Check out these high-quality learning games from Filament Games, one of the premier learning game creators, also described in their article “School Closed” Learn at Home With These Free Learning Games!”
iCivics: iCivics is the largest and most active game-based learning solution in the world, offering a near-endless volume of free civics games and resources designed with middle school learners in mind. Since 2009, Filament has developed 20 games for the organization, ranging widely in topics from federal budget management (People’s Pie) to media and news literacy (Newsfeed Defenders)…simply put, iCivics is a can’t-miss resource for all social studies educators!
iCivics
That’s Your Right (Annenberg Classroom): A web-based, multiplayer card game That’s Your Right is designed to teach students the principles outlined in the first 10 amendments to the United States Constitution. The game was highlighted as a Best Gameplay finalist at the 2015 Games for Change Awards, and it’s playable right from your web browser!
Smithsonian Science Education Center (multiple titles): Some of Filament’s finest science games and created for all player levels, created in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institute.
Satisfraction (BrainPop): BrainPop’s web-based fractions puzzler is aligned to Common Core standards, comes accompanied with a free lesson plan for educators, and is a must-play for math learners grades 3-5.
Breaking Boundaries in Science (Oculus): Webby Award-winning Breaking Boundaries in Science is a VR celebration of some of history’s most renowned women in STEM – and it’s unlike any other experience available for the medium. A virtual museum of sorts that faithfully recreates the real-life workspaces of famous figures Jane Goodall, Marie Curie, and Grace Hopper, Breaking Boundaries immerses players in their lives and achievements via fully voice-acted vignettes that are steeped in historical context.
Mission to the Mesozoic (Field Museum): Created for Chicago’s Field Museum, Mission to the Mesozoic is a prehistoric take on Pokémon Snap – travel through time, snap pictures of dinosaurs, and pinpoint relationships that connect flora and fauna between the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous time periods!
Beats Empire (Teacher’s College, Columbia University): Beats Empire is a turn-based strategy game where you can run your own music studio and record label in a fictional city, reminiscent of New York. Through savvy analysis of market trends, players sign artists, record songs, attract new followers, and work towards domination of the top charts of music.
Rigged (Bellwether Education Partners): Rigged lets players step into the shoes of an underserved youth, making critical life decisions affecting their relationships, academics, and responsibilities. Based on real-life stories and accounts, Rigged illustrates the many insidious ways poverty can reinforce itself and affect the lives of underserved youth through decision-based gameplay where your choices matter.
RoboSellers (Junior Achievement): Players take on the role of a savvy robo-entrepreneur tasked with traversing the galaxy, buying and selling robot parts on foreign planets, and growing their custom robot business. Designed to supplement Junior Achievement’s JA More Than Money, a specialized program that introduces third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade students to key financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and social studies concepts, RoboSellers teaches about the role of money in everyday life.
Dashboard Blitz (National Safety Council): (App for iPhone and iPad) Designed to educate drivers on a variety of modern vehicle safety systems, Dashboard Blitz tasks players with working at a virtual auto expo booth, where they must answer customer questions about crash prevention technologies such as blind spot monitors and back-up cameras. Filament Games created Dashboard Blitz! for MyCarDoesWhat.org, an initiative of The National Safety Council and the University of Iowa focused on raising awareness around vehicle safety.
Square Panda (multiple titles): (for iOS and Android tablets): a Bluetooth-enabled phonics playset that uniquely integrates mobile technology with physical, toy-like inputs, combining early reading pedagogy and multisensory play to unlock learning. To accompany this device, Filament Games developed three phonetics and reading games: Bubbles, Jiggity Jamble, and Monster Rhymes.
EcoKingdoms (Legends of Learning): EcoKingdoms is a web-based learning game all about interactions in ecosystems. A choose-your-own-adventure narrative journey, players assume the role of a park ranger who must make key choices while balancing how each decision impacts the number of visitors in the park, the plants, animals, and park funds.