First Published in 1994. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

A Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the Year In Minds on Fire, Mark C. Carnes shows how role-immersion games channel students’ competitive (and sometimes mischievous) impulses into transformative learning experiences. His discussion is based on interviews with scores of students and faculty who have used a pedagogy called Reacting to the Past, which features month-long games set during the French Revolution, Galileo’s trial, the partition of India, and dozens of other epochal moments in disciplines ranging from art history to the sciences. These games have spread to over three hundred campuses around the world, where many of their benefits defy expectations. “[Minds on Fire is] Carnes’s beautifully written apologia for this fascinating and powerful approach to teaching and learning in higher education. If we are willing to open our minds and explore student-centered approaches like Reacting [to the Past], we might just find that the spark of student engagement we have been searching for in higher education’s mythical past can catch fire in the classrooms of the present.” —James M. Lang, Chronicle of Higher Education “This book is a highly engaging and inspirational study of a ‘new’ technique that just might change the way educators bring students to learning in the 21st century.” —D. D. Bouchard, Choice

Featuring interviews with the creators of 36 popular video games--including Deus Ex, Night Trap, Mortal Kombat, Wasteland and NBA Jam--this book gives a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of some of the most influential and iconic (and sometimes forgotten) games of all time. Recounting endless hours of painstaking development, the challenges of working with mega publishers and the uncertainties of public reception, the interviewees reveal the creative processes that produced some of gaming's classic titles.

Chronicles the life and times of the lesser-known Information Age intellect, revealing how his discoveries and innovations set the stage for the digital era, influencing the work of such collaborators and rivals as Alan Turing, John von Neumann and Vannevar Bush.

More than 65 delightful games and activities to jump-start your baby's amazing brainpower Can simply singing a song or blowing a dandelion under a toddler's nose help her mind to blossom? Can your baby count, remember events, and solve problems even before he can talk? The exciting answer to both questions is yes! Breakthrough research is revealing the extraordinary inborn abilities of infants. It is also showing how experiences during the first years of life profoundly influence intelligence, creativity, language development-and even later reading and math skills. Now two psychologists and child development experts-authors of the bestselling Baby Signs-have created a delightful guide for parents based on the most up-to-date knowledge of how babies discover the world. You'll learn how to: _ Create a homemade mobile to stimulate your three-month-old's delight in solving problems _ Play a patty-cake game to help your two-year-old make logical connections _ Initiate bedtime conversations that build your child's memory and sense of personal history _ Develop "Baby Signs" to help your toddler communicate before he or she can talk _ Stimulate your child's natural number skills with puppets and counting games _ Use nursery rhymes and special read-aloud techniques to foster reading readiness _ Nurture budding creativity with humor and fantasy play _ And much more! Baby Minds is not another program for creating "super babies." Instead it builds on activities that babies instinctively love to develop their unique abilities and make your daily interactions full of the joy of discovery-for both of you. NOTE: This edition does not include photographs.

From world-renowned autism spokesperson, scientist, and inventor Temple Grandin -- a book of personal stories, inventions, and facts that will blow young inventors' minds and make them soar. Have you ever wondered what makes a kite fly or a boat float? Have you ever thought about why snowflakes are symmetrical, or why golf balls have dimples? Have you ever tried to make a kaleidoscope or build a pair of stilts? In Calling All Minds, Temple Grandin explores the ideas behind all of those questions and more. She delves into the science behind inventions, the steps various people took to create and improve upon ideas as they evolved, and the ways in which young inventors can continue to think about and understand what it means to tinker, to fiddle, and to innovate. And laced throughout it all, Temple gives us glimpses into her own childhood tinkering, building, and inventing. More than a blueprint for how to build things, in Calling All Minds Temple Grandin creates a blueprint for different ways to look at the world. And more than a call to action, she gives a call to imagination, and shows readers that there is truly no single way to approach any given problem--but that an open and inquisitive mind is always key. Praise for Calling All Minds: "An impassioned call to look at the world in unique ways with plenty of practical advice on how to cultivate a curious, inquiring, imaginative mind." —Kirkus Reviews "Both practical and inspirational, this useful book describes an overall approach to viewing the world creatively, as exemplified by the numerous projects and supporting material provided here." —VOYA "Grandin offers a nuanced perspective on the qualities of a successful inventor—notably, a sense of wonder and curiosity, careful observation, and the willingness to learn from mistakes." —Publishers Weekly

Principles for designing educational games that integrate content and play and create learning experiences connecting to many areas of learners' lives. Too often educational videogames are narrowly focused on specific learning outcomes dictated by school curricula and fail to engage young learners. This book suggests another approach, offering a guide to designing games that integrates content and play and creates learning experiences that connect to many areas of learners' lives. These games are not gamified workbooks but are embedded in a long-form experience of exploration, discovery, and collaboration that takes into consideration the learning environment. Resonant Games describes twenty essential principles for designing games that offer this kind of deeper learning experience, presenting them in connection with five games or collections of games developed at MIT's educational game research lab, the Education Arcade. Each of the games—which range from Vanished, an alternate reality game for middle schoolers promoting STEM careers, to Ubiquitous Bio, a series of casual mobile games for high school biology students—has a different story, but all spring from these fundamental assumptions: honor the whole learner, as a full human being, not an empty vessel awaiting a fill-up; honor the sociality of learning and play; honor a deep connection between the content and the game; and honor the learning context—most often the public school classroom, but also beyond the classroom.