5 Teaching Tips for Professors--From Video Games.

The article discusses the learning process that happens as students play video games. It quotes Constance Steinkuehler, an assistant professor of educational communication and technology at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, who studies video games. She mentions observing players in a video chat room who used complex mathematics to create a plan of attack for a video monster, gathering data on the monster's behavior, entering it on an Excel spreadsheet, and building mathematical models to try to beat the monster. She sees video games as a possible tool for teaching complex subjects. Guidelines are presented for building such games, including offering frequent and detailed feedback. testing the game before going live, and using narrative to explain reasons for learning the subject.