If we separate educational gaming and game theory, and define these two by themselves, educational gaming is pretty self-explanatory. This is simply a game that is educational. It develops students' language skills, creativity, and social skills. Usually educational games are focused on teaching school subjects to K-12 students. For example, it could be a math game that a math teacher wants the students to play in class to review a lesson the students learned yesterday. Game theory, on the other hand, has a definition that is related to economy or psychology. In economy, one cares about the payoffs, but in psychology, game theory is often explored for the purpose of researching how groups of people interact. Game theory can also be applied to sports, biology, law, research, etc.
When both educational gaming and game theory are combined, usually the situation is that educators use technology to encourage K-12 students to learn virtually. The students are engaged in a game that requires them to process both text and images, review the past knowledge that they obtained on the previous level to go on to the next level, see the result of how they're doing right away, and most important of all, they are being entertained. Due to the fact that the new generation of young students are exposed to video games or online games at a fairly young age, it's hard for them to let go and learn traditionally with books and lectures. Some educators decided to throw in some games to enhance student learning and engagement level, and that leads to combining technology (usually it's the computer) and games to enhance the learning experience.
Here is a video where a Yale professor explains what game theory is about:
Here is another video on gaming and education:
List of Reference:
Fun Educational Games. Retrieved April 25, 2011, from http://academicearth.org/courses/game-theory
Jupiter Images. (2009). 3650_Educational_Games_Online [Photography], Retrieved April 25, 2011, from http://topics.info.com/Educational-Games-Online_3650
Levine, David K. (n.d.). What is Game Theory? Retrieved from http://levine.sscnet.ucla.edu/general/whatis.htm
Monaha, Jerome. (2006, January 10). Game Theory Makes Its Mark [Supplemental material]. Guardian.Co.Uk. Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2006/jan/10/elearning.technology4
Oblinger, Diana G. (2006, November 3). Games and Learning: Digital Games Have the Potential to Bring Play Back to the Learning Experience. EQ. Retrieved from http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE%2BQuarterly/EDUCAUSEQuarterlyMagazineVolum/GamesandLearning/157406
Ross, Don. (2010, May 5). Game Theory. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/game-theory/
University of California, Davis. NewsWatch 2008: Are young kids spending too much time on computer. Retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfBiMmv4qt4&feature=related
YaleCourses. (2008). 1. Introduction: Five First Lessons [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM3rTU927io