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Wiobyrne : DARPA Uses Preteen Gamers to ... DARPA Uses Preteen Gamers to Beta Test Tomorrow's Military Software. Sieg Hall doesn't look like much from the outside.

DARPA Uses Preteen Gamers to Beta Test Tomorrow's Military Software

Located at the University of Washington, the building was constructed in the 1960s, when it was a focal point for Vietnam-era antiwar protests. Before renovations were carried out it had become so dilapidated that students had a tradition of taking home chunks of rock off its façade. If I didn't know better, Sieg is just another nondescript computer science building, not a front line in military research and development. But it's here, tucked away on the third floor, that you'll find precisely that: the Center for Game Science, a research lab that makes educational video games for children, and that received the bulk of its funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the wing of the US Department of Defense that supports research into experimental military technology.

Why is DARPA the original primary funder of the CGS? Photo by the author. Wiobyrne : Minecraft Guide 10: I’m a ... Minecraft Guide: I’m a Farmer, You’re a Farmer, We are Farmers All. Wiobyrne : How-to Geek Miecraft Lesson ... Minecraft Guide: Your First Mine, Armor, and Further Exploration. You’ve built your first shelter and survived the first night.

Minecraft Guide: Your First Mine, Armor, and Further Exploration

Now it’s time to, literally, dig into the game. Today’s lesson is focused on mining to get your first critical resources, armoring yourself, and exploring away from your main base. One of the key mechanics of Survival Mode is mining. You can play the game without doing any mining (and some players like to challenge themselves by playing the game without the mining experience) but the core of the Survival Mode experience strongly encourages you to dig deeply into the Earth for resources. Without access to abundance of iron and coal locked in the ground (and later, diamonds, gold, and other rare ores) the game is quite difficult. Only by mining are you able to upgrade your tools for higher durability, your weapons for higher damage, and your armor to better protect yourself from the myriad of creatures interested in attacking you. Let’s use our first mining experience to go over the fundamental rules of mining. Wiobyrne : More from Minecraft school ... Exploring Minecraft Game Modes.

So far we’ve installed Minecraft, learned about the biomes, and explored the creatures found within them.

Exploring Minecraft Game Modes

Now it’s time to branch out beyond the safety of Creative Mode exploration and learn about all the game modes Minecraft has to offer. In the first lesson, we spent a fair amount of time highlighting the things that made Minecraft unique with an emphasis on how you can turn Minecraft into the game you want to play based on your own interests. Game modes play a very large role in helping you shift the emphasis in the game toward whatever outcomes you want. Whether you crave a Zen sandbox to quietly build it, a long distance adventure where you explore the ends of the Earth, or you want to fight to save the world by working you way towards the Ender Dragon, the game mode you select strongly supports your play style.

There are four possible game modes: Creative, Survival, Hardcore, and Adventure. Creative Mode Survival Mode. Wiobyrne : Benefits of gaming - What ... Benefits of Gaming: What Research Shows. Wiobyrne : Minecraft Guide - Getting Started ... Minecraft Guide: Getting Started with Minecraft. Minecraft is one of the bestselling video games of all time but getting started with it can be a bit intimidating, let alone even understanding why it’s so popular.

Minecraft Guide: Getting Started with Minecraft

In this edition of How-To Geek School we’re going to help you get started with the game (or at least understand why your kids love it so much). Despite its simple appearance there is a whole lot going on in Minecraft. It can feel confusing but don’t worry, we’ve laid out a series of lessons that will take you from not knowing a single thing about the game to advanced gameplay. This includes creating custom maps, building in-game devices and structures, as well as thriving in the difficult Survival Mode. Today we’re going to dig into installing and setting up Minecraft to get you playing and enjoying the game as quickly as possible. Wiobyrne : MinecraftEdu: Dynamic tool... MinecraftEdu: Dynamic tool for the classroom. Wiobyrne : Awesome netcast on Minecraft... Wiobyrne : Awesome netcast on Minecraft...

Plus.google. Wiobyrne : A plea for teachers to bring... A plea for teachers to bring Gaming into your classrooms. I am on a quest to encourage teachers of elementary, middle and high school students to use gaming to accelerate their curriculum.

A plea for teachers to bring Gaming into your classrooms

Video Gamers Really Do See More. Goo. Valve announces Steam for Schools, helps teachers create educational Portal 2 levels. White House office studies educational benefits of video games. If you're training for a new job someday soon with a video game controller in your hands, thank Constance Steinkuehler .

White House office studies educational benefits of video games

This summer, when your kids' favorite science museum boasts a new augmented-reality environmental simulation? Same deal. If in the next few years a video game teaches you anything — how to conserve energy, eat a balanced diet or solve quadratic equations — consider the invisible hand of one of the most unconventional White House hires in recent memory. Steinkuehler studies video games. Since last September, she has been a senior policy analyst at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, where she's shaping the Obama administration's policies around games that improve health, education, civic engagement and the environment, among other areas. It comes as recent research shows that video games now reach across demographic and generational lines. Enter Steinkuehler.

"Everybody's got their motivations for it," he says. [INFOGRAPHIC] How Video Games are Changing Education. Sifteo launches intelligent blocks as a new form of entertainment. Sifteo, a table-top game startup, is announcing today that it has begun selling intelligent blocks known as Sifteo Cubes.

Sifteo launches intelligent blocks as a new form of entertainment

These devices are like little dominoes with displays on one side. The cubes are wireless, motion-aware 1.5-inch blocks with full-color screens that create unique interactions when moved, tilted, rotated and placed next to one another. Video Games Rating Board Questionnaire. Home. Women Set the Pace as Online G. Games at Sploder - Make your own Online Games Arcade, War Space. Can games make your kid a better citizen? - Back to School- msnb. Parents of video-gaming children, take heart: Your kid is not destined to become an anti-social hermit who lives at home until he’s 35.

Can games make your kid a better citizen? - Back to School- msnb

In fact, a new study shows that all that game time could actually be making him a better citizen. No, this isn’t a study funded by the video-game association. It’s from the respectable folks at the Pew Internet & American Life Project. And it’s the first, says study co-author Joe Kahne, to track the sorts of things kids do when playing — not just how much time they spend playing. “It’s really valuable to focus heavily on the quality of those experiences,” he says. Kahne, a professor at Mills College in Oakland, Calif., worked with Pew to conduct this particular survey, which focused specifically on the relationship between gaming and civic experiences among teens.