New school redirects teaching methods with gaming-based curriculum
Parents of children attending a new school opening in New York City this fall will soon be encouraging their kids to finish up that next level before going to bed.
Quest to Learn is a new public school for students grades six through 12, aimed at teaching both traditional as well as 21st-century skills through a curriculum based on gaming.
According to the program's Web site at q2l.org, by using "the structure of games to create powerful educational tools," educators hope that students will take on the identities of explorers, mathematicians, historians, writers and evolutionary biologists.
However, while using video games as a learning tool is certainly not a new concept, Quest has taken a much broader approach than simply setting aside time for students to play "Oregon Trail."
One example, using a program called "Enigmo 2," is a lesson titled "Invisible Pathways."
Here students focus on math and science by constructing a simulated light pathway from one point to a specified target in fewer than five moves.
As part of the assignment, students must also observe the way light passes through -- as well as interacts with -- different materials along its path.
While some may scoff at the notion of having their children playing video games such as "Spore," "Civilization" or "Little Big Planet" in the classroom, the school is quick to point out "that Quest is not a school where children spend their day playing commercial video games."
Aaron Schwartz, former COO of Archimedes Academy and principal for Quest to Learn, said that, "Quest balances traditional academic needs with a belief that students today can and do learn in different ways, often through work with digital media, games, online networks and mobile technologies. Kids today use digital media as part of their everyday interactions -- their learning should too."
Schwartz also said Quest is hoping that changing the way students are taught in school, may help to stem the rising drop out rate among students.
"In an age when low-income urban kids continue to drop out of school at alarming rates, yet research is consistently showing the high levels of engagement youth are exhibiting in various media platforms, it is incumbent upon educators to take notice and indeed redirect teaching methods to meet the needs and interests of students."
Around $1 million in funding for the program has been secured largely through donations from donors such as the Gates Foundation, Intel and the MacArthur Foundation. However, school officials are optimistic that the city will completely fund the school by 2015.
