We all know how much kids love games. But do you know how much games can impact learning?
Both game playing and game making are proven to build STEM skills and 21st-century learning essential for success (and careers) in today’s connected world. Games motivate students by making content relevant, immersive and compelling. Games require kids to think strategically and solve complex problems, “fail fast” and collaborate across disciplines. And perhaps most importantly, games help teachers make learning irresistible!
Use the resources below to learn more about the power of games for learning, teaching game design, and how you can use games and game making in your classroom or at home.
There are so many great game making platforms that students can use to design games for the Challenge. Here is a short list of recommended platforms that we encourage you to explore with your students! Each has a robust community for educators with lots of great resources, lesson plans and more!
ScratchEd: An online community for Scratch educators to share stories, exchange resources, ask questions, find people, and discover events. Check-out Google CS First for recommended curriculum, lesson plans, projects, instructional videos and everything else you need to learn how to teach with Scratch.
Unity Teach: Unity learning platform just for teachers; includes curricular resources, free Unity licenses for teaching and learning, virtual PD training via Unity Live and the Unity Teach Community (place for educators to unite).
Minecraft: Education Edition: A game-based learning platform that promotes creativity, collaboration, and problem-solving in an immersive digital environment. Access hundreds of lesson plans, take a free introductory course for educators, join the download this remote learning toolkit and connect with other teachers on the educator community hub.
Roblox: Roblox is an entertainment platform and educational tool with limitless opportunities to discover, create and collaborate. The platform provides a free development tool for students and easy to implement curriculum. To get started, set-up your Roblox classroom, explore free resources (like this Intro to Game Design lesson plan) and learn how to teach remotely with Roblox.
Adaptable to any age or subject, CoSpaces Edu lets kids build their own 3D creations, animate them with code and explore them in Virtual or Augmented Reality. Creating with CoSpaces Edu develops digital literacy and 21st-Century learning skills such as collaboration and coding, which prepare kids for their future while empowering them to become creators. Learn how to get started with our CoSpaces Curriculum!
How to Teach with Games: A collection of resources that explores the benefits of teaching with games and helps educators get started in game-based learning. [Filament Games]
CS Educator Resources: A catalog of highly recommended computer science teacher resources (professional development and associated curricula) for K-12 educators. [Computer Science Teacher Association]
Design Pack: Games and Learning: This game design resource provides tools and templates for designing a learning game. [Institute of Play]
Digital Citizenship Curriculum: Award winning digital literacy curriculum for students in grades K-12. [CommonSense Education]
Lesson Planning with UDL (Universal Design for Learning): Learn about how UDL can help you design your lessons to meet the needs of all your students. [Understood]
Wide Open School: Powered by Common Sense, Wide Open School helps educators find trusted, free resources and activities to enrich and support distance learning.
Digital Promise’s Online Learning Resources: Intended for educators, this library of online learning resources can be filtered by type, grade and subject; all content is free and meets student privacy criteria.
Games for Change Arcade: A library of 200+ exemplary games for social impact and learning. [Games for Change]
Taming Gaming: Database of video games for children, teenagers and young adults, curated based on theme or topic area.
Terminal Two Games: A collection of games that each target specific computational thinking and coding concept [Endless Games]
BrainPop / GameUp: A vetted and always-expanding collection of cross-curricular digital learning games from leading game designers, paired with implementation materials.
Common Sense Education: Offers edtech ratings and expert reviews to help you find the right app, game or website for your classroom.
Educator Innovator: An online hub for Connected Learning and teaching.
Yes, You can Run a Game Jam for Kids: A brief introduction to game jams and tips for success. [Gamasutra blog post]
Girls Level Up: A documentary project sponsored by Facebook’s ‘Women in Gaming’ initiative and with a mission to inspire girls to become game creators; features a series of videos titled ‘Ask the Developer’ in which girls pose questions about the art and craft of making video games to prominent female game designers. [Artifact Studios]
See something missing from this list, or want to share an additional resource, program or tool? Let us know!
You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.
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