Playing to Learn: Video Games in the Classroom is one of first practical resources that helps teachers integrate the study of video games into the classroom. The book is comprised of over 100 video game related activity ideas appropriate for Grades 4 to 12.

Foreword by James Paul Gee
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Advertising Campaign
The students design a full-fledged advertising campaign for an upcoming or newly released video game.
Alternate History
The students write an alternate history of the world that starts with a decisive change in the outcome of a historical event.
Arcade vs. Video Games
The students compare and contrast the social experience of playing video games in an arcade versus playing them at home on a video game console or PC computer.
Artistic Rendering
The students create an artistic representation of a real-world scene.
Battleship
The students assemble the materials for a classic game of Battleship, which they then play in pairs.
Best Kids' Game
The students rank and review their favorite kid-friendly video games.
Body Image
The students discuss the relationship between body image and the physiques of both male and female video game characters.
Discussion Article: Lara Croft: Tomb Raider Series by Ismini Boinodiris Roby
Book Review
The students review an academic or instructional book about video games.
Branding the Box
The topic of branding is introduced to students who then compare and contrast the packaging of two or more PlayStation 3, Wii, or Xbox 360 titles.
Bully
The students discuss the ethical issues surrounding RockStar's school-based video game titled Bully.
Discussion Article: Video Games May Dull Shock at Violence by Miranda Hitti
Car Commercial
The students create a car commercial using in-game footage captured from a driving game.
Car of the Future
The students design and outline the specifications for a tricked-out new car (or flying machine) of the future.
Chart Toppers
The students track the video game sales charts over a one-or two-month period. They analyze and draw conclusions about the statistics they have collected.
Cheat Code Central
The students review a game's cheat codes. They propose a revised set of cheat codes that would make the game easier and more fun to play for novices and recreational gamers alike.
Choose Your Own Adventure
The students write a choose your own adventure story, a narrative with multiple pathways that can then be adapted for use in an adventure video game.
Composer Discography
The students research the discography of an established video game composer.
Critiquing the Controllers
The students compare and contrast the gamepad controllers that ship with the Microsoft Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, and Sony PlayStation 3 gaming systems.
Deadpan Dialog
The students write a review of a video game focusing solely on the elocution of one or more characters' dialog.
Design Your Own Racetrack
The students use arts and crafts supplies to design a racetrack that features five or more geographic landforms.
Design Your Own Racetrack (Take Two)
The students use a city map to design a sanctioned street race through an urban center. They identify road hazards, plot positions where protective barriers should be erected, and mark off cross streets that should be closed to traffic.
Do You Recognize This Voice?
The students play a teaching game in which they listen to recorded excerpts of dialog from several video games. They attempt to guess which celebrity's voice they are hearing.
Discussion Article: Ethics in Video Game Journalism by Justin Hall
Don't Believe the Hype
The students compare and contrast the previews and reviews of a video game. They look for evidence of hype in the previews for games that didn't quite fulfill expectations upon their release.
ESRB Ratings Review
The students review the ESRB ratings system and suggest what changes (if any) they would propose making.
Ergonomic Audit
The students conduct an ergonomic audit of the school's computer lab. They present their findings to the student council, principal, and school staff.
Fact vs. Opinion
The students analyze and parse one or more reviews of a video game for statements of fact and opinion.
Discussion Article: Reality Bytes: Eight Myths about Video Games Debunked by Henry Jenkins
Fine Motor Count
The students tally the number of times one or more gamepad buttons are pressed during a gaming session. They then transfer this data onto a chart for further analysis during math class.
Fitness Regime
The students propose a series of fitness exercises for a leading video game or comic book character.
Discussion Article: Exercise, Lose Weight with "Exergaming" by Star Lawrence
Foley Effects Artist
The students become Foley artists as they replace the sound effects in a video game with their own sounds derived from materials they have collected in and around their school and home.
Foley Effects Artist (Take Two)
The students add Foley effects to their game creations and video productions.
Discussion Article: Soaking Up the Media: Full-time Job for Kids by Miranda Hitti
For How Long Do I Play?
The students track the amount of time they spend playing video games over a two-week period. They then analyze and perform calculations on the data they have gathered.
Game Invention
The students design a real-world game or sport that they then teach others to play in a physical education class.
Gaming Budget
The students perform a cost-benefit analysis of the practice of buying versus renting video games.
Gaming Station
The teacher sets up a PlayStation 3, Wii, or Xbox 360 gaming station in the classroom that is to be used for educational purposes in the instructional program.
Graphical Analysis
The students conduct a graphical analysis of a video game. They critique the models, textures, lighting, shadows, and other graphical features of the game.
Historical Campaign
The students propose a new mission for an existing World War II-or Vietnam-based wargame. They draw their idea from an actual historical campaign or scenario that occurred during the war.
Historical Place Analysis
The students compare and contrast historically accurate video game environments with photographs and descriptions of the same real-world settings.
Discussion Article: The Convention for the Protection of Virtual Architectural Heritage by Mario Gerosa, with the collaboration of Sam Shahrani
Historical Weaponry
The students research the history of a weapon that is featured in a World War II-or Vietnam-based video game.
I Beg to Differ
The students write a response to a negative review of a video game they enjoyed.
I Believe
The students write an I Believe poem about video games that comprises ten belief statements.
Discussion Article: Contradictions by Richard Bartie
Kid-friendly Grand Theft Auto
The students take back the streets as they design a vibrant, kid-friendly city in which there are lots of things to do.
Lay of the Land
The students create a topographic map of a fictional battlefield that features several of the landforms they have studied in class.
Map of the World
The students use a wall map of the world to plot the real-world locations in which their favorite video games are set.
