Global Kids' Digital Media Initiative

WIth our recent talk at the Living Game Worlds conference in Atlanta and the at the National Service Learning Conference, a spat of blog entries on Ayiti have sprung up. Here are a few:

The following, from a review of constructivist learning and games, writes of both Ayiti and Darfur is Dying:

These two games are the most exceptional simulations/games I have come across yet. I believe that these games are beneficial for students of all ages (elementary school to college). These two games require playing the games several times to figure out the strategies involved. However, by playing the game several times the students come to the realization that it is not their ability to play the game well that is affecting their ability to excel at the game. The students must use the knowledge obtained about these areas of the world and combine with higher order thinking skills to make the connection that the purpose of these games are to illustrate the difficulty of surviving in these regions.

Another educator on game-based learning writes:

After experiencing some of these educational games first hand, I was amazed at the wide variety there is to choose from. Funbrain.com had fairly standard games, where for instance, mathematics and baseball were connected; the more problems the player got right the more RBI's for the batter. Gameaquarium has a similar format and forces on language arts and reading concepts. Darfar is Dying and Ayiti: The Cost of Life, on the other hand, were much more complex.
Each dealt with a real life situation. Darfar is Dying allows the students to be put into the position of a Darfarian and experience life as those people are experiencing it. Ayiti:The Cost of Life allows the students to understands concepts of daily life management, budget, etc. Generally speaking, I was extremely impressed with all of the games I played. This is definitely something I would use to reinforce education concepts for my students.

Finally, A teacher evaluating various simulation games:
http://jenmartin.blogspot.com/2007/03/games-and-simulations-in-classroom.html