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Skip to main content A project by CCT What is it About Games? Play the Games About Photosynthesis Heredity Electricity Heat Transfer Critical Thinking X PLAYING TO LEARN: Using Games to Help Teach Difficult Concepts If you’re not a gamer, it can be hard to get the appeal of video games. The challenges they present… read more >> -- Teacher Primer .-- The digital games are designed to help improve student understanding of phenomena that are often the subject of scientific misconceptions. Developed by EDC | Center for Children & Technology… read more >> Photosynthesis This module, which includes The Ruby Realm , an adventure/maze game, focuses on the misconception that plants grow by converting soil into plant matter. Playing the game helps students construct an understanding of photosynthesis by letting them actively participate in the process of chemical change. Learn More Electricity Students often visualize electricity as a substance that flows like water. The platformer game in this module, Monster Music , challenges that misconception with puzzles that serve as analogies for electricity as a state of molecular alignment. Learn More Heredity Misconceptions about heredity are partly the result of the difference between the scientific and everyday meanings of words such as “random” and “dominant.” Playing RoboRiot supports the development of a more accurate understanding of these terms and concepts. Learn More Heat Transfer Many students think that ice cools a drink because it transfers its “coldness” to the warmer liquid. That notion is challenged by Galactic Gloop Zoo , a game in which success depends on understanding that heat is transferred from warmer to colder objects through conduction, convection, and radiation. Learn More Critical Thinking Time to play…No Way! In this classroom game, students are editors at a site that features amazing-but-true stories. Their task is to decide whether a story should be published. The rule is that finding counterevidence for any claim means the story can’t be posted. Playing No Way! involves (a) searching for information relevant to a claim, and (b) determining whether it constitutes evidence for or against the claim. Learn More NSF logo CCT logo IES logo EDC logo © 2013 - is a National Research and Development Center on Instructional Technology made possible through the support of the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES). Digital Games Research and materials supported by National Science Foundation Grant #DRL-1252382....