"How Computers Help Children Learn" by David Williamson Shaffer is a very interesting book I'm reading on a certain category of video games which facilitate a tremendous amount a real learning in a short amount of time. These "epistemic" games invite players into a virtual world which recreates the epistemological frame of a particular profession such as urban planning, journalism, engineering, and architecture. In one example, inner-city students learned the urban planning trade in a weekend intensive (or at least got closer to it than most of us: they are now well on their way to "speaking the language"- understanding the basic assumptions, skills, ways of looking at the world- of the urban planner). Not bad for a weekend intensive.
Check out this link!!
http://epistemicgames.org/eg/
My wife and I came up with a business called Career Camp which offers high school students intensive forays into various professions using these games as well as interaction in real working situations with real professionals। Anyone want to start this with me? I have a teaching credential and experience. You could help run the business.
