Podcast

This episode of Experience Points features Suzanne Lyons, an educator, author, game designer, and founder of CooperativeGames.com who has championed cooperative games in education since 2009. Suzanne recounts discovering cooperative games at a nature education conference, taking over Animal Town, one of the earliest makers of cooperative board games in America, and learning from pioneers such as Terry Orlick and Jim Deacove of Family Pastimes. Drawing on Alfie Kohn's No Contest and Morton Deutsch's theory of social interdependence, she explains why competition deserves critical examination. Suzanne offers three answers to the alpha player problem - game mechanics that divide information, resources, and roles among players; explicit framing from the teacher; and open access games such as Fortunately, Unfortunately, Line Up, and Highlights, where no single player can simply find the solution. Suzanne closes by explaining why academic learning depends on social-emotional learning and classroom climate, and why cooperative games are a practical and underused way to support both.