Video games and learning : teaching and participatory culture in the digital age / Kurt Squire ; foreword by James Paul Gee ; featuring contributions by Henry Jenkins.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 235-240) and index.

1. Possible worlds: why study video games? Aren't they a waste of time? : Designing experience, or That evasive "fun factor" ; Social gaming: possible identities ; Possible cultures ; Digital media and learning ; Theory and practice ; Feature: The most fun you can have with model railroads without sniffing glue -- 2. Ideological worlds: what makes a "good" educational game? : Interest-driven learning ; Worlds with bias ; Civilization as a geographical model ; Ideological worlds as frameworks for thinking ; Meaning-making in ideological worlds ; Participation in ideological worlds ; Theory and practice ; Feature: Cooperative game play -- 3. Teaching with games: learning through play : Before-school corpse retrievals ; From players to designers ; Interest-driven learning ; Open access ; The Montessori system: following the needs of the child ; Toward game-based pedagogies ; Theory and practice -- 4. Community organizing for participatory learning : Creating a community to learn with ; Inside online affinity spaces ; Education in a digital age: participatory education ; Learning through participation ; Theory and practice -- 5. Games-to-teach: designing games for learning : Broadening the discussion of education and games ; Games, popular media, science, and learning ; Creating a research agenda for games and education ; Designing games for learning ; Building an educational game from scratch ; Inventing new genres: Environmental detectives ; Theory and practice ; Feature: Learning to be a full-spectrum warrior -- 6. Games in classrooms: replaying history : Teaching world history ; Introducing Civ3 ; Failure, trade offs, and just-in-time lectures ; "This game isn't so bad": frustration, failure, and appropriation ; The emergence of a game-playing culture ; Recursive play ; What students learned ; Civilization camp: developing expert gamers ; Creating a new gaming culture ; Developing gaming expertise ; Theory and practice -- 7. The aesthetics of play : Games, learning, society: building a program ; The aesthetics of game-based learning ; Aesthetics of being Viewtiful Joe ; Apolyton University: trajectories of participation ; During-action reports: cognitive artifacts that organize practice ; Design thinking ; Designing Civ4 ; Toward an aesthetics of game-based learning ; Theory and practice ; Feature: I love rock 'n' roll -- 8. Design literacy: productive play : Developing game expertise ; Developing game fluency ; Games as occasions of theory building and testing ; Competition and learning ; Organizing by competitions ; Trajectories of participation ; Centers of expertise ; What learning occurred? A community well played ; Theory and practice -- 9. Games go to school: situated learning, adaptable curricula : Place-based gaming ; Place-based learning ; Learning through design, or How to design an educational game ; From game designer to community organizer ; Community organizing as curriculum ; Ramping up ; Situating learning at South Beach ; Scientific citizenship ; Scaling ; Theory and practice -- 10. The future of games for learning : Creating education media ; Independent games ; Informal learning contexts ; Scientific citizenship ; Example: Citizen science ; Mobile media ; Creating the future of educational technology -- Coda: On researching the effectiveness of educational interventions : Gold standard research ; "Science" fetish ; Health care envy.

Can we learn socially and academically valuable concepts and skills from video games? How can we best teach the 'gamer generation"? This accessible book describes how educators and curriculum designers can harness the participatory nature of digital media and play. The author presents a comprehensive model of games and learning that integrates analysis of games, game culture, and educational game design.