Game Education Summit Europe

Paper Abstract:

 Educational video games have the potential to make a huge impact in the 21^st Century classroom.  What are the realities of kids actually playing video games in the classroom?  The classroom presents a set of challenges, and opportunities, not immediately obvious from the game developers studio.  Dr. North takes the audience through the complete process of ideating, designing, creating, and deploying a 3D educational video game in underperforming American schools.  The game, developed in Unity by Nukotoys, Inc. in conjunction with the Department of Education and public broadcasting, is a first person adventure game that teaches kids reading comprehension.  Developed in less then 4 months the game implements novel pedagogical strategies, reward based motivation structures, and basic problem solving skills.  The game underwent testing in 1^st-3^rd grade classrooms in some of America’s most underperforming schools.  Dr. North gives his first hand experiences from the classroom, explaining what worked, what didn’t work, and the pleasant surprises that surfaced.