We’ve covered how learning games can promote literacy, but what about literature about educational gaming? If you’re drawn to game-based learning scholarship and the art of educational game design, this post is for you! This curated selection of insightful books delves into all sorts of captivating topics surrounding educational games. Here are some more game-based learning books you should read!
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By Nathan Holbert, Daisy Rutstein, Matthew Berland, Betsy DiSalvo, Jeremy Roschelle, Vishesh Kumar, Satabdi Basu, Reina Fujii, and Beth Pinzur
Playful Testing: Designing a Formative Assessment Game for Data Science discusses the three-year journey to create Beats Empire, an educational game we created in collaboration with Columbia University and other researchers, for middle school students to assess computer and data science skills. This book emphasizes using games and creativity to reimagine assessment, providing teachers with insights into class-wide comprehension. The game doesn’t grade individual students, but instead offers an overview of class understanding. This model complements traditional assessment methods, giving teachers a supplementary tool to adapt their teaching. You can buy Playful Testing or download it for free straight from Carnegie Mellon University’s ETC Press!
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By George Kalmpourtzis
In Educational Game Design Fundamentals: A Journey to Creating Intrinsically Motivating Learning Experiences author George Kalmpourtzis explores the integration of learning and play. Kalmpourtzis writes about how to design educational games that cater to individual learning needs while aligning with designers’ intentions. He emphasizes the artistic aspects of educational game design, providing diverse viewpoints and real-world examples to guide readers in making well-informed decisions during their own game-creation endeavors.
Educational Game Design Fundamentals aids readers in structuring their educational game designs effectively and encourages the evaluation of ideas from various perspectives, including feasibility and learning potential. This comprehensive guide underscores the accessibility of educational game design to individuals from diverse technical and educational backgrounds. It serves as a valuable resource for educators, designers, and creators across various domains, all striving to seamlessly combine education and play!
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By Wagner James Au
While this title isn’t strictly game-based learning-related, the future of immersive learning and the metaverse is very intertwined with what we do at Filament! In Making a Metaverse That Matters: From Snow Crash & Second Life to A Virtual World Worth Fighting For, Wagner James Au, an author recognized for his work on The Making of Second Life and Game Design Secrets, discusses the emerging landscape of the metaverse.
Through interviews, anecdotes, and his unique perspective as the world’s first metaverse-embedded reporter, Au explores topics such as defining the metaverse, recounting the launch and controversies of Second Life, assessing the current landscape of platforms like Meta, Roblox, Fortnite, and VRChat, and discussing the challenges and potential of the evolving metaverse. The book caters to individuals within the XR industry, independent creators, tech professionals, and virtual world communities.
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By James Paul Gee and edited by Michael Adrian Peters, Chris Bigum, Michele Knobel, and Colin Lankshear
If you know anything about Filament’s origin story, you know we have a lot we owe to James Paul Gee. The second edition of Good Video Games and Good Learning: Collected Essays on Video Games, Learning and Literacy presents a collection of significant essays exploring the relationship between video games and effective learning. This title emphasizes that well-designed video games facilitate meaningful learning experiences through problem-solving. Gee also argues that game-based learning transcends technology, involving the creation of passionate-affinity spaces where individuals support each other’s learning and engagement. The book proposes a collaborative, interactive, and embodied learning model rooted in problem-solving.
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Edited by G. Hawisher and C. Selfe
Gaming Lives in the Twenty-First Century: Literate Connections investigates the proposition that computer games offer a more effective environment for literacy and learning compared to traditional schools. Through case studies set in the early twenty-first century US and insights from individual gamers, this book delves into the historical and cultural contexts of their literacy development, practices, and values. By analyzing these aspects, Gaming Lives in the Twenty-First Century seeks to provide readers with a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between gaming and literacy in contemporary society.
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By Kevin Bell
In Game On!: Gamification, Gameful Design, and the Rise of the Gamer Educator by Kevin Bell, the evolving landscape of higher education is met with innovative teaching methods inspired by game design principles and intrinsic motivators. Through compelling case studies of gamer educators, this book showcases strategies that educators can adapt to their own teaching approaches. By dissecting gamified classes, Bell offers insights into the effective components driving student engagement, particularly among marginalized groups.
By merging game design, pedagogy, and intrinsic motivation, Game On! suggests ways to create immersive learning environments similar to popular digital platforms. Bell’s work offers a rubric for educators to evaluate their courses’ engagement potential, discusses challenges and opportunities in gamification, and emphasizes the application of successful gaming principles to enhance education. The book’s exploration of gamification, cognitive science, and instructional design equips educators with the tools to adapt their teaching to the ever-evolving educational landscape.
We hope this roundup of books has added one, two, or six titles to your TBR (to-be-read) shelf! These titles provide readers with a glimpse into the creative approaches shaping contemporary learning and teaching landscapes. If you’re interested in seeing these approaches at work in real-time, hi, we’re Filament Games – an educational game developer with 18 years of industry experience. If you’re looking to create an educational game with a lasting positive impact, we’re here to help. Get in touch with us today!
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