The idea behind this project stems from the belief that technology has the power to empower, support and transform education. Yet, it is not technology per se that truly helps improve learning outcomes. It needs to come from the pioneers that work with young people and their pedagogical approach to learning. Similarly, we know that children love playing games, as this is something they naturally do and naturally learn from. Yet it is not simply playing digital games that leads to enhanced learning outcomes either. Combining the two ideas was what prompted this project:

The GAMES for inclusion and Learning project aimed to develop innovative teaching methods involving making and playing games to support learning and involve all students including those with special education needs.

This project built on existent approaches in the partner countries by extending and exchanging pedagogic knowledge and expertise and developing new learning paths specifically through making games and then playing them. It aimed to:

• Develop teachers’ skills to take innovative approaches in teaching.
• To show the benefits on pupils using digital games as a tool to create artefacts both individually and collaboratively.

Through a series of case studies based in classrooms in the UK and Sweden, GAMES for Inclusion and Learning aimed to develop teachers’ as well as students’ skills. The teachers collaborated and exchanged knowledge and expertise in using games in diverse settings and with pupils of around 10 years of age (upper primary) in a mainstream (Sweden) and a SEN school (UK).

The games used and developed into lesson plans include:

• Scratch
• Kodu
• Minecraft
• Lego

This web-based project report aims to share materials in order to promote and support the use of games in education. (http://www.gamesforlearning.se)

Led by Buckinghamshire County Council, in the UK, the project collaborated with the University College of London Institute of Education and Stony Dean School in Amersham, Buckinghamshire. In Sweden Gothenburg Region Utbildning worked together with the Interactive Institute and Lexby school in Partille, Gothenburg.
The project was supported by the European Commission’s Erasmus + program and ran from September 2015 – August 2017.