What games help us learn about life
Think about the challenges you face at work or home... What can you learn from the "winning mind" of an olympic athlete? Read Why winning is all in the mind in it, Stefan Stern interviews Sebastian Coe about his new book The Winning Mind: Developing Inspirational Leadership and Delivering Winning Results.
When Does One Good Deed Deserve Another? This research describes a game similar some ways to prisoners dilemma. that I have written about before. In this research there is only a single interaction which limits the building of reputation over a number of interactions. The research suggests that "findings indicate that precipitous acts of trust, which on the surface may seem irrational, can accelerate trust development. Precipitous acts of trust do entail risk, as evidenced by the frequent instances of zero returns."
The games used in the experiments are clearly explained and I think could be used in the classroom to explore the distinction of trust on a more personal level.
My own interpretation is that the word trust collapses several assessments, one level is that the person has basic competence to do something; the next is reliability, meaning the person has done the action successfully on a number of times; the final is sincerity. These experiments look at this last element. Play it and let me know what you think.
Watch this video from the Washington Post and see some of the ways that second life and other virtual worlds a being used by government in the Washington DC metro area.
This includes a virtual Capitol Hill where there will be an inaugural ball on January 20, 2009. Party on!
This is a fascinating application of multi-player game that dynamically creates possible future worlds. It reminds me of scenario planning in the Art of the Long View.
From the Institute For The Future--"Massively Multiplayer Forecasting Games: Making the Future Real Chronicle the dark world of 2019. Then help us figure out how to fix it. On October 6th, 2008, the Institute For the Future launched the world’s first Massively Multiplayer Forecasting Game: Superstruct."
From the U. of Minnesota Center for Teaching and Learning This is a nice collection of twelve strategies that you can use to create an active learning session with any content. They are mix and match use as many or few as you like. There is a downloadable set of powerpoint slides to get you started.
BBC NEWS | UK | England | Wear | Magic tricks aid research project
Heard on the radio yesterday>...The methods of David Blaine should be studied, researchers say Researchers at Durham University have turned into magicians to better understand how humans think and act. Listening to this story I thought of how "magic" can be used in the classroom. There is more on Gustav Kuhn's Wed site on his interests and the three elements of magic.
"The key is to generate emotion," explained Sundar. "Ideally, a good teacher can energize the class and make them much more emotionally invested through presentations, guest lectures, and group discussions. Video games can help achieve that in an already simulated way."
Flash Games A simple flash game generator you can use at no cost. Simply select the type of account you want and get started. You could also have your students create accounts to keep track of scores. From Southern Adventist University.
The Firefly Group has a number of usefullgames and simulations available at no cost on their website. Brian Remer, the founder, is a colleague through the North American Simulation and Gaming Association. He is one of the most insightful trainers I have experienced.
