Educational Computer games for High School students

• A Guide to Game-Based Learning, by Vicki Davis (2014)

A quick look at game modalities can help you approach game-based learning via single- or multiplayer, one-time or persistent, game or simulation . . .

• Small, Safe Steps for Introducing Games to the Classroom, by Andrew Miller (2014)

To successfully introduce games into your classroom, play them first, make them voluntary, and think of them as tools for differentiation and building classroom culture.

• Using Gaming Principles to Engage Students, by Douglas Kiang (2014)

Improve your grasp of instructional design by looking at five game design dynamics and applying them to how you build curriculum and run your class.

• Game-Based Storytelling, Matthew Farber (2014)

Farber looks at video games as narratives, defines some game-development terms, and suggests a range of tools and activities for students to tell their own stories through the gaming medium.

• Free Tools to Incorporate Game-Based Learning, by Andrew Miller (2013)

Miller looks at a few of his favorite game-based learning tools - the ones that cost nothing and are available right now.

• How to Build Curriculum Units Using the Video Game Model, by Andrew Miller (2011)

Miller offers some specific techniques for building a game structure across different subjects. For more guidance on how to build game-based learning units, also see his "Game-Based Learning Units for the Everyday Teacher."

• Understanding Learner Outcomes Through Educational Games, by Kristen DiCerbo (2015)

A good educational game offers engagement, assessment, and learning, with the game data providing a valuable invisible assessment opportunity for students, teachers, and parents.

• 3 Ways Coding and Gaming Can Enhance Learning, by Douglas Kiang (2014)

Kiang, computer science teacher and edtech advocate, shows how the Inform7 language, the Minecraft game and the Maker-friendly Arduino kit can enhance learning in high school, middle school and elementary school classrooms.

• What Can Educators Learn From the Gaming Industry? by Kelly Teng (2014)

Teng and Cameron Baker, game developers with an interest in education, suggest that the gaming world can teach educators lessons about abstract thinking, enthusiastic engagement, and creative play in pursuit of knowledge.

• James Paul Gee on Learning With Video Games, by Edutopia Staff (2012)

Gaming expert Gee shares insights into why video games are such effective learning tools.

• Students as Designers: Game Jams! by Matthew Farber (2015)

The game jam (a game about making a game) is a hands-on model for inspiring student creativity, collaboration, and sense of accomplishment. In this post, Farber describes a student-focused game jam conducted at Quest to Learn, a school in New York City. For more about how you can use game jams to teach and assess 21st-century skills, focus on deeper learning, and present content, also read "Game Jam Your Classroom" by Andrew Miller.

• Meshing GBL With PBL: Can It Work? by Andrew Miller (2015)

When planning a PBL unit, use GBL elements to teach 21st-century skills, as a modality for lesson content, to differentiate instruction, or with games as products. For more tips and guidance on how to prepare for gamified PBL units, also see Heather Wolpert-Gawron's "Project-Based Learning and Gamification: Two Great Tastes That Go Together."

• Rubik to the Rescue: The Rubik’s Cube Engages Students in East Harlem, by Sabrina Truong (2014)

A fascinating 3D puzzle from the '70s breathes life into an inner-city high school as kids turn algorithms into a competitive sport.

• Katie Salen on the Power of Game-Based Learning, by Edutopia Staff (2013)

The executive director of the nonprofit design studio Institute of Play offers a look inside the groundbreaking school she co-founded, Quest to Learn. For related resources, check out "Made With Play: Game-Based Learning Resources."