high school-aged boys through the creation of an original opera staged totally in the online game Minecraft.

Experts argue that games do truly "believe in you." They focus, inspire and reassure people in ways that many teachers can't. Games give people a chance to learn at their own pace, take risks, cultivate deeper understanding, fail and want to try again-right away-and ultimately, succeed in ways that too often elude them in school. This book is sure to excite and inspire educators and parents, as well as provoke some passionate debate.

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The Game Believes in You: How Digital Play Can Make Our Kids Smarter

The Game Believes in You: How Digital Play Can Make Our Kids Smarter

by Greg Toppo
The Game Believes in You: How Digital Play Can Make Our Kids Smarter

The Game Believes in You: How Digital Play Can Make Our Kids Smarter

by Greg Toppo

Hardcover

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Overview

What if schools, from the wealthiest suburban nursery school to the grittiest urban high school, thrummed with the sounds of deep immersion? More and more people believe that can happen - with the aid of video games. Greg Toppo's The Game Believes in You presents the story of a small group of visionaries who, for the past 40 years, have been pushing to get game controllers into the hands of learners. Among the game revolutionaries you'll meet in this book:

*A game designer at the University of Southern California leading a team to design a video-game version of Thoreau's Walden Pond.

*A young neuroscientist and game designer whose research on "Math Without Words" is revolutionizing how the subject is taught, especially to students with limited English abilities.

*A Virginia Tech music instructor who is leading a group of high school-aged boys through the creation of an original opera staged totally in the online game Minecraft.

Experts argue that games do truly "believe in you." They focus, inspire and reassure people in ways that many teachers can't. Games give people a chance to learn at their own pace, take risks, cultivate deeper understanding, fail and want to try again-right away-and ultimately, succeed in ways that too often elude them in school. This book is sure to excite and inspire educators and parents, as well as provoke some passionate debate.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781137279576
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date: 04/21/2015
Pages: 256
Product dimensions: 6.20(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Greg Toppo is USA Today’s national K-12 education and demographics reporter. He lives near Baltimore, Maryland.

Table of Contents

Prologue Hard Fun 1

1 A Kind of Ultimate Decadence 13

How I Got Curious about Video Games

2 To the Moon and Back in Five Minutes 25

How Disdain for Centralized Authority and an Impulse to Play Brought Us "Supercomputers Everywhere"

3 "Don't Kiss the Engine, Daddy, or the Carriages Won't Think It's Real" 39

How Games Work by Getting Us a Little High

4 The Game Layer 59

How Three Inventive Teachers Use Game Principles to Engage Students

5 Math without Words 77

How Euclid Would Have Taught Math If He'd Had an iPad

6 Rube Goldberg Brought Us Together 95

How a Group of New York City Teachers and Game Designers Are Redefining School

7 "I'm Not Good at Math, but My Avatar Is" 115

How a Subversive Suburban Teacher Is Using World of Warcraft to Teach Humanities

8 Project Unicorn 135

How a Heartless Media Conglomerate Could Spark a New Golden Age of Educational Gaming

9 A Walk in the Woods 153

How a First-Person Game Based on Tboreau's Walden Can Make Transcendentalism-and Reading-Cool Again

10 Throw Trucks with Your Mind 173

How Video Games Can Help Heal ADHD, PTSD, and Depression-and Help Kids Relax

11 The Opposite of Fighting 191

How Violent Video Games Really Affect Kids

12 The Ludic Loop 205

How to Talk to Your Kids about Their Gaming Habits 205

Epilogue 215

Games Everywhere 215

Acknowledgments 222

Notes 224

Index 243

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