Music Critic
The students critique the licensed musical mix that is featured in a video game.
New Multiplayer Mode
The students brainstorm new multiplayer modes that comprise sets of gameplay rules and scenarios for a popular online wargame.
Newscast Production
The students study the structure of a traditional television newscast. They then apply what they have learned to the creation of a live newscast of their own that reports on the video game news of the day.
Discussion Article: Why We Need a Corporation for Public Gaming by David Rejeski
Next Generation Console
The students pick a name and design a model for a next-generation gaming system. They also brainstorm a list of cutting-edge features that the system will support.
Open World Directions
The students write out the directions for getting from Point A to Point B in an open world driving game.
Playing to Learn
The students brainstorm and lead their own video game learning activities.
Poor Posture
The teacher presents a lesson on ergonomics in which a student volunteer demonstrates the proper posture for sitting at a computer.
Race Relations
The students discuss how different cultural groups are represented in video games.
Repetitive Stress Injury
The teacher presents a formal lesson on repetitive stress injury to the class.
Discussion Article: Protect Kids from Computer Injuries, Safety Council Urges by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Researching the Credits
The students research a specific video game-related job and its role in the development of a video game title.
Researching the Credits (Take Two)
The students browse the credits for one or more video games as a way of helping them to organize their own in-class game development studio into assigned roles and tasks.
Review Roundup
The students compare and contrast two or more reviews of a video game. They write a review roundup that sums up the views of the critics plus their own insights.
Review of the Real World
The students turn the notion of a video game review on its head and instead review the real world as if it were a video game.
Discussion Article: Real Life: The Full Review by Greg Kasavin
Scary Stories
The students discuss what makes a story, movie, or video game scary. They then write their own scary story.
Scooby-Doo and the Laws of Physics
The students watch a half-hour Scooby-Doo Mysteries episode and count and/or categorize the number of times the characters—both friends and foes—do the impossible.
Serious Games Brainstorming
The students brainstorm ideas for a new serious game that teaches the knowledge and skill set required by a particular profession.
Discussion Article: Video Game Therapy: A New Frontier by Reuters
Spelling Dictation
The teacher compiles a spelling list of video game-related terms.
Statistical Analysis
The students analyze and discuss a number of video game-related statistics.
Strategy Guide Review
The students write and then publish a review of a video game strategy guide.
Strategy Guide Writing
The students author their own strategy guides for a full video game or a single mission from a favorite game.
Study of the Future
The students write an essay that predicts what our world will look like in the future.
Discussion Article: Laura's Story by David Hutchison
Superhero Design
The students design an original superhero character for a video game.
Surround Sound Map
The students go outside and draw a directional sound-field map that plots the location of natural and human-made sounds coming from the front, rear, sides, and overhead.
Tactical Analysis
The students write about one or more tactics they have successfully used in a video game.
Technological Progress
The students review the graphical features of three video games, respectively published this year, three years ago, and six years ago.
Television Technologies
The students research the science behind the four major television technologies: CRT, LCD, DLP, and plasma. They report on the pros and cons of each.
Test Drive
The students design a science experiment in which their peers take the cars in a racing game for a test drive. They report on which cars have the best and worst control and handling according to the participants in the study.
The Gaming PC
The students design the casing for a custom gaming PC that optionally features a custom paint job, decals, neon lights, tattoos, and other embellishments.
The Interview
The students interview their peers about their video game playing habits. They then draw tentative conclusions from the data they have gathered.
The Obituary
The students write an obituary that recounts the life of a lead video game character who has died.
The Pitch
The students prepare a proposal for a brand-new video game, which they then pitch to the class.
Discussion Article: Bringing Back the Dream by Noel Llopis
The Rewrite
The students rewrite the dialog for a cutscene in a video game that is in desperate need of improvement.
The Rewrite (Take Two)
The students rewrite a video game user review in an effort to improve its clarity and sentence structure.
The Stunt
The students capture some in-game footage of their characters performing insane stunts on foot or in vehicles.
The Survey
The students design a video game survey, which they then administer to other students in the school.
Ultimate Gaming Bundle
The students design an advertisement for the ultimate gaming bundle, consisting of a PC or console system and third-party hardware and games.
Urban Planning
The students choose the location for a new city, which they then design from the ground up.
User Interface Review
The students apply the principles of user interface design to their review of a game's user interface, menu system, and/or heads up display (HUD).
Video Game Addiction
The students research the topic of video game addiction. They decide on a list of criteria for determining whether someone is addicted to video games.
Discussion Article: Doctor Claims 40 Percent of World of Warcraft Players Are Addicted by Jeremy Reimer
Video Game Database
The students design a database for storing information about video games. They pretend they are opening a video game rental store and need to keep track of their inventory.
Video Game Debate
The students debate a controversial issue related to video games.
Discussion Article: Massacre in Winterspring by Gabe Graziani
Video Game Reenactment
The students reenact a key scene from a video game that boasts a strong storyline.
Video Game Review
The students write a review for a video game they are currently playing.
Discussion Article: Living in Oblivion by Jane Pinckard
Virtual Journal
The students write a series of journal entries that chronicle their virtual life in an online role-playing or open world video game.
Discussion Article: Are Virtual Worlds the Future of the Classroom? by Stephanie Olsen
Website Design
The students brainstorm ideas for a video game website that features content not typically found at existing websites.
Well-Balanced Diet
The students propose a set of four video games that provide a desired gameplay balance and variety of play.
World without Music
The students reflect on the perceptual experience of playing a video game without music.
World's Best Gamertag
The students are challenged to come up with the most creative Gamertag they can think of.
Afterword: Video Game Design in the Classroom
Activity List Sorted by Subject
Index