Game On Events Go Interactive For Free

Friday 1st December/... The Science Museum has announced details of its December schedule of free events to complement the ongoing Game On exhibition. Taking place in the Science Museum's innovative Dana Centre, the December events see expert speakers interacting directly with the audience and discussing a range of subjects relating to video gaming and its culture.

The structure of these unique events provides the audience with a chance to talk to speakers directly, with the audience splitting into small groups following a brief introduction from each expert. These small groups will talk to each speaker in turn, discussing issues in a round-table manner before reporting on each group's thoughts at the end of the evening.

The Dana Centre is the Science Museum's adults-only café-bar to discuss contemporary health, science, medicine and technology.

The first event, taking place on the 5th December, is titled Virtual Worlds And Cyber Friends. Taking a look at a range of topics from the ever-expanding phenomenon of online video gaming, this evening features input from key figures in the field including writer Tim Guest and expert academic Aleks Krotoski.

Hosted by TV presenter Gareth Jones, Virtual Worlds And Cyber Friends will take on subjects such as:

· Online avatars, anonymity and personal identity

· The rise of new communities and ways of forming relationships

· The effect of virtual worlds on the people that play them

· The future for those worlds as technology continues to progress

The second Dana Centre event will take place on the 7th December and takes a look at the contentious subject of video games and education. Playing To Learn will feature a panel of expert speakers including Stephen Heppell, government advisor on technology in schools and Adrian Hall, director of Mobile Learning at Steljes Ltd, who specialises in developing new technologies to facilitate learning for children and the use of videogames in an educational context.

This event will be hosted by Bill Thompson, technology blogger for the BBC, and will focus on the use of videogames to aid education. Topics for discussion will include:

· What educational benefits can be derived from video games?

· How video games can be tailored to meet differing educational needs

· The future for games in increasingly technology-based classrooms

· Issues arising from the use of games in education - do they affect child development in other areas?

Tickets to this event are FREE and open to anyone over the age of 18, but visitors must register on: 020 7942 4040 or tickets@danacentre.org.uk

The Science Museum's Dana Centre, 165 Queens Gate, London, SW7 5HD

For full listings, visit www.danacentre.org.uk.