January 28th, 2010
What's a Brain Game?
I hope to rely on the advice from experts in the field, especially the brilliant team that presented at last year's 2009 Casual Connect in Seattle to determine "what's a brain game?" Hopefully, Kanal Sarkar of Lumos Labs, Ted Spooner of Respondesign, Michael Cole of Fit Brains, Colin Garvey of CogniFit, Amy Jo Kim of Shufflebrain, and Alvaro Fernandez of SharpBrains will take a look at what I am working hard to accomplish here and add some insights. The difference between "learning games" and "brain games" and off the shelf select leisure games is clear. When it comes to the effect these various genres have on the brain - when connected to physical activity like FootGaming is not so clear. here is an example:
Yesterday I worked with 7 students who are trained as TEAM e3 ExerLearning experts in their 4th grade class. All progressed less than they had hoped during their math standardized test in the fall. Their equally matched peers who DID get a session of vigorous physical activity before the state test out-performed then by a great deal. The variable was the session of physical activity before the test. The prescription: Two daily sessions of ExerLearning before daily challenging math and other lessons.
The students already knew FootGaming (Zuma, Bejeweled, Chuzzle and PIxelus) - they were armed with a daily schedule sheet (Full program here) that would allow teachers to schedule in at least 2 Exerlearning sessions and make them right before the challenging lesson or assignment. Here is the teacher response, "
Oh my gosh. They were so focused! We were having a study hall – turning in missing work. I got more turned in today than ever from them! They believe this works and that will help us. Thanks so much Judy!"
That is Day One of the 8-week process. So, should we consider our selection of PopCap games to be "brain games" because they positively impact focus? Please share your comments and suggest other games we should try. The criteria needs to be:
- Enough clicks per minute to deliver some balance and aerobic training
- Not timed to the extent that speed is the driver of the game play
- We analyzed some PopCap games with these criteria - and will look forward to doing the same for other "brain games."
