Gaming for Life Skills

Video games are something that the current generation of kids is growing up with and our view is if kids are using these kinds of devices, for better or for worse, and if we can substitute some of the content that they are engaging with we can potentially make a positive difference. Could you create a video game that is fun and compelling to play and actually strengthens pro social skills? Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are convinced the tests of the future will look like Crystals of Kaydor, a role-playing video game about aliens. Designed to measure children’s learning in real time while rewiring their brains to help them be more empathetic, Crystals offers a potentially transformative response to two cutting-edge questions now being debated in the world of testing: whether digital games can effectively blur the line between instruction and assessment and how educators can better gauge children’s social and emotional skills. http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2013/08/07/37games_ep.h32.html?tkn=QYVFFx%2BJwJ4Tw5%2F7jjqR9nE48RF2gSXDR71y&cmp=clp-edweek Education Week Video