Publications & Resources

Improving the Way We Design Games for Learning by Examining How Popular Video Games Teach

Jul 2011

Richard Wainess, Deirdre Kerr and Alan Koenig

This CRESST report examines how to effectively integrate teaching “how to play a game” with teaching an instructional subject. By analyzing more than 30 popular commercial games, the authors map instructional methods and strategies which illustrate how games teach game play mechanics, controls, and interface elements and suggest ways to use games for learning specific content such as fractions.

Wainess, R., Kerr, D., & Koenig, A. (2011). Improving the way we design games for learning by examining how popular video games teach (CRESST Report 798). Los Angeles: University of California, Los Angeles, National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST).