Libraries Go Game: Aligned Learning through Modern Board Games.

Libraries Go Game: Aligned Learning through Modern Board Games. Libraries Go Game: Aligned Learning through Modern Board Games BY BRIAN MAYER AND CHRISTOPHER HARRIS Chicago: American Library Association, 2009. 134 pp. US$45.00(US$40.50 ALA members) soft cover ISBN 9780839810092 (available fromInbooks) This thorough treatment presents a case for using designer boardgames, as opposed to board games designed for the educational market, inthe context of the school library environment. These authors, schoollibrary technologists and gaming aficionados, offer educators engagingtools and strategies for learning, reasoning, exploring, inquiring,interpreting, deducing, discerning, decision making, information-basedplanning and new ways of interacting with knowledge. Games can highlightthe interrelatedness of knowledge, correlations and relationships andthe opportunity to use higher-order thinking skills within a frameworkof competitiveness and fun. The authors do not favour games which dependon a roll of the dice or those games which result in someone losing andhaving to drop out of the game, resulting in a player simply looking onwhile the game moves on. For those readers who are unaware of the nature of designer games,the authors begin by discussing the definition of these resources, thejustification for the use of them, the relevance for 21st centurylearners, the aligning of game skills and environments with curriculumrequirements and the particular information skills which are embedded indesigner games. The business of collection development encompassesissues such as purchasing high quality games so that there isauthenticity in the playing of them, aligning and identifying curriculumwith the elements of games, matching games for year appropriateness,assessing the time allowance for setting up, teaching, playing andputting away again and evaluating the game. The final section offers reviews of recommended games for Pre-K toYear 12, offering details of the publisher, designer, curriculum area,date of production, the number of participants who can play and theestimated playing time. This is followed by a summary encompassing thenature and storyline of the game, the particular skills of the game andthe application of the game within the classroom or library setting.There are 30 such reviews. There is also a very useful glossary ofgaming terms, details of all games mentioned in the text, sources ofgames, each one with websites, followed by a full index. This bookitself has additional material on its own website, quoted at the foot ofthe table of contents. The clear message of this title is that teachers need to embraceplay as one of their instructional methods. Some teachers, however, willbe reluctant to devote the time to first learning and then employinggames within their lessons where they do not directly relate to thesubject area designated in the overcrowded school syllabus games will beseen by some as an optional extra if time permits. As well, many gamesemploy 2-6 players, and for class engagement multiple purchases of agame will be required. Professional development would be an essentialelement in the teacher librarian's decision to acquire andimplement this format into the library's collection, and theauthors offer some guidelines to assist. The single-spaced lines of text do not invite an easy read, butthis title offers a different strategy for teaching and learning, andthe teacher librarian must always be tuned into the possibilities foralternative, unique sources of knowledge which are relevant totoday's students. Heather Fisher New England Girls' School