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How One Teacher Turned Sixth Grade Into An MMO
Editor’s Note: Ben Bertoli is a long-time Kotaku reader and commenter, a lifetime, dedicated video gamer and a sixth-grade teacher in Indiana. He reached out to Kotaku this past week to share the story of how he turned his class into a role-playing game. The enthusiasm and motivation of the children in Bertoli’s class evoke the success stories seen in gamified experiences such as Fitocracy. Here, Bertoli explains his creation, ClassRealm, how it works and what motivated him to develop it.
Take Pity On A Newbie Today
Teaching Our Schools To Up Their Game
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In this Finding Your Science video from the National Science Foundation Arizona State University linguist James Paul Gee discusses how schools kill the joy of learning and how video games can bring it back to life.
Let’s Abolish Schools And Teach Children With Video Games
For thousands of years, societies taught and trained their children through immersive gameplay and storytelling. Prospect Magazine’s Julian Gough wonders why we ever stopped and ponders a fantasy world where the games of today form the children of tomorrow.
SOE Awards First G.I.R.L. Scholarship
Sony Online Entertainment has announced the first ever Gamers In Real Life (G.I.R.L.) design contest scholarship winner. Nearly 100 applicants submitted their video game concept art and essays for the contest, which kicked off in early April, and from those entries Julia Brasil of San Francisco was chosen to win a $US 10,000 scholarship at The Art Institute of California and a paid internship at Sony Online Entertainment.
“I am shocked and overjoyed to be the first G.I.R.L. Scholarship recipient,” said Brasil. “I’m really looking forward to my internship with SOE, and getting some hands-on experience at such a well-known company. It’s such a great opportunity.”
Shocked, Julia? You need to believe in yourself. Dreams really do come true; you’re living proof.
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