Lesson plans to help you use educational games in the classroom

After two years of training teachers and educators across Europe on how to use video games as pedagogical support in the classroom, the Games in Schools project is drawing to a close. Time to share an important project resource: a handbook on using educational games in the classroom, with lesson plans created by participants of the Games in Schools course!

Back in the autumn of 2019, we launched a Games in Schools MOOC for teachers, presented by Ollie Bray, Director of Play at the Lego Education Foundation. Over 4,000 teachers from all around Europe joined the course, which was supported by the Interactive Software Federation of Europe (ISFE) and is part of the project with the same name.

The best lesson plans, selected by teachers

As in most of our courses, participants were asked to make their own lesson plan on the topic, taking aboard  the main takeaways from the MOOC. After the usual peer assessment by fellow course participants, an editorial board made of experienced and innovative teachers from across Europe reviewed the works. A number of lesson plans was selected for publication on the course page.

To conclude its activities, the project now released a handbook for teachers on using video games for pedagogical and motivational purposes. The five best-rated lesson plans are included in that very handbook:

• Digital Storytelling with Minecraft by Sofronia Maravelaki
• Celebrating the 500th Anniversary of the World’s first Circumnavigation by Candida Pompo
• House and Furniture in English by Cristiana Lopes
• Kung Pao Chicken Recipe by Güniz Çalışkan Kılıç
• Minecraft Village by Barış Ertuğrul

They cover both primary and secondary levels, and can be used for language subjects or are cross-curricular.

What’s more in the handbook for teachers

The handbook doesn’t only contain useful, practical resources. It also provides an updated evidence base on game-based learning which European Schoolnet initially established in 2009. The updated handbook presents an in-depth exploration of the educational benefits of commercial video games. And some guidelines on how to make the best of these in the classroom.

So, are you a teacher and considering to use video games as pedagogical and motivational resources? Then this handbook might prove really useful to you!