Talking about Learning today!
Here is a link to a blog and a website relating to the links between learning and fun.
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/DigitalEducation/2011/08/balancing_fun_and_learning_in.html
http://www.seriousplayconference.com/
The blog is a great and well thought out read and I recommend it to you!
It concerns the links between serious learning and games, and methodologies to use so that kids don’t realize that the fun they are having is actually designed to teach. It specifically relates to electronic games, but I think the lessons are applicable to any kind of fun activity and the educational process.
I had to laugh when I read it though, because we have been practicing these same techniques for thirty two years in our school assemblies and especially in our science assemblies. 
Take Physics is Fun as an example. This is a pure science assembly we have had on our roster for over two decades. Let’s look at the workshops. We use two different styles with the “hands on” workshops. Some schools opt for a grade specific format using small groups working directly with the performer in a controlled setting. Over the years we have employed several different hands on activities but most recently we have used a Tesla Coil and a Van de Graaf generator. If you are not familiar with these, they are both devices dealing with electricity. Specifically, with static electricity. They are truly “electrifying” experiences! One might even say “hair-raising” experiences! I have yet to see a child who has not had an awesome fun time playing with these gadgets, and yet ... they are learning incredible lessons about currents, watts, volts, amps, resistance and all manner of other cool stuff.
More recently, Mobile Ed added a second “hands-on” format, and this time it is one that allows all the students in the school to participate. In this format the school gym is converted to a science center with numerous different stations around the room. each station features a different activity. At one station they immerse bowling balls in water and make a mess. What fun! But they are learning about water displacement weight. At another station they learn how to pull a tablecloth from beneath plates and dishes without making a mess. What fun! And yet they are learning basic laws of Physics and Inertia. The list goes on. It even includes an actual working hovercraft! Tell me that isn’t fun!
So, as you can see, Mobile Ed had had a little experience with making learning fun. Every one of our science assemblies... no... make that every one of our school assemblies... is an awesome experience filled with fun that takes place simultaneously with an awesome learning experience. And we have been doing this for thirty-two years.
So while we applaud these “newcomers” in the field of electronic gaming, and their contributions to learning, excuse us if we seem a little calm. Making learning fun is, after all, what we have always done!
Geoff Beauchamp is the Regional Manager of Mobile Ed Productions where "Education Through Entertainment" has been the guiding principal since 1979. Mobile Ed Productions produces and markets quality educational school assembly programs in the fields of science, history, writing, astronomy, natural science, mathematics, character issues and a variety of other curriculum based areas. In addition, Mr. Beauchamp is a professional actor with 30 years of experience in film, television and on stage. He created and still performs occasionally in Mobile Ed's THE LIVING LINCOLN.
