Attached is the finished document, created by Brian Mayer Library Gamer that examines how board games connect to both the new school library standards and New York State educational standards.

Included is a listing of games featured in the alignment, as well as the games that make up the circulation Game Library available to each of the member libraries in our School Library System.

This has been a labor of love, but I am so glad to have this finished and ready to share at ALA next week. I will have the finalized hard copies on hand at the open gaming night and MIG events. After ALA, the document will be available for download from the Genesee Valley BOCES School Library System Gaming website.

2.1 Skills:

• 2.1.1 Games such as Puerto Rico, Caylus and Amun Re employ strategy and intricate mechanics which encourage the continued use of an inquiry based process through the application of critical thinking skills.

This is a site for people interested in using Sid Meier's Civilization for learning academic content, including history, geography, or even game design. They have custom-designed game scenarios, curricula, case studies, and experts on using Civ for learning. Their goal is to help players, students, parents, and even teachers use the game at home, in after school centers and maybe even classrooms.

http://civworld.gameslearningsociety.org/

1.1 Skills:

• 1.1.1 Games rich in historical connections, such as 1960: The Making of the President and Twilight Struggle, allow students, through inquiry, to seek knowledge in curricular subjects and connect their activities back to the real world.

Games engage students with authentic leisure experiences while reinforcing a variety of social, literary and curricular skills. When an educational concept is introduced and reinforced during a game, it is internalized as part of an enjoyable experience and further utilized as one aspect of a strategy to attain success.

I wanted to take a few minutes to show that gaming also strongly corresponds to the many of the Common Beliefs laid out by the AASL.

Inquiry provides a framework for learning.
Games not only introduce basic skills which are applicable away from the table, they also provide the motivation to explore and refine those skills.

Ethical Behavior in the use of information must be taught.
Through positive experiences in gaming, students come to appreciate the validity of varying approaches to problems and the importance of ethical choices.

The American Association of School Librarians' Standards for the 21st-Century Learner define student interactions with information in terms of an inquiry-based experience. 21st-Century learners need to explore information; to see what more they can find by building connections and trying different searches. Another word for this might be play.

The new AASL standards are very supportive of the ideas and skills that make up gaming as can be seen in the gaming alignment below. This, document, created by the member libraries of the School Library System of Genesee Valley BOCES provides support for the use of games as a learning resource in school libraries.

The School Library System of Genesee Valley BOCES has developed a collection of games appropriate for use in school libraries. While these are not “educational games” all of the games are linked to New York State curriculum standards including math, ELA, and social studies standards. Based on the available research about gaming, we strongly believe that games are an important part of development. They provide a learning environment that presents a variety of new challenges, supports creative problem solving, and provides support for overcoming failure.