By Morgan O'Brien Quest to Learn is a game-based middle/high school in Manhattan. It was created by a group of educators and game designers to help address the issue of student engagement. The teachers explain in the video how game elements create a learning environment that gets to the heart of how things work. The school seeks to expose students to the underlying systems that govern both our natural and technological worlds. Like any good game-based educational experience, the school seeks to engage students in a meaningful and relevant way. According to Nicholas Jurman, the school’s principal, “One of our primary goals for our students is that by the time they graduate from Quest to Learn they will be true systems thinkers and designers, understanding that the important challenges in the world can’t be solved in simple ways, and must be approached from many different perspectives and angles.” I like the systems thinking focus. I am a system thinker; it’s how I make sense of the world. I can imagine how this model might not work for all students. I researched some reviews of the school, and found, as with most innovative concepts, there were mixed opinions. The school seemed great for some, but not accessible to others. After all of the reading and viewing I did for this project, I found a lot to love about gamification. Naming some of the constituent elements of a game that result in the positive effects, helped me understand how and why they make such excellent frameworks for education. I do imagine a group of people, likely a significant portion of our population, whom this model may not work for. I know people who are not really motivated to learn the rules of, or play new games. I wonder how they would respond to a gamified class, or an entirely gamified school! Either way, there are some rich conversations to be had about this topic. Learn more about Quest to Learn at their website.
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