Learning by Playing Videogames in the Classroom

This is a great article from the Sara Corbett of the  NY Times that examines the age old question every die hard gamer has known for years.  Check it out.

Teach your kids to be an Entrepreneur through Videogames

Games are a great opportunity for kids to trial and error a range of concepts and test concepts in a controlled and safe environments.  They really offer young entreprenuers a chance to test there ideas, dedication and strategies though play.  Below are a couple games that will let your junior Donald Trump's see how they fair in the business world without losing a dollar in the real world.

The Lemonade Game is aimed at making the most money in thirty days from selling drinks to thirst customers over summer.  Be sure not to buy too much produce if the weather is going to be pretty cool and don't price yourself out of the market.

In Fedville, kids can open a virtual savings account at the local bank and watch their money grow. As they learn their way around town, they can earn trivia cards. There are also movies about saving money, and kids can virtually shop at local stores, but only if they have earned enough money first.

I would love to hear if you have any more suggestions

Great Simulation Game that teaches kids about Natural Disasters

Stopdisastergame.org is a great website for your students to learn about various natural disasters such as tsunamis, bush fires, earthquakes and more by managing a village or city through a disaster period.  Anyone who has played SimCity will pick this up in a flash and discover the purpose of the game with ease.  Quite simply you are given a budget and limited time to create natural and manmade infrastructure to both prevent a an imminent catastrophe and manage it once it occurs.  Your kids will really enjoy this challenge and it has loads of replay value in it across a range of disasters.  Check it out here.

The Top 25 iPhone games

IGN the bible for all that is videogaming has recently realeased their top 25 iPhone games list.  I know a great deal of schools that have purchased the iPod touch for student use and if we want to throw more money at Apple for absolutely nothing new then we also have the iPad to consider. that these games wil function on   Many of these games in this list by the nature of the iPhone / iPod interface contain educational, strategy and puzzle elements.  I am sure this might help make some decisions regarding educational gaming apps a little easier.  Check it out here.

Tangential Learning through Gaming

This is a great video about how gaming teaches us plenty about the world with out actually teaching.