2019 Games for Change Festival

There are currently few developmentally appropriate methods for engaging teens in their own social and emotional learning in educational settings. Commercial video games offer rich, mediated, interactive narrative experiences that can be integrated into the classroom to support teen students’ core academic knowledge as well as their social and emotional resilience. This panel will describe how and why educators used the award-winning video game and digital “museum,” and “What Remains of Edith Finch,” as the basis for a curricular unit to engage high school students in building literacy skills as well as key aspects of resilience including autonomy and self-awareness.

Learn how the desire to give autistic children a safe place to play Minecraft became the topic of dozens of research studies and news stories around the world.

Children with autism from all around the world are learning how to read and write, to make friends, teamwork, and even to be leaders, all within the game of Minecraft.

I'm going to show you how we accomplished all of this and more on my server, Autcraft.

Paul Darvasi
Grand Theft Auto Research

Lisa Castaneda & Bronwyn Stuckey
Picking the Low Hanging Fruit

Too often the conversation around games for learning focuses on their appeal and capacity for immersion. We need to take a deeper more evidence based look at the value games may (or may not) provide for learning. With the number of educators using games, we should know more about the extent to which virtual play experiences actually support learning outcomes. Even highly experienced, professional educators stay focused on student engagement. Join us for an interactive workshop where participants will reflect on, discuss and engage with research examples and contribute their own experiences to moving the conversation and assessment practices forward.