Good Video Games and Good Learning

The Author: James Paul Gee is the Tashia Morgridge Professor of Reading at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He received his Ph.D. in linguistics from Stanford University and has published widely in linguistics and education. Sociolinguistics and Literacies (1990) was one of the founding documents in the formation of «New Literacies Studies». An Introduction to Discourse Analysis (1999) brings together his work on a methodology for studying communication in its cultural settings. His most recent books deal with video games, language and learning. What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy (2003) addresses why good video games produce better learning conditions than many of today’s schools. Situated Language and Learning (2004) places video games within an overall theory of learning and literacy in relation to thinking about school reform. Why Video Games Are Good for Your Soul (2006) shows how good video games combine pleasure and learning and have the capacity to empower people.

«Gee is at his masterful best in this brilliant collection. No one speaks with more insight and clarity when it comes to the learning potential of videogames. Gee seeks nothing short of a revolution; we will do well to follow his lead.» (Katie Salen, Associate Professor, Parsons the New School for Design; Executive Director, Gamelab Institute of Play)«‘Good Video Games and Good Learning’ is packed with deep insight about games and learning. If you are creating games or studying them, if you are using games to educate or just want a sneak peek at the future of learning, then you must read this book. Gee doesn’t focus on educational games: he shows how any good game is a context for learning – and conversely, what educators can learn from games. His aim is not to tell teachers how to teach, or to tell game creators how to make better games – but instead to bridge the gap between the two. In doing so, Gee presents essential ideas about game design and game experience, cognition and pleasure, and learning both in and out of the classroom – all with the playful rigor and clear thinking we have come to expect from this eminent scholar (and expert player) of games. If you read one book on games and learning this year, read ‘Good Video Games and Good Learning’. It will change the way you think about – and play – games.» (Eric Zimmerman, Co-Founder & CEO, Gamelab; and Co-Author,‘Rules of Play & The Game Design Reader’)