Join us Wednesday November 20th at 6:30 for a panel discussion on how games are being used in educational settings to provide content, skills and problem-solving opportunities. Cost is $5 and includes refreshments.
UCSC Department Chair of Computer Science Jim Whitehead will share what the research says about using games to develop critical thinking; Joe Allington of the MakersFactory will demonstrate how to use MinecraftEdu as a curriculum tool; and Yann Nicolas of Westlake Elementary will discuss how board games build team-based collaborative skills and strategic thinking in his program.
Whether you're a classroom teacher, after-school enrichment program provider, home school parent, administrator, researcher, or gamer, join us for an enlightened evening discussing how games are changing the future of education.
About the speakers:
Jim Whitehead (http://users.soe.ucsc.edu/~ejw/)is Professor and Chair of Computer Science at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he performs research in the fields of software evolution, software bug prediction, and automated generation of computer game levels.
"I was an active participant in successful efforts to create a new undergraduate major, the BS in Computer Science: Computer Game Design. As of June 15, 2006, this new major was officially approved by UC Santa Cruz and is very interdisciplinary, including several courses from the Arts Division on campus. It is a rigorous Computer Science degree, providing a solid, strong background in computer science, with additional courses that teach the elements of computer game design. A three course capstone design sequence permits students to work in teams for a year to develop a substantial computer game."
