Marbelous Minds
playful & brainful learning
?
!
Have you ever had a Marbelous Mind? It is a feeling of playfulness, confidence, and wonder. It is the feeling in which your brain learns best. We wish you this feeling, anytime, anywhere.
To realize this, we develop brain-inspired game-based learning experiences to support teaching and learning.
Brain- based learning
Serious games
Gamification
News
Training
Design
Educational advice
Develop- ment
Contact
Us
Marbelous Minds
playful & brainful learning
? !
Have you ever had a Marbelous Mind? It is a feeling of playfulness, confidence, and wonder. It is the feeling in which your brain learns best. We wish you this feeling, anytime, anywhere.
To realize this, we develop brain-inspired game-based learning experiences to support teaching and learning.
Brain- based learning
Serious games
Gamification
Training
Design
Educational advice
Develop- ment
Contact
Us
News
News
01-18-2016: At Horizon 2020 information meeting Looking at the options for the ‘Gaming and Gamification’- and ‘Technologies for Learning and Skills’- calls. We plan to setup a grand collaboration, together with the Donders Institute, to build the MindSort platform. 01-17-2016: New website online We launched our new website, giving a broad picture of what we love doing. We are still very much starting up and love to work with you, just contact us for info. 01-01-2016: Marbelous New Year! We wish you a Marbelous New Year, in which you can live life the marbelous way: full of wonder, confidence and playfulness!  
Gamifi- cation
Gamification
Gamification is the application of gaming techniques to non- game situations. Marbelous Minds applies gamification to education, both in the classroom and in digital solutions (see Serious Games). That is, digital means are no requirement for gamification, merely a tool. Game-aspects like a storyline, clear goals, a feedback & reward system, coöperative and competitive interaction can be applied to any course and classroom situation. Currently we are working on: GoFuture In GoFuture, students develop an entrepreneurial attitude by setting up their own company, organisation or event in the real world. Meanwhile, they receive experience, kudo’s, and badges and can lose trust, reflecting their growth as an entrepreneur. Teachers learn how to motivate students, helped by the gaming tools and principles. A digital learning management system facilitates the process. Developed in cooperation with Kuseema and Serious Game Media. More info at www.kuseema.nl/gofuture. Want to apply gamification techniques in your school? Contact us to learn how to do this. We either give advice, help develop a gamified course, or train teachers on how to use gamification techniques. Not a gamer? No problem: gamification techniques are in essence motivation techniques,
Brain- based learning
Brain-based learning
The human brain is one of the last frontiers of science. A frontier on which incredible progress is being made. And also a frontier eager for applications in daily practice. Brain-based learning is one of the many applications of neuroscience knowledge, to help foster faster and more effective learning. However, the growth spurt of neuroscience has another side: neuroscience and brain-based learning have become a hype. And with the hype, often come unfounded claims on effectiveness, larded with colorful brain images. We do not follow this view of brain-based learning. Instead, we promote a more realistic version we call ‘brain- inspired’ learning. Here, we debunk many of the neuromyths. Instead, we bring you the story on how the brain preferably processes and learns information, without the myths, with a solid basis in both science and practice. Interested to learn how? Contact us to learn about our advice and training on brain- based learning.
Serious Games
Serious games
Serious games (a.k.a. applied games) are games that are meant to help or educate the player. Marbelous Minds designs and develops serious games aimed at education and raising awareness, grounded in science. Current projects are: MindSort MindSort is a transformative way to learn factual knowledge. It is founded on the way the brain represents information; in similarity maps, and plays as simple as classic Memory (a.k.a. Concentration). InEquality With InEquality, we transform the scientific data on social inequality into a game. In InEquality, everyone can experience how unfair the world is and how important it is to share our prosperity equally. Do you have a great idea for a game? Contact us, we are always open for new games to work on. And if we don’t have the expertise or time to take up the project, we are happy to forward you to someone in our network. In this way, we can make the world more marbelous together.
Design
Design
We design gamified and brain-inspired learning experiences. We combine the most effective elements of games and knowledge on how the brain learns into fun and effective learning situations. We do so on multiple levels: Digital games Designing a good game is a significant part of making an effective serious game. We help design games by taking up the full design, or by contributing to brainstorms with domain experts and/or other game designers and developers. Generating and discussing ideas, coming to a great design together, is what we love most. Real-world lessons and courses When designed well, any lesson or course can be made into a marbelous experience; into a game. We (help) design gamified lessons and courses, after which the teachers (with help from us) can implement it. Organisational design To make true marbelous education possible, also organisational changes can be needed. For example in the rules, the freedom of students, teachers, and other staff, or the atmosphere of the building. Sometimes these changes can be small, sometimes large, depending on your wishes.
Develop- ment
Development
Development means putting ideas and designs into practice; into a product with which teachers and students can work. We, in cooperation with partners, develop both digital and real life learning experiences in the following shapes: Serious games The classic kind of development: implementing an idea into a digital serious game. We preferably work in Unity3D to implement games for all platforms. Gamified courses/lessons Getting a gamied course or lesson into practice, requires the development of lesson plans and learning materials. We are happy to take up or facilitate this part of the process of becoming a marbelous school or teacher. Want to develop marbelous learning experiences? Contact us, we can help. If we don’t have the manpower or time, we will involve partners and/or point you to a valuable alternative. We want to world to turn marbelous, all development in that direction is a treat.
Training
Training
When you want to add brain and gaming principles in your teaching style, we can help you get started. We train teachers and other educational personnel in how to teach in a marbelous way. This training can be individual, in small groups or larger audiences, as long as it serves the purposes of making the education system more marbelous. Topics include: Gamification in education How to include a storyline, personal growth (e.g., levels), feedback systems (e.g. badges, experience points), cooperative and competitive learning into your lessons? Motivation for learning What drives motivation for learning and how can this motivation be stimulated on a personal, class, and organisational level? Brain-based learning: Neuromyths and realities How does the brain optimally process and learn information? How should material be presented? How important are factors like physical interactions and making errors for learning? Digital tools How to directly apply digital tools and (serious) games in  your lessons?
Advice
Educational advice
Sometimes no full-fledged design or implementation of a game is needed, nor extensive training. Sometimes a bit of advice can already bring you a long way. We also love to do that, in any of the following shapes: Personal advice for your lessons Just let us know how we can help you make your lessons more marbelous and we are happy to help. Public talk or lecture We love to spread the word on brain-based, gamified learning, to foster marbelous minds everywhere. Just let us know when and where and we will ‘marbelize’  the audience. Analysing current education system Maybe you are not sure yet how your education system ranks on marbelous measures. We are happy to analyse your course or school to see where improvements can be made. Ongoing advice  Maybe you are setting up a new course, study or school, or working on a educational vision for the future. We love to advice you where possible, to help bring your project to the next level!
Who we are
Who we are
Frank Leoné The founder and main drive behind Marbelous Minds. Passionate about making people learn effective and with pleasure. Background in Cognitive Neuroscience (PhD, MSc), Artificial Intelligence (MSc) and Psychology (BSc) and as teacher and trainer. Galina van der Weert Scientific expert for the InEquality project. Passionate about making the world a more fair place. Background in Psychology (MSc), Public administration (MSc) and as teacher and trainer. Partners:
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