The document proposes reforms to modernize education using digital games and media. It discusses 4 planks: [1] Modernizing early childhood education by connecting home and school digitally; [2] Developing games aligned to new standards and innovative assessments; [3] Preparing teachers for a digital age through simulations and a new corps; [4] Conducting research on educational games' impacts through partnerships. The goal is leveraging games' potential to engage students and better prepare them for the future.

1. Gaming Education Reform
Starting Points for a Digital Revolution
Michael H. Levine
The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop
Games+Learning+Society, Madison, Wisconsin
June 17, 2011

3. Overview
• Cooney Center Games and Learning initiatives
• The Modern Family Media Ecology
• Research Challenges: A Case for Games in Education
• Memo to the President: 4 Planks for Reform

4. Cooney Center Games + Learning Initiatives

5. About the Cooney Center
Joan Ganz Cooney’s 1966 report to Carnegie Corporation,
The Potential Uses of Television in Preschool Education
“How can emerging media help children learn?”

6. Pioneering Research in Children’s Media

7. The digital age television: games?
• Games are the most popular digital activity for children
ages 2-14, with 85% usage among device users
• 97% of American teens play computer or video games
• The average child starts to play computer games at age
6, and cell phone games at age 10
• 60 percent of top selling apps on iTunes
education store are designed for kids under 8

8. Cooney Center Reports on Games

9. Intergenerational Game Play & Learning
Aimed to develop research-driven design principles for
creating intergenerational play mechanics that help
children learn in a variety of settings
Partners
• USC Game Innovation Lab
• University of Michigan School of
Education
• The Joan Ganz Cooney Center
• Corporation for Public Broadcasting

10. The New Co-Viewing: Joint Media
Engagement R&D Meeting
The LIFE Center
Sesame Workshop
Stanford University
Northwestern University
The Joan Ganz Cooney Center
Center for Children and Technology at EDC
Center for Technology in Learning at SRI International

11. Intergenerational Play & Learning
Key questions:
• How can intergenerational play be intentionally designed
and promoted during game play?
• What behaviors are associated with intergenerational
game play?
• Which player dynamics attract both parents and children
to play?
• Which platforms and play mechanics best support
intergenerational engagement?

13. Intergenerational Play & Learning
• Game choice
• Rules of the game
• Competition
• Mentoring opportunities
• Influence of game type
• Focus of the interaction
• Mutual engagement

15. Trends

16. Intergenerational Video Game

17. Cooney Center Prizes Program
2010 Cooney Center Prizes for Innovation in Children's Media
• Breakthroughs in Mobile Learning
• Breakthroughs in Literacy Learning:
Innovate with The Electric Company
2011 National STEM Video Game Challenge

18. Cooney Center Prizes for Innovation in Children’s Media
2010 Finalists
Motion Math [Motion Math Games]
Since becoming a finalist in the Cooney Center Prizes, Motion Math Games released its first
product, a fractions game for the iPhone in early October 2010. The team has won all sorts of
accolades, including a profile in the Wall Street Journal’s Tech Blog , an Editor’s Choice Award for
Excellence in Design from Children’s Technology Review, and more. An iPad app, Motion Math HD,
was released in February 2011.
Toontastic [Launchpad Toys]
Since becoming a Prizes finalist, the team focused on completing development of Toontastic and
launched their iPad app on January 18th in the iTunes store. Toontastic was was called “the first
extradinary app of 2011” by USA Today in their Technology Live blog. They also received 5 stars
from Common Sense Media, awarding them with “Best Creative App.”
Project NOAH [Project Noah]
The winner of the Cooney Center Prize for Breakthroughs in Mobile Learning has garnered a
significant amount of press, recognition and distribution. Project Noah gained a partnership and
investment from National Geographic. The creator was selected as the 2010 PopTech! Social
Innovation Fellow and has been written about in the New York Times, Slate, and CNN. Their app is
now available for both the iPhone and Android.
The Next Electric Company Star [Dreamkid]
Jay Schiffman collaborated with Sesame Workshop’s Electric Company team to develop his
concept. The winning concept was originally an online game promoting literacy skills through role-
play activities. Together with The Electric Company creative team, the idea has evolved into The
Next Electric Company Star, a game that promotes the show’s connected text curriculum and
encourages kids to follow through when reading.

