I’ve heard of James Gee all over the place but I’ve never delved into his ideas before. I stumbled upon this interview with him on Edutopia and he very succinctly describes how video games are little learning environments.
http://www.edutopia.org/james-gee-games-learning-video
My friend Lois Huang just told me about an excellent book—The Seven Laws of Teaching by John Milton Gregory. Published in 1884, the seven laws are things every teacher knows such as “Never begin a class exercise until the attention of the class has be secured.” But the way Gregory lays them all out simply [...]
Scott Brodie in writes Gamasutra about creating more meaning in games by using life experience, distilling it to a core truth, and building your game around that. Brodie applies this idea for making games more fun, but it could be used to make games more educational as well such as mathematics or problem solving.
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4263/truth_in_game_design.php
I love adages (waste not, want not) and here is a huge list of adages for game designers. It was started by Hal Barwood who I met at LucasArts many years ago and Noah Falstein who worked there before my time.
http://www.theinspiracy.com/Current%20Rules%20Master%20List.htm
Here’s a good article on Teach for America’s studies on their teacher’s effectiveness and what they now look for in new hires.
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/201001/good-teaching
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