Teacher Communities
This page is a sub-section from the Leaders and Innovators page. Click here to return to the main page.
Teachers are not only some of the leading innovators in game-based learning, but they are also the innovators that can make the greatest impact. They are at the front lines with this technology, and many of them are putting in hundreds of hours into game lessons planned. They are in a difficult field; they have a lot to prove and any failure instantly reflects badly on the field. I'd like to extend an appreciative THANK YOU to those teachers. Please see the Examples page to see the fruits of their hard labor.
The communities listed below are teachers that are working together to facilitate game-based learning. Everything is listed alphabetically. If you would like your community posted here, please send me an e-mail with a short description about your site and mission. If you see your community here and want to change or edit my blurb, please send me an e-mail with the corrections.
Teachers are not only some of the leading innovators in game-based learning, but they are also the innovators that can make the greatest impact. They are at the front lines with this technology, and many of them are putting in hundreds of hours into game lessons planned. They are in a difficult field; they have a lot to prove and any failure instantly reflects badly on the field. I'd like to extend an appreciative THANK YOU to those teachers. Please see the Examples page to see the fruits of their hard labor.
The communities listed below are teachers that are working together to facilitate game-based learning. Everything is listed alphabetically. If you would like your community posted here, please send me an e-mail with a short description about your site and mission. If you see your community here and want to change or edit my blurb, please send me an e-mail with the corrections.
Classroom Aid
If you are a teacher interested in game-based education but don't know how to get started or what game you want to use, I would recommend you start here. Classroom Aid has dozens of resources and games listed for each subject. They offer current research on game-based education and a nice introduction to it all. They actually focus on digital technology in general so you may find something else that is interesting. There is a nice list of educational apps as well as a great list of communities. They also can help you find free professional development!
Minecraft in School
This wiki community is also a must-see for anyone interested in using Minecraft (see games archive) for teaching. They have wonderful contributors. The teachers on this page are (to put it lightly) extremely devoted and motivated teachers and have uploaded videos on the ways they use the game. They offer advice on how to implement the game, including the costs, account management, and server hosting.
As expressed on their website, “This wiki is devoted to hosting ideas, lessons, implementation strategies and more related to using the game, Minecraft in a school setting. Whether you use it in a computer/gaming club, as part of your regular curricular instruction, or even at home with your own children, Minecraft's simple yet scalable "sandbox" virtual environment can be an excellent tool for engaging student learning. The open-ended nature of the game lends it to application in a variety of subject areas. Game-based learning, virtual worlds, and simulations are emerging tools for reaching our learners.”
MinecraftEdu Wiki
If you are interested in using Minecraft (see games archive) in the classroom, I would definitely recommend this wiki community to get you started. They offer instructions to teachers on how to work with Minecraft as well as a few lesson plan ideas. From using Minecraft to represent how nerve receptors work to learning contour maps, you are sure to find some interesting ideas here. The tutorials on how to set up the game are extremely helpful.
As expressed on their website, “MinecraftEdu is the collaboration of a small team of educators and programmers from the United States and Finland. We are working with Mojang AB of Sweden, the creators of Minecraft, to make the game affordable and accessible to schools everywhere. We have also created a suite of tools that make it easy to unlock the power of Minecraft in YOUR classroom.”
Play The Past
Play the Past is a community of educators dedicated to “thoughtfully exploring and discussing the intersection of cultural heritage (very broadly defined) and games/meaningful play (equally broadly defined).” They have some very interesting posts regarding their use of Minecraft and Civilization (but also table top and board games) to recreate history. The staff is a mixture of students and teachers. There are some pretty interesting blog posts!
Teach with Portals and Physics with Portals
Similar to the excellent Minecraft folks at MinecraftEdu, there are some great teachers looking into using Portal and Portal 2 for physics and geometry. Check out Cameron Pittman's (a physics high school teacher) Physics with Portals or look into Valve's (the game developers) Teach with Portals. Both websites have plenty of lesson plans available for teachers, and Valve is planning a wiki to start getting input from other teachers that are using Portal in their classrooms.
If you are a teacher interested in game-based education but don't know how to get started or what game you want to use, I would recommend you start here. Classroom Aid has dozens of resources and games listed for each subject. They offer current research on game-based education and a nice introduction to it all. They actually focus on digital technology in general so you may find something else that is interesting. There is a nice list of educational apps as well as a great list of communities. They also can help you find free professional development!
Minecraft in School
This wiki community is also a must-see for anyone interested in using Minecraft (see games archive) for teaching. They have wonderful contributors. The teachers on this page are (to put it lightly) extremely devoted and motivated teachers and have uploaded videos on the ways they use the game. They offer advice on how to implement the game, including the costs, account management, and server hosting.
As expressed on their website, “This wiki is devoted to hosting ideas, lessons, implementation strategies and more related to using the game, Minecraft in a school setting. Whether you use it in a computer/gaming club, as part of your regular curricular instruction, or even at home with your own children, Minecraft's simple yet scalable "sandbox" virtual environment can be an excellent tool for engaging student learning. The open-ended nature of the game lends it to application in a variety of subject areas. Game-based learning, virtual worlds, and simulations are emerging tools for reaching our learners.”
MinecraftEdu Wiki
If you are interested in using Minecraft (see games archive) in the classroom, I would definitely recommend this wiki community to get you started. They offer instructions to teachers on how to work with Minecraft as well as a few lesson plan ideas. From using Minecraft to represent how nerve receptors work to learning contour maps, you are sure to find some interesting ideas here. The tutorials on how to set up the game are extremely helpful.
As expressed on their website, “MinecraftEdu is the collaboration of a small team of educators and programmers from the United States and Finland. We are working with Mojang AB of Sweden, the creators of Minecraft, to make the game affordable and accessible to schools everywhere. We have also created a suite of tools that make it easy to unlock the power of Minecraft in YOUR classroom.”
Play The Past
Play the Past is a community of educators dedicated to “thoughtfully exploring and discussing the intersection of cultural heritage (very broadly defined) and games/meaningful play (equally broadly defined).” They have some very interesting posts regarding their use of Minecraft and Civilization (but also table top and board games) to recreate history. The staff is a mixture of students and teachers. There are some pretty interesting blog posts!
Teach with Portals and Physics with Portals
Similar to the excellent Minecraft folks at MinecraftEdu, there are some great teachers looking into using Portal and Portal 2 for physics and geometry. Check out Cameron Pittman's (a physics high school teacher) Physics with Portals or look into Valve's (the game developers) Teach with Portals. Both websites have plenty of lesson plans available for teachers, and Valve is planning a wiki to start getting input from other teachers that are using Portal in their classrooms.