Category Archives: In the News

In the News

Games Win Big in Education Grants Competition

Today, the U.S. Department of Education announced the final winners of this year’s Small Business Innovation Research SBIR contract awards—funds that are reserved for entrepreneurial small businesses using cutting-edge R&D to develop commercially viable technologies to solve tough problems.  And there’s something that may surprise you about the winning contracts: More than half—or 12 in all—are for games and game-related projects, more than in any previous year. That says a lot about the increasingly creative field of educational games, and the growing base of evidence indicating that games can be an important and effective component of our strategy to prepare a highly skilled 21st century American workforce.

via Games Win Big in Education Grants Competition | ED.gov Blog.

In the News, What We're Reading Now

Board Games for Teaching and Learning

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Unfortunately I had to miss THATCamp Games II this year, held last month at Case Western Reserve University. Luckily (and in the traditional THATCamp spirit) attendees have shared their collaborative notes (and games!) from the unconference so those of us who weren’t there can catch up. And Anastasia Salter, who teaches information arts and technologies at the University of Baltimore, wrote up her experiences leading a pre-conference workshop on making board games in the classroom. I know lots of us in the CUNY Games Network are interested in non-digital games for teaching — I highly recommend Salter’s article, it’s well worth a read.

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Image by Tim Ellis

Blog, Education Games, In the News, Math Games, Social Science Games

“Why I let my Students Cheat” — terrific article!

From the article…

A week before the test, I told my class that the Game Theory exam would be insanely hard—far harder than any that had established my rep as a hard prof. But as recompense, for this one time only, students could cheat. They could bring and use anything or anyone they liked, including animal behavior experts. (Richard Dawkins in town? Bring him!) They could surf the Web. They could talk to each other or call friends who’d taken the course before. They could offer me bribes. (I wouldn’t take them, but neither would I report it to the dean.) Only violations of state or federal criminal law such as kidnapping my dog, blackmail, or threats of violence were out of bounds.

Gasps filled the room. The students sputtered. They fretted. This must be a joke. I couldn’t possibly mean it. What, they asked, is the catch?

“None,” I replied. “You are UCLA students. The brightest of the bright. Let’s see what you can accomplish when you have no restrictions and the only thing that matters is getting the best answer possible.”

 

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-04/why-i-let-my-students-cheat-their-game-theory-exam