Kelly Giles: Game-Based Learning Resources

Books

Gee, J. P. (2007). What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy (2nd ed.). St. Martin's Griffin.

Explores how video games "get themselves learned and learned well" by players and advocates for the adoption of these learning principles by educators.

Fullerton, T. (2018). Game design workshop: a playcentric approach to creating innovative games (4th edition). CRC Press.

Widely-used game design textbook. Includes exercises, examples, and interviews with professional game designers.

Koster, R. (2013). A theory of fun for game design (2nd ed.). O’Reilly Media.

A short, approachable introduction to the field.

Salen, K., & Zimmerman, E. (2003). Rules of play: Game design fundamentals. MIT Press.

A scholarly examination of games and play. This is a large book and covers the topic both broadly and in depth.

Schrier, K. (Ed.) (2019). Learning, education & games: Vol. 3. 100 games to use in the classroom & beyond. ETC Press. https://press.etc.cmu.edu/index.php/product/learning-education-games-volume-3/

Free eBook with summaries of games and tips for how to use them in instruction. A section at the beginning lists games by topic, age group, and type.

Sheldon, L. (2020). The multiplayer classroom : designing coursework as a game (2nd ed.). CRC Press.

Written for educators, this book explores how to gamify instruction. Features case studies and explanations of what worked and what didn't.

Websites

Edutopia - Game-Based Learning: https://www.edutopia.org/topic/game-based-learning

Advice and tools for game-based learning in the classroom.  Targeted at K-12 teachers.

Gamified UK: https://www.gamified.uk/

Website of gamification consultant and designer Andrzej Marczewski. Includes his often-cited taxonomy of user types.

Serious Play Conference: https://seriousplayconf.com/

includes free webinars and newsletter sign-up.

BoardGameGeek: https://boardgamegeek.com/

Database of tabletop games with reviews and discussion forums. Browse by category or mechanic to find relevant games.

Common Sense Education – EdTech Reviews: https://www.commonsense.org/education/reviews/all

In-depth reviews of learning games, websites, and apps, targeted at K-12 educators and parents. See Top Picks Lists for recommended games dealing with different subject areas.

Game Up from BrainPOP: https://www.brainpop.com/games/

Searchable collection of free, high-quality online learning games for K-12 students.

Games for Change – Game Databases: https://www.gamesforchange.org/resource/game-databases/

List of game-finding resources (some obsolete).

Games for Change Featured Games: https://www.gamesforchange.org/games/

Curated list of games dealing with contemporary social issues.

Gaming the Past: https://gamingthepast.net/

Lists of games, reviews, and other resources relating to the use of games to teach History, from a high school teacher and game-based learning researcher.

Genesee Valley Libraries Game Library: http://www.gvlibraries.org/gaming/search

Finding aid for games owned by this school library system. Includes information about grade level and content area for each game.

Internet Archive Software Library – MS-DOS Games: https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos_games

Games from the MS-DOS era adapted to run in a web browser. Free to play, but with limited documentation. Includes some games with potentially offensive content.

Journalism Games: http://www.journalismgames.org/

Searchable index of games dealing with journalism and topics in the news, including business, health, and science. Maintained by faculty and students at the University of Miami School of Communications.

Science Game Center: https://www.sciencegamecenter.org/

Searchable list of games dealing with science, technology, and math.

Common Sense Education – Game-Making Tools for Schools: https://www.commonsense.org/education/top-picks/game-making-tools-for-schools

Recommended tools for creating video games without programming experience.

Fate Accelerated: https://www.evilhat.com/home/fae/

Condensed version of the Fate Core roleplaying system. Use these rules to create your own tabletop roleplaying game. Both Fate Accelerated and Fate Core are available as “pay what you like” purchases from Evil Hat Productions.

Game Crafter: https://www.thegamecrafter.com/

Prints custom board and card games and also sells game pieces. Stock art and templates also available.

H5P: https://h5p.org/ (free experimentation site) and https://h5p.com (premium site)

Create simple games, quizzes, and other interactive HTML5 content for your website or online course.

Inform 7: http://inform7.com/

Free app for creating text adventure games and interactive fiction. Uses the Inform 7 domain-specific language, which was specially designed to resemble natural language.

Passionately Curious – Build Your Own Breakout Kit: https://passionatelycurioussci.weebly.com/blog/build-your-own-breakout-kits

Tips from a high school teacher on purchasing materials and creating tasks for an escape room style game.

Slides Carnival - Interactive Jeopardy: https://www.slidescarnival.com/jeopardy-free-presentation-template/11277

Slide template for creating a Jeopardy! game in PowerPoint or Google Slides.

Twine: https://twinery.org/

Open-source tool for creating choose-your-own-adventure style web games.