Games and Learning

Building a game that kids love to play and can teach them critical skills or build knowledge is hard. Creating a game that kids love to play, can teach them critical skills AND also sells can seem impossible.

We are officially unveiling this site, produced by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center and the Games and Learning Publishing Council,  to help make that a less daunting task.

By providing coverage of key developments in the educational gaming industry, how games are being integrated into classroom, interviews with top thinkers and doers and explanations of the latest learning and market research; we aim to be an honest broker of what is working and what is not in this emerging field.

In the U.S., school reformers and digital content developers are looking for new answers to an old question: can the promise of technology finally be fulfilled in today’s learning environments. Gamesandlearning.org provides cutting edge analyses and practical tools to build a new generation of allies who are devoted to tapping the unfilled potential of digital innovations.

Michael H. Levine, executive director of the Joan Ganz Cooney Center

To serve game developers and foundations, venture capitalists, government agencies and others who support the development of new games, we will be covering several different sectors of the industry including:

• Translation of Research – will offer possible takeaways that are often hidden in academic journals and highlight the best new research.
• Explainers – will clarify some of the more arcane and jargon-filled aspects of the educational games market, introducing and analyzing key trends.
• Commentaries – track the thinking of some of the leaders in the industry through timely and engaging op-eds and audio interviews.

The digital games industry has grown to be a behemoth $65 billion-a-year industry, with products ranging from arcade-style shooter games to increasingly complex tools for learning and education. Although games have, for decades, made their way into classrooms and informal learning outlets, there are few major sources to inform the development and funding of games with overt or subtle educational components. Gamesandlearning.org is a resource to help those producers and funders who want their games to “do good” and to assess their performance.

If you are looking for stories we haven’t covered, want to hear from certain leaders in the field or just have a great story to tell, please contact us.

Here at gamesandlearning.org we hope to help you make the best learning games yet.