Here is a very interesting podcast from Gamasutra - it is a recording of the panel called “Do Videogames Help Kids Learn?” from the Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s initiative on Digital Learning. The panelists include Sasha Barab, Nichole Pinkard, and David Williamson Shaffer, author of How Computer Games Help Children Learn.

From the GDC site: In the podcast, “Sasha Barab of Indiana University, demos his latest project, Quest Atlantis, which uses an immersive online world to teach environmental impact and science to junior high school students. Nichole Pinkard, Director of Technology at the University of Chicago also shares her experience creating an innovative digital media after school program for Chicago’s Center for Urban School improvement. And David Williamson Shaffer, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and author of How Computer Games Help Children Learn, discusses his latest research on games and learning.”

This is well worth listening to if you’ve ever asked the question, are “video games good for my child”?, or if you are curious about the effects of video games on children. As we’ve said before, we believe here at KidConfidence that the right video games can help children learn, and can play a key role in building confidence in children as well.

The podcast is hosted at GDCRadio.net and can be downloaded directly here. There is also a webcast on the MacArthur Foundation web site called “Do Video Games Help Kids Learn?” that you may be interested in.

Trust us - both of them are worth your time!

Editor’s note: A podcast is really just an .mp3 audio file that you can download and play on any computer, so don’t be afraid to click the link and listen to it!

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Hi this is Thomas with a look at new video game releases for the week ending March 3, 2007. Wii owners will finally get their hands on the highly anticipated Wii exclusive Snowboarding game “SSX Blur”. The release of “Major League Baseball 2K7” not only reminds us that spring is just around the corner, but also shows that sports games can be fun – even without motion sensing controller. Families can now dance on their Xbox360, thanks to the latest installment of DDR Universe. While PS3 speed-freaks can put the pedal to the metal (or “plastic” in this case) in Formula One Championship Edition.

KidConfidence “Parent Advisory”:
Keep younger kids away from “Bullet Witch” for the 360. The game is a Mature (M) rated 3rd person shooter.

Our KidConfidence “Family Game of the Week”:
“SSX Blur” for the Nintendo Wii.

This weeks new Releases by Platform:
————————————————————————

Nintendo Wii:
- SSX Blur

Xbox 360:
- Bullet Witch
- Dance Dance Revolution Universe
- Major League Baseball 2K7
- Samurai Warriors 2 Empires

PlayStation 3:
- Formula One Championship Edition
- Major League Baseball 2K7

PlayStation 2:
- Major League Baseball 2K7
- MLB 07: The Show
- Samurai Warriors 2 Empires

PlayStation Portable:
- 300: March to Glory
- Chili Con Carnage
- Major League Baseball 2K7

-Marvel Trading Card Game
- MLB 07: The Show

PC:
- Jade Empire: Special Edition
- The Sims 2: Seasons
- Virtual Vegas 7007 Slots

Data by Gamasutra

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Rafe Needleman from CNet wrote a short article about us and other promising startups in his Webware blog - thanks Rafe!!

Here is his summary: KidConfidence.com: New site for parents that collects reviews of videogames for kids. Focuses on the playability and educational aspects. It might also scrape reviews from other sites (like other services do). Will be adding other media types (TV shows, movies) in the future.

Webware is a great blog to watch and subscribe to with your favorite RSS reader.  It covers “online apps for real people.”  And Rafe is at almost every industry conference so he’s tuned into the pulse of what is going on in the valley.

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Following up on our recent articles on Games and Learning; KidConfidence talked with Nolan Bushnell (Founder of Atari & uWink) about how Videogames can provide context and motivation for todays students.

This is the first video in our three part interview series with Nolan Bushnell.

Nolan Bushnell has received a great deal of recognition, including being inducted into the Video Game Hall of Fame and the Consumer Electronics Association Hall of Fame, receiving the Nations Restaurant News “Innovator of the Year” award, and being named one of Newsweek’s “50 Men That Changed America”. Bushnell has started more than twenty companies and is widely recognized as one of the founding fathers of the video game industry.

File Size: 23.2MB (Load times depend on your connection speed)

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Today’s children are bombarded with a fast-paced world delivered in high-speed and high definition, leaving most parents scrambling to find television shows and video games that pack an educational punch, allowing them to sidestep the violence and bad language, while providing children with learning tools that deliver real-life results.

In fact, in the recently-released book “How Computer Games Help Children Learn,” author and former teacher, curriculum developer, teacher trainer, and school technology specialist, David Williamson Shaffer makes a convincing case for the educational power of intelligently crafted games that can serve as tools to help children think and learn about every day problems and solutions.

According to the book, the key is in finding fun video games that provide an immersive entertainment experience with learning fundamentals built in.

Many parents are already doing this with television shows, such as Dora the Explorer and the spin-off show about her younger cousin Diego. Watching these fun, educational shows, children learn about other languages, how to treat each other, about animals and the environment, and so much more.

“They’re having so much fun that they don’t realize they are learning,” explains Dawn Walker, who is completing her Master’s in Early Childhood Education and is also a mother of two-and-a-half-year-old twin boys. (more…)

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