Discuss

Special thanks to Neve Siegfreid and Brett Fedor for contributing these Discussion Questions!

If you use these questions in a Twitter chat, please use the hashtag #GamingSEL

For instance:

  • Q1: How can games support students' individual social-emotional development?

  • Q2: How can games help support a positive school and classroom climate for all students?

  • Q3: What kind of games are best suited to teaching SEL?

  • Q4: How can educators start intentionally using games to support SEL?

Chapter 1

  1. In classrooms, teachers need to have routines. What are the routines in your classroom?

  2. How would you or do you incorporate Fred Rogers's Six Principles of Learning Readiness into everyday teaching practice?

  3. The Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence created the RULER acronym for the development of emotional intelligence skills. What is the importance of emotional intelligence in your learning environment? What is the role of an educator in teaching the skills of emotional intelligence?

  4. RULER’s Mood Meter is a tool used to help with the identification of emotions. How might you apply the colors of the grid inside the classroom to facilitate student understanding of each quadrant?

  5. Games connect us. In March 2020, the New York Times called Animal Crossing, "The game for the coronavirus moment." What games did you play to connect with others?

Chapter 2

  1. Research suggests that games can have a powerful impact on learning. What games do you plan to use this school year?

  2. Compare and contrast SEL frameworks in the book and ones curated by EASEL Lab's Taxonomy Project.

  3. How can resources on Greater Good in Education resources support SEL in everyday curriculum?

  4. Identify your current resources for Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) within your classroom, your school, and your district.


Chapter 3

  1. Good games are emotional experiences. How can emotions in games be harnessed to teach SEL skills?

  2. “The key is to align student activities with lesson objectives.” Relate this statement to pedagogical practices and gaming.

  3. Don Norman defined physical, cognitive, sensory, functional affordances as an invitation to interact. How do affordances invite learning?

  4. Tracy Fullerton said, “Games do not lead you directly to learning—on purpose. They take an inefficient playful route to get to the learning. And that is the learning.” How does this shift your thinking about using games in your curriculum?


Chapter 4

  1. In what ways can video games teach empathy?

  2. Why is it best practice to review content warning material before showing classroom content?

  3. The Zinn Education Project offers advice on how to, and when not to, role-play in classrooms. Reflecting on the guidelines mentioned in the chapter, what are the current barriers or supports in your setting that allow for successful role-play for your students?

  4. When presenting emotionally sensitive content to students what are the supports you can put in place to create a “safe space”?


Chapter 5

  1. Mindfulness is a learned skill like social and emotional learning. How do you define the key differences between the two concepts? How do you express these differences to your students?

  2. Ziba Scott, designed the game Kind Words, as an anonymous platform where you can get and give encouragement. It is the prosocial platform of gameplay. What do you consider prosocial behavior and how do you model it? How do your students define prosocial behavior? How do they model it?

  3. What are the advantages of skill trees in gamified SEL classrooms? What are the disadvantages?

  4. Jon Ramer defined compassion as empathy put into action. How do you define compassion? How can your students put empathy into action?

Chapter 6

  1. How can video games be ethically and socially impactful?

  2. Games that model ethical decision-making through procedural play, such as Fable III and Papers, Please, explore how ethics align with morals. Players have to make choices that put the needs of one over another. What is the importance of perspective-taking in gameplay? What are ways these soft skills translate to real-world practice?

  3. How does perspective-taking differ from empathy?

  4. Transformational games move beyond rote learning; they are designed to influence attitudes and beliefs of players. What do you feel the role of transformational games is within a classroom?


Chapter 7

  1. What are the benefits of cooperative gaming?

  2. What are the benefits of post-game debriefs?

  3. How can you redesign recess to be more inclusive?

  4. Cooperative games present meaningful learning opportunities where children can play to their strengths. Educational breakout games are one example of cooperative gameplay. In thinking about your educational setting what are the relative advantages and disadvantages of using educational breakout games?

Chapter 8

  1. When children make games, perspective-taking, empathy, and teamwork can be cultivated. How do you see game design becoming part of your teaching?

  2. The Anti-Defamation League created Game Jams to promote anti-bias through facilitated gameplay. How important is your own anti-bias training when becoming a facilitator?

  3. Explore the potential of games in perspective-taking or ethical decision-making. As a facilitator, what would need to be in place before gameplay? Why?

  4. The author concludes by stating, “Game design is a mechanism for children to develop self-awareness and knowledge about the systems that they inhabit.” Upon completion of the book, what does this statement mean to you?