'Operation Play' Intros Game-Based Learning to Teachers

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 09/17/14

An education game-maker has rousted nine other organizations focused on game-based learning to jointly introduce Operation Play, a weeklong initiative to give educators ideas for introducing games into their classrooms. Filament Games has teamed up with the Institute of Play and GlassLab, MIT's Education Arcade, BrainPOP and others this week to build a hub of teacher resources.

Among the offerings are free and paid games as well as reports and guidance. Free games include:

  • Radix Endeavor, a massively multiplayer online game with STEM topics for middle and high school curriculum;
  • Lure of the Labyrinth, a game for middle-school pre-algebra students that has math puzzles wrapped into narrative driving students to work to find their lost pet and save the world from monsters; and
  • We the Jury, a game from iCivics that teaches students about government, making laws, politics, civil rights and similar social studies topics.

"There are specific things that learning games allow students to do that no other resource can tackle," said Lee Wilson, CEO of Filament Games. "The trick is to figure out how we can put these tools to use within the education system, and it's a project that educators and developers will have to collectively engage in."

While the program continues through the week, the site with its links to resources will remain up afterwards.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

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