"So my question really is that how do you take an educational subject and turn it into a game, which is interesting for age 4-11 year olds."
I think you're describing a very wide age range here. When I was 4, my family bought their first computer and I sunk a lot of hours into Math Blaster. For basic math skills, I don't think I've seen a better example of gamification. When I was 11, I was more into solving puzzles and playing adventure games like Myst and The Journeyman Project.
If you're designing for the web, it might be a little harder to keep the attention of the older age range unless you're using UDK or Unity running as a plugin. If you DO want to write games for the older age group, I'd suggest requiring outside research as a gameplay element. Carmen Sandiego did this for geography, but you could apply the idea to any subject. Present a problem, link to the appropriate resources, and let the students discover the solution on their own.
Nice!
"So my question really is that how do you take an educational subject and turn it into a game, which is interesting for age 4-11 year olds."
I think you're describing a very wide age range here. When I was 4, my family bought their first computer and I sunk a lot of hours into Math Blaster. For basic math skills, I don't think I've seen a better example of gamification. When I was 11, I was more into solving puzzles and playing adventure games like Myst and The Journeyman Project.
If you're designing for the web, it might be a little harder to keep the attention of the older age range unless you're using UDK or Unity running as a plugin. If you DO want to write games for the older age group, I'd suggest requiring outside research as a gameplay element. Carmen Sandiego did this for geography, but you could apply the idea to any subject. Present a problem, link to the appropriate resources, and let the students discover the solution on their own.