Board games are fun for children of all ages, but they are also promising tools for education. How can we best practically incorporate them into K-12 classrooms in order to optimize learning? As a former neurobiologist who transitioned to teaching, I have experimented for the past seven years with the integration of board games as educational tools. Here I will discuss best practices for using board games effectively to teach content knowledge, focusing primarily on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects. Topics covered will include gamer motivations, fun yet educational game mechanics, lesson plan structures, roles of educators in scaffolded learning, and common mistakes I have discovered in the “gameschooling” process. I will also show preliminary evidence that board games can effectively improve content knowledge. Overall, I hope to show how popular modern board games could be utilized in educational arenas.
Date Recorded: 10/27/21
Format: Archived YouTube Video
Presenters: Catherine Croft, Ph.D. / Co-Founder & CEO, Catlilli Games
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