Abstract:
Play has no agenda.

Children play for their own reasons, and even though their play can exhibit fierce 
determination, persistence, and a will to mastery, it does so only in the service of
goals that children set for themselves. Even as we celebrate the learning that occurs
in children's play, and specifically in digital games, we must acknowledge that such
learning looks dramatically different from learning in school. Though starkly different on
the face of it, we nevertheless believe that play and academic learning can be integrated,
something we have witnessed through our own experience as educators and game designers.

What is missing from the literature of gaming is a coherent articulation of how that
integration can be achieved, an explanation of how a "learning game" can both engage
players and fortify their academic learning.  We will examine these issues through
concrete examples of existing best practices, and speculative designs currently under
development at MIT's Education Arcade, and elsewhere.