Speculates on why such little progress has been made regarding the effective application of educational simulation/games and suggests that the field's eclectic foundation has been good for its development but bad for its rigorous assessment. Antecedents for meaningful research and generating a body of literature are outlined. (Author/LRW)

Explains how games can be used to stimulate interest and aid conceptual understanding. Focuses on working with Year Six children and simulation exercises designed to support understanding of feeding relationships and food chains. (DDR)

Three preschool children with developmental disabilities participated in a social-skills intervention involving use of collage placemats with pictures to foster turn-taking verbal interactions with peers at the lunch table. The intervention resulted in doubling the rate of interactions with peers. Generalization to regular lunchtime occurred when…

Studied use of games to teach simple classification and seriation constructs to 3-1/2-year-old children. Found substantial and maintained improvement on classification and seriation. Found that children generalized their new understanding of classification and seriation to different problems, and found that evidence for a more general cognitive…

Argues that regular homophone practice enhances vocabulary knowledge, spelling skills, pronunciation ability, and overall reading proficiency. Describes how card games played with decks of homophones helped to accomplish these things. Notes particular benefits of homophone games to English-as-a-second-language students, and outlines key advantages…

Nursing students (n=131) were randomly assigned to groups; half used an educational game involving problem-based learning, half were conventionally taught. Groups switched treatments in the second term. First-term posttests showed higher scores for the game group; second-term posttests showed no differences, suggesting the impact of the game…

Shares an approach to tree identification that can be adapted to use with all levels from middle school through college. Stresses student involvement and cooperation in a botanical scavenger hunt. Describes the development of the treasure map and how to use the guide sheet. (DDR)

Describes and analyzes a learning episode in which two children in year 4 interact with each other and their teacher while playing a probability game involving chocolate M&Ms. Children developed key ideas in probability from a game that was designed to produce cognitive conflict. (ASK)

Describes two gaming strategies which teach poetry using quotations extracted from six Shakespeare plays. Discusses selecting plays and quotations, games for matching quotations, and providing synopses and introducing characters. Describes in detail learning objectives, player distribution, adjudicator role, procedures and rules, and debriefing…

Presents a problem that has been well received by students in undergraduate mathematical statistics courses. The problem is presented as a game in which students are asked to choose between two alternatives, as if they were betting. (ASK)

Describes a game to generate discussion and confront misconceptions about decimals. (ASK)

This classroom tip focuses on sustained-content language teaching. The game described--content wizard-- illustrates a practical technique for incorporating a range of language and academic skills into subject matter lessons for English-as-a-Second-Language learners. (Author/VWL)

Examines the educational effectiveness of a game named POMP AND CIRCUMSTANCE for sex education in a Japanese high school. Compares the effectiveness of educational videos with game conditions and discusses results that show the value of playing the game in the role of the opposite sex. (Author/LRW)

Your students can be learning over summer vacation with these fun activities from the web. School will soon be out and your students will start summer vacation. How can you minimize "summer learning loss" over those days that kids are not in school? This year, send your students home with a Learning Log to record fun summer learning. It?s…

This author describes how her elementary students first became interested in studying ancient Egypt. Her students' interest in the ancient Egyptian studies began when a student checked out a library book on Egyptology that contained colorful images and was soon swarmed by interested classmates. Many of her students began practicing writing…