19. National STEM Video Game Challenge
2011 Winners
Grand Prize: You Make Me Sick!
Dan White & Dan Norton (Filament Games)
Develop your own illness in an effort to make a targeted host as sick as
possible. Along the way you learn about the physical structure of
bacteria and viruses, as well as how they are spread.
Collegiate Prize: NumberPower: Numbaland!
Derek Lomas and Jeanine Sun (UC San Diego), Dixie Ching (NYU)
A suite of games designed to help young learners construct a strong
number sense.
Professional People’s Choice Winner: Ko’s Journey
Imagine Education
A first-of-its-kind story-based math game that teaches the fundamental
of 3rd and 4th grade math where the math makes sense in the story.
Collegiate People’s Choice Winner: Green World
Plump Pixel
Players are city planners charged with maintaining a sustainable level of
energy to their city while keeping the environment clean and free of
pollution.

20. National STEM Video Game Challenge
2011 Quick Pitch at The Atlantic’s Technologies in Education Forum
The STEM National
Video Game
Challenge inspired
breakthrough ideas
in blending gaming
and STEM topics

21. National STEM Video Game Challenge
2011 Youth Prize Winners

22. The Modern Family Ecology

23. School isn’t the only place for learning
Source: The LIFE Center: Stevens, R. Bransford, J. & Stevens, A., 2005

24. School isn’t the only place for learning
Attitudes & Ideologies
of the Culture
Parents’ Work
Local
School
System
School,
Home, Teachers,
Parents, Peers
Siblings
Mass Digital
Media Media
Market
Church, Library, Digital
After-school Media Spaces
Spaces
The Government
Neighborhood Agencies
Sources: Bronfenbrenner, 1977; Takeuchi, 2011

25. The modern family ecology
Quality Time, Redefined
April 29, 2011

26. Research and Policy Challenges:
Making a Case for Games in Ed Reform

27. National Research Council Findings (2011)
More research is needed to increase understanding of:
• The role of simulations and games in learning
• Using them in formal and informal contexts
• Using them to assess and support individualized learning
• Scaling up simulations and games
To facilitate ongoing improvement in simulations and games for
science learning:
• Form R&D partnerships to facilitate intellectual collaboration
• Government agencies and foundations should consider potential
benefits of providing support for such partnerships

28. Challenges to Creating Effective Digital Media
• Current research efforts are fragmented and lack shared
priorities and practices
• Old models of R&D no longer apply to an evolving, multi-
disciplinary field
• Most current investments in educational technology are spent
on hardware and software, rather than on training to effectively
use technologies
• Educational digital media rarely bridges home and school, or
spans multiple grades
• The public dialogue about games is often focused on their
negative effects, not their potential

29. What’s Next: Memo to the President
Reform Planks 2011-2016

30. Four Planks for Reform
1. Modernize early childhood education
2. Disrupt common standards and new assessments
3. Teacher Corps for a digital and global age
4. Action research using games and digital media
- Ed Games for responsible parenthood
- Ed Games linked to health promotion
-- Ed Games for girl power (STEM)
-- Ed games for global competence and mutuality

31. P1. Modernize Early Childhood Education
• Break down barriers to using technology (NAEYC
Technology Policy, 2011)
• Normalize a child’s first digital experience
• Focus on 4 key elements:
– Digitize the play and learn curriculum
– Design boundary crossing: connect home and school
– Personalize assessment through transmedia
– Bring early childhood staff into a digital learning network

32. Interconnected components drive early
childhood education success

33. P2. New Standards and Assessments
• Games that address
common core standards:
the next big frontier
• Innovate with partners in
assessment, academia
and games industry (ETS,
EA, Ed Arcade)
• Recruit partners in Korea,
Singapore and Finland

34. P3. Teacher Quality in a Digital Age
• Games and simulations to
prepare teachers for new
learning community
• Introduce a Digital Age
Teacher Corps
• Five thousand literacy
evangelists using digital
media to change lives.

35. P4. Action Research on Games for Impact
Create Kid Innovation Clusters (KIC’s) for R&D to:
• Prepare for Parenthood (What to Expect)
• Advance “joint media engagement” to help close early
literacy gaps (Wii R Family)
• Jazz Healthy Kids (Cookie Monster Diet Line)
• Inspire Girls for STEM Careers (Ga Ga-Jolie Games)
• Activate Global Knowledge and Conflict Resolution
(Muppet Mandarin and Muppet Diplomacy Games)

36. Our Guitar Hero: Games Are for Everyone!

37. Thank You