A new month is upon us! September is here, the smell of pumpkin spice is in the air, and it’s time for another round-up of what’s 🔥 hot 🔥 in game-based learning.
via GIPHY
This month’s hand-picked selection includes everything from inspiring stories of student creators to learning about saltwater fishing on the high seas – read on to learn more:
If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know the answer to this one is an emphatic yes. That said, it’s great to see this topic tackled by a platform as widely read as USA Today, and this article in particular includes some heavy-hitting voices from the game-based learning community. Check this one out to hear friends of Filament Classcraft run through the positive impacts of their classroom gamification solution, and to hear the latest GBL insights from Matthew Farber, author of numerous excellent game-based learning related books including his most recent title, Gaming SEL – Games as Transformational to Social and Emotional Learning.
I’ll admit that I couldn’t pass this headline up when it crossed my path – it really reeled me in. Leaders at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission recently dropped a suite of games entitled Gone Fishin’. “‘We have some staff that have been talking for many, many years about creating some sort of cool game,’ says Amanda Nalley of FWC’s Marine Fisheries Management department. ‘When COVID hit, it became even more important, during this time when we couldn’t really reach out in person — especially to the kids who are our future anglers and the future of the fishery.’” [Bay News 9] The suite of games covers everything a young angler needs to know, and even includes a module focusing on healing coral reefs.
Scottish university Abertay University and Scottish thermal energy company SSE Thermal have recently teamed up to challenge students to create a game that helps reach climate change goals, specifically tackling the vital issue of carbon capture and storage technologies. Selected from a game jam contest judged by ]figures from leading Scottish game design studios Junkfish and Biome Collective, the winning team have four weeks to turn their concept into a playable game, with the development funded by SSE Thermal.
Founded by MIT Finance graduate Laila Shabir, Girls Make Games is a series of summer camps, workshops and game jams designed to inspire the next generation of designers, creators, and engineers. Launched in 2014, the program has reached over 20,000 girls in 89 cities worldwide. This excellent overview from the74million.org gives a fascinating glimpse into the origins of this crucial program, as well as insights into the challenges they tackled as they expanded around the globe.
More game-based learning news: