This work analyses the variety of play implemented within educational games and simulations and gives detailed examples of cutting-edge application in a wide range of disciplines.

Foreword /Henry Jenkins -- Introduction: Digital games and learning / Sara de Freitas and Paul Maharg -- Digital games and learning : modelling learning experiences in the digital age / Sara de Freitas and Paul Maharg -- Four-dimensional consideration of feedback in serious games / Ian Dunwell, Sara de Freitas and Steve Jarvis -- A complex systems framework for simulating teaching and learning / David Gibson -- Resolution : experiential learning through virtual role play / Russell Francis -- Stealth learning in online games / Esther MacCallum-Stewart -- Murder on Grimm Isle : the design of a game-based learning environment / Michele D. Dickey -- Are games all child's play? / Scot Osterweil and Eric Klopfer -- Constructions of games, teachers and young people in formal learning / Richard Sandford, Keri Facer and Ben Williamson -- Games and simulations in informal science education / Kurt Squire and Nathan J. Patterson -- From master to games-master : managing disequilibrium and scaffolding in simulation-based learning / Karen Barton and Patricia McKellar -- Designing serious games for cultural heritage purposes / Francesco Bellotti [and others].