Games of any kind in the K-12 Classroom - What Value?

Some teachers and IT types are very passionate about the value of games - interactive, video, serious etc. in teaching.

I agree there are some wonderful individual games and games websites out there that can make significant contributions to the "learn to and learn about" requirements of syllabuses in NSW.

The challenge is to locate these games and identify them as critical resources for teaching to achieve particular identified subject-learning outcomes.

These safety tips are from Kidsmart.

Take this site via @k_ferrell: 60 Educational Games Sites That You've Probably Never Seen.

and this too: 10 free Educational Game sites

Jeff Utecht has provided this post: Games - What exactly are kids learning?

Some ideas for conducting a review of an individual game or a games site include:

• identifying the subject-related outcomes playing a game will achieve
• suitability of the game for the age-group
  
• whether students have to login
• Terms of Service age eligibility and privacy statements
• noise nuisance rating of any arcade game
• violence rating of action games
  
• what the advertising on the site relates to or links to
• the potential for links to mature content
  
• in the country in which the site owner is based

Multi-user game sites need more careful consideration.

Another work in progress ... I will be back.