Gaming for Education Sake

I recently had a parent ask me about the educational benefits of computer games for a 10 year old boy. The question was asking about games like solitaire, minesweep, etc. I mentioned that these games can be useful for strategic and creative thinking. I also wanted to give him a list of some more exciting games for kids that promote the same skills... immediately I think of Sims or Carmen Sandiego, but was wondering if any of you know of some more games that I could recommend.
Your advice is much appreciated.

Tags: creative, creativity, games, gaming, strategic, strategy

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Permalink Reply by Mrs. Botbyl on February 17, 2009 at 6:01pm

Ben,

Zoombinis (I think there are 3 in the series) educational software
I am a special education teacher that works with all exceptionalities and I have several students that do very well with this game. They are visual learners and don't have to be able to be good readers to play this game. It is a logical math game that build advance math thinking skills. The creators are: Chris Hancock and Scott? Check it out.

Mrs. Botbyl

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Permalink Reply by Nancy Bosch on February 17, 2009 at 6:35pm

Civ 4, Risk, Railroad Tycoon, Axis and Allies, Age of Empires, Age of Mythology My kids love Zoominis, too,

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Permalink Reply by Cameron Foster on February 18, 2009 at 1:14am

Flight simulator.
Any non-gore D&D option is good for literacy
SimCity

But I am a massive nerd.........

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Permalink Reply by Kev on February 18, 2009 at 7:43am

What skills is she looking for in particular? Gaming, in general, teaches incredible skills regardless of the game. Unfortunately, most "educational" games end up being terrible at both being games and being educational. If you are looking for more "traditional" thinking games the ones mentioned so far are wonderful. I'd add the whole Myst series if they're on pc and Pikmin if they a gamecube. Again though, games are learning tools almost universally.

Maybe recommend her a book like "Don't Bother me Mom, I'm Learning!" or James Gee's "What Video Game have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy" or, my personal favorite, "Everything Bad is Good for You."