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Welcome to The Educational Games Database (TEGD), a website catering to educators who want to learn more about the educational potential of video games. TEGD is a resource for educators at all grade levels, and with all types of backgrounds related to technology and video games.

The Wave of the Future? The typical college student plays an estimated 1.8 hours a day of video games (Prensky, 2001b ). Understandably, educators want a piece of that! The US military uses computer war games for training for everything from high-level international command coordination to using a weapon (see AP, 2003 and Prensky, 2001b ).

Educational Games Research Blog discusses topics related to academic research and media commentary concerning the use of video games in K-20 settings.

The popularity of video games is not the enemy of education, but rather a model for best teaching strategies. Games insert players at their achievable challenge level and reward player effort and practice with acknowledgement of incremental goal progress, not just final product.

This video is directed at open source creators, but lots of points in here are applicable to education. Key points: What drives behavior (from most to least engaging):  status, access, power, stuff.  (Note "stuff", which costs the provider money, is last on the list!) The first minute of engagement is what determines what users think of your product.  Make the first step impossible to mess up!  Motivate users with a "Yay, you're awesome!" moment right away.  

They don't have the depth, the rich narrative that really engaging video games have, that the boys are really interested in.

Article about positive impact of video game play on cognitive function and multitasking.

Eight Myths About Video Games Debunked by Henry Jenkins, MIT Professor

This summer, when your kids' favorite science museum boasts a new augmented-reality environmental simulation? Same deal. If in the next few years a video game teaches you anything - how to conserve energy, eat a balanced diet or solve quadratic equations - consider the invisible hand of one of the most unconventional White House hires in recent memory.

This isn't anything revolutionary, but it does come back to the core of gaming in education and good pedagogy in lesson planning, which is knowing your audience and planning around their needs and desires. "We launched two titles in October -- "Rockett's New School" -- the first of a series of products -- is about a character called Rockett beginning her first day of school in eighth grade at a brand new place, with a blank slate, which allows girls to play with the question of, "What will I be like when I'm older?" "What's it going to be like to be in high school or junior high school? Who are my friends?"; to exercise the love of social complexity and the narrative intelligence that drives most of their play behavior; and which embeds in it values about noticing that we have lots of choices in our lives and the ways that we conduct ourselves."

The Sixth Annual Symposium on the Use of Video Games as Teaching Tools Presented by 1st Playable Productions and our partners and sponsors! Sessions and workshops listed! Our initial list of sessions for the symposium is up and available for you to peruse the great individuals who will be presenting this year!

Credit: Thomas Reis Kurt Squire knew something unusual was happening in his after-school Western civ program. His normally lackluster middle and high school students, who'd failed the course once already, were coming to class armed with strategies to topple colonial dictators. Heated debates were erupting over the impact of germs on national economies....

Student, Lewis Tachau shares what he's learned through online gaming.

Good summary of gaming in education to share with the uninitiated.

Imagine you are placed in the following scenarios: You are dropped off at the top of a ski resort's steepest run when you've only had experience on the beginner slopes. You have to spend your...

Article about the use of World of Warcraft in the classroom

TED Talk by Tom Chatfield on the psychology behind why games are successful and effective.

Welcome to the Entertainment Software Association The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) is the U.S. association exclusively dedicated to serving the business and public affairs needs of companies that publish computer and video games for video game consoles, personal computers, and the Internet.