"Salen, who delivered a keynote address at the FETC 2013 conference in Orlando last week, began her talk by showing an image of a young boy holding a small plastic cube a few shades darker than the long wisp of pink hair hanging over his eyes. He was grinning from ear to ear. "This is a student at one of our schools that has just printed his first 3D object."

"As 21st century educators, said Salen, we need to "rethink the classroom as less of an environment that's just about content and really think about designing communities that have connections to other communities outside the school and through online environments."

Understanding these conditions as levers, Salen spoke of the importance of the 6 guiding principals of gameplay and their natural integration with engaging learning environments:

1. Everyone can participate. Games, said Salen, create opportunities for collaboration and community, where everyone has the chance to participate and contribute to the outcome.

2. Challenge is constant. Games provide a context where participants are continually challenged and confronted with increasingly difficult problems as they progress.

3. Feedback is immediate and ongoing. Whether they are progressing through a level or stuck on a specific problem, games provide a continuous feedback loop that lets players know where they stand.

4. Learning happens by doing. According the Salen, we are more likely to learn by actually completing a task than simply reading about a concept or theory.

5. There are many opportunities to fail up. As players progress through a game, said Salen, there are many situations where they fail at a task multiple times in order to gain enough knowledge and skill to actually succeed. "Failure does not need to be a negative thing," she insisted. As educators, we should be asking ourselves, "How do we create opportunities in our curriculum for students to fail up?"

6. Solving problems builds expertise. Similar to failing up, the more problems students solve, said Salen, the more expertise they gain and, in turn, are able to share with their peers.

"The goal," she said, "is to make learning irresistible." It's most rewarding, she added, when "you know learning is going on at the same time the kids are having fun."