The Education Arcade

The Education Arcade is an industry consortium begun in 2003 to research and collaborate on how educational games in the classroom can be developed and used effectively. Through the Games to Teach Project, a Microsoft iCampus initiative with the Comparative media Studies department at the MIT, they explored key issues in the use of a wide variety of media in teaching and learning.

They developed a suite of conceptual frameworks to support learning across math, science, engineering, and humanities curricula. Working with game designers from industry and the faculty across MIT's five schools, they cnceived 15 game concepts and supporting pedagogy for how advanced math and science content can be blended with game play in unique ways, as well as models for supporting humanities education.

They developed a subset of prototypes to implement as proofs-of-concept, including games to support teaching in physics and environmental engineering. We have been working with teachers and students at MIT and high schools in the Boston area to assess the use of our early work in the classroom and how students' understanding of learning points is affected.

To broaden and sustain this work and to leverage emerging efforts at other universities and in industry, the Education Arcade has launched a new research initiative named The Education Arcade. This consortium:

• Expands development work for and assessment studies of games in education;
• Encourages broader investigations into the use of games in education with both industrial and university partners; and
• Brings together a community of professionals and advocates interested in the future of videogames in education.

  The 2005 conference "The Education Arcade Games in Education Conference " was held in Los Angeles in May and included sessions on Creative Design, Informal Education, Case Studies, Gender and Diversity, Students Making Games, Teachers Using Games as well as Business Opportunities and Next Steps.

  Speakers included:

  • Alex chisholm, ICE3 Studios
  • Philip Tan, media Development authority, Singapore
  • Jim Marggraff, LeapFrog
  • Jinny Gudmundsen, USA Today
  • Kim Mulkey, BellSouth Foundation
  • Patrik Bergman, Malmö University
  • Scott Traylor, 360KID
  • Michael Nitsche, Georgia Tech
  • Sasha Barab, Indiana University
  • David Kaufman, SAGE for Learning (Canada)
  • Russell Francis, Oxford University
  • Alice Leung, BBN Technologies
  • Nick DeKanter, Muzzy Lane Software
  • Bill MacKenty, Edgartown School - Martha's Vineyard
  • Yasmin Kafai, University of California - Los Angeles
  • Barry Joseph, Global Kids
  • Ben Sawyer, Serious Games Initiative
  • Jan Run Holmevik, IT-University of Copenhagen (Denmark)
  • Brett Camper, MIT Comparative Media Studies
  • Idit Caperton, MaMaMedia
  • Carrie Heeter, Michigan State University
  • Constance Steinkuehler, University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • Jen Sun, Whyville
  • Deb Briggs, Firaxis
  • Pat Seed, Rice University
  • Jeremiah B. McCall, Cincinnati Country Day School
  • Kurt Squire, University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • Howard Cutler, WGBH Interactive
  • Theodore Koterwas, Exploratorium
  • Scot Osterweil, TERC
  • David Shaffer, University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • Rikke Magnussen, Learning Lab Denmark (Denmark)
  • Jane McGonigal, University of California-Berkeley
  • Walt Scacchi, University of California-Irvine
  • Mimi Ito, University of Southern California
  • Angela MacFarlane, University of Bristol (England)
  • James Paul Gee, University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • Peter Gorniak, MIT Media Lab
  • Eric Klopfer, MIT Teacher Education Program
  • Henry Jenkins III, MIT Comparative Media Studies
  • Eric Klopfer, MIT Teacher education Program
  • Ravi Purushotma, MIT Comparative Media Studies

  Audio and Video from the 2004 conference are available on their website: educationarcade.org Hopefully, they will add online reporting of the 2005 conference, as well. Excellent site about the creativity and marketing of educational games.

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