http://ckbsoftware.com Sun, 07 Jun 2009 19:20:39 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en The development of Legislative Aide was made possible by the collaboration of Community Knowledgebase, EFGames, and Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE). Youth Map creator and Principal Investigator Lewis Friedland had collaborated with CIRCLE Director Peter Levine for about a decade when, in 2006, Levine ... http://ckbsoftware.com/2009/04/our-partnership/ The mission of Community Knowledgebase, LLC is to create a new generation of software for service-learning in American schools and youth programs. We do this through the development of leading-edge civic mapping, social network and educational gaming programs. Our goal is to increase the civic engagement of America's young ... http://ckbsoftware.com/2009/04/ckb/ CIRCLE (The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement) conducts research on the civic and political engagement of Americans between the ages of 15 and 25. CIRCLE provides reliable data and analysis that help Americans to understand the strengths and weaknesses of civic education, broadly defined. Our ... http://ckbsoftware.com/2009/04/cirlce/ Legislative Aide is a computer based game that integrates service learning and computer gaming with Youth Map's social networking capabilities. The software and curriculum are based on research done at the University of Wisconsin Center for Communication and Democracy, and was developed by two companies, Community Knowledgebase, LLC and EFGames, ... http://ckbsoftware.com/2009/04/what-it-is/ Within the game, students take on the role as a legislative aide to a virtual elected official; through working with their peers, teacher, and characters within the game, students gain new insight into local issues that affect their constituents, and they learn how to research these issues and ultimately propose ... http://ckbsoftware.com/2009/04/how-its-used/ Legislative Aide is supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, Dr. Edward Metz, Program Officer, through contract # ED-07-CO-0046 to Community Knowledgebase, LLC. http://ckbsoftware.com/2009/04/whats-new/ EFGames, LLC is an independent game development and consulting company specializing in the design and assessment of educational computer games. David Williamson Shaffer, Founder, is a Professor of Learning Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a leading expert on educational games. His Masters degree and PhD are from the Massachusetts ... http://ckbsoftware.com/2009/04/efgames/ Currently, we are conducting a functionality and outcome trial of the intervention in schools in Tampa, Florida. Volunteer teachers have been randomly assigned to two groups. The first group used the intervention in February and March 2009; the second group will serve as a control group during that time. Both ... http://ckbsoftware.com/2009/04/research-design/ Youth Map and Legislative Aide build on the concept of epistemic games (Shaffer, 2006) which recognizes that computers now are able to do more than simply drill or tutor students. They now can "make models that work the way some part of the world does" (p. 9). Epistemic games take advantage ... http://ckbsoftware.com/2009/04/research-findings/