Towards an appreciation of the place and potential of computer games in education

Our objective was to investigate computer games to assess their educational potential. We came to the view that it would serve best to identify cultural, ideological, and pragmatic concerns that could present obstacles to the introduction of games into the classroom. Therefore, the focus of our research changed in character from a theoretical to a pragmatically informed basis. Given the relative youth of the field that constitutes educational games research, we set about creating an overview of the field in order to establish a semblance of direction towards the production of viable games. To complement the prevalent view that games might be successful because of their motivational qualities we proposed a balancing principle that alternative views had also to be countenanced. We took the position that because computer games as entertainment were self‐motivating it did not necessarily follow that similar motivational factors could be relied on for application in education. We therefore analysed the positivistic bias we had identified as problematic because it did not seem to anticipate the possibilities of counter reaction and resistance from the students who were expected to learn with educational games and the teachers who would be expected to implement them

Themes and subthemes identified from the reviewed literature.

<p>Themes and subthemes identified from the reviewed literature.</p

Characteristics and summary of studies included in the review.

<p>Characteristics and summary of studies included in the review.</p

Flow diagram of the different phases of the systematic search and review based on PRISMA [26].

<p>Flow diagram of the different phases of the systematic search and review based on PRISMA [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0160475#pone.0160475.ref026" target="_blank">26</a>].</p

Search strategy.

<p>Search strategy.</p

Exploiting the Metal-Chelating Properties of the Drug Cargo for <i>In Vivo</i> Positron Emission Tomography Imaging of Liposomal Nanomedicines

The clinical value of current and future nanomedicines can be improved by introducing patient selection strategies based on noninvasive sensitive whole-body imaging techniques such as positron emission tomography (PET). Thus, a broad method to radiolabel and track preformed nanomedicines such as liposomal drugs with PET radionuclides will have a wide impact in nanomedicine. Here, we introduce a simple and efficient PET radiolabeling method that exploits the metal-chelating properties of certain drugs (<i>e.g.</i>, bisphosphonates such as alendronate and anthracyclines such as doxorubicin) and widely used ionophores to achieve excellent radiolabeling yields, purities, and stabilities with ⁸⁹Zr, ⁵²Mn, and ⁶⁴Cu, and without the requirement of modification of the nanomedicine components. In a model of metastatic breast cancer, we demonstrate that this technique allows quantification of the biodistribution of a radiolabeled stealth liposomal nanomedicine containing alendronate that shows high uptake in primary tumors and metastatic organs. The versatility, efficiency, simplicity, and GMP compatibility of this method may enable submicrodosing imaging studies of liposomal nanomedicines containing chelating drugs in humans and may have clinical impact by facilitating the introduction of image-guided therapeutic strategies in current and future nanomedicine clinical studies