Screen Shots! ...page 2
by Bill Halverson

simPortal ...page 3
by Melanie Zibit

Broadening Awareness ...page 4
by Dr. David Gibson and Melanie Zibit

Games in the Classroom ...pages 5-7
An Interview with Dr. Peggy Benton

Observations/Games & Learning
An Interview with Dr. Mike Searson ...pages 8-10

Upcoming Conferences ...pages 11, 12

simSchool Visual Overview ...page 13

Will younger teachers think & learn differently? ...page 14
by Melanie Zibit

simSchool at Elearn! ...page 15

Register ...page 16

simSchool Newsletter
Bill Halverson
David Gibson
Melanie Zibit
Mark Favazza
Lauren Greenberg

Welcome to simZine...

Welcome to a new era of teaching and learning! Simulations and Games for learning are showing up at every age level. Users stand in line for hours for the latest game hardware and software. Game designers recognize the power of “playing to learn” and are building sophisticated educational games. For example, this Christmas, the number one toy for 3-7 year olds was the V-Smile by VTech. It is marketed as an educational learning system that teaches children basic school skills using interactive TV gaming! There is now a new generation of people 90 million strong (Beck and Wade 2004) who are growing up with video games. There are stores, magazines, websites, blogs, and user groups dedicated to this gamer generation. Many non-gamers think that simulations and games are a big waste of time. But not all! Could there be positive effects from using simulations and games? Both educational and business researchers are beginning to find out!!

Business is starting to take note of how future gamer generation employees could affect business organizations. Their recent research indicates that frequent users of this medium are better at multi-tasking, collaborative decision making and leadership (Beck and Wade 2004). Business is starting to get it….how about educators?

	A New Age of Teaching and Learning Using Simulations and Games Requires a New eZine. Introducing simZine!! A Newsletter about Games and Simulations for Educators.

Educators want to understand how this gamer generation learns best and are asking questions such as “What is it about simulations and games that makes them compelling learning environments? What are the benefits of learning through games? What effect could this medium have on how future teachers teach?”

As educators, many of us have seen the power of this new medium and have asked, "How do we learn more about appropriate simulations and games for use as instructional tools for learning? Where do we find out what others are thinking? What simulations and games are other educators using in the classroom? Lastly, what is the current research saying regarding the use of simulations and games as teaching and learning tools? We at simSchool want to know too!! So, we started simZine!!