Hi Spielbound audience! I recently interviewed an accomplished colleague in education about how he perceives the use of games for learning opportunities. The interview has been split into two parts, each with a theme. In this first part, Andrew will describe two broad categories in which games can be used to enhance classroom experiences. He will also recommend some resources that teachers can investigate for options and inspiration.

Research shows playing board may provide protection against this dementia. Here are five Stay Sharp suggested games to bring to your holiday celebrations. These games make great holiday gifts in addition to providing physical, cognitive, and emotional benefits for all ages and abilities.

Interested in getting involved with Spielbound beyond the games? Most importantly, do you love creating and building the Spielbound community? Then please, for the sake of all the meeples, join our Spielbound team!

Spielbound is looking for a communications intern to get involved with our mission. You would be a part of marketing via Social Media platforms, creating and assisting in the coordination of community events, and helping to build not only the Spielbound community, but its connections with the entire Omaha area! See our full description here for more information.

Also, Spielbound is looking for new volunteers for several of our programs including game demoers, library catalogers, web page editing, and, for those with greater ambitions, board members and staff. If interested, please contact Kaleb, the director of communications, at [email protected].

Hello educators and friends of Spielbound!

I am pleased to be returning to my role as Education Coordinator for Spielbound after a short sabbatical! One the goals of this blog is to continue to share my passion for the interaction between games-based learning and curriculum design. I teach science at a high school in the Omaha Metro Area and have incorporated standards-based, games-based learning into several of my content sections for my physical science course. If you are a teacher in the audience and would like to discuss gamification, games-based learning, or curriculum design, you can contact me at [email protected]. Part of my role is to help area teachers reflect on game options for their classroom.

My goal for this blog is to kick off the coming school year with some science options for classrooms. The three games that I’m going to feature here are interesting in that they will really ask us to confront the purpose as to why we bring games to a classroom. I’ve found that it can be easy for teachers to fool themselves into thinking that a game will “teach for them.” It is actually rare that a game will do everything that is necessary to help students understand a particular standard, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t other benefits. We must always be aware of the goals and challenges that games present.

During June 1st-3rd, Omaha will be hosting its first Protospiel board game convention at the Sheraton Omaha Hotel. The convention, sponsored by Spielbound and The Spielmasons (Omaha’s board game design organization and part of Spielbound’s non-profit outreach program) is part of a national chain of board game conventions that focuses on playing