Gaming at the Core of 21st Century Pedagogy

In Manhattan, very near to my home, I discovered an experimental school that has become a testing ground for a groundbreaking idea. This school,known as "Quest to Learn", is centered on an innovative curriculum designed on gaming literacy’s and other 21st century skills. (www.q2l.org)

Quest to Learn is a public school with additional funding from non profit organizations, private universities and sponsors. This school adopts an approach to teaching that is not unusual in early childhood : that play should be embraced as a holistic, multi-disciplinary approach to authentic learning experiences. However, this is not an early childhood school, but rather a competitive middle through upper school in a very competitive city. Quest to learn is focused on creating child centered, interest driven and enjoyable learning experiences that encourage children to gain a deep understanding of the knowledge they require to successfully navigate through adult life.

What is really special about the philosophical stance of this school is the method chosen to implement these ideas. Katie Salen, a distinguished gaming designer at “The Institute of Play” (www.instituteofplay.com), developed the entire curriculum of this school based on a video gaming intelligence. And why not? Gaming is fun and engaging. It encourages strong questioning skills and is said to result in a deeper understanding of connections between experiences and knowledge gained.

At Quest to Learn teachers take an integrative approach to subject learning. Rather than studying traditional subjects, student knowledge is developed as a series of systems, with titles such as, “How things work”. Students are able to experience learning by being a biologist, or traveling through time to understand history. Students are not graded by regular methods but in a game-like manner with levels such as Pre-novice through to Master. Commercial games are not used but instead, specially designed educational games. However, games are not always the center of the class' lesson plan, but instead it is the design principles of games that are used as the basis of planning.

By fostering collaborations between students, educators and professional game designers, they combine knowledge and talent to create a community focused on developing connections between digital and non-digital learning experiences. In this way, the aim is to develop a transition between old and new media and ideas,often merging and strengthening these experiences. For example, students role-play a game theatrically before creating the characters online. This way they can think about how the characters would speak, move, and think before bringing them to life through the game.

Being that Quest to Learn is new and experimental in nature, the outcomes of this new pedagogical approach is not yet certain. At this time, the standardized school tests used in New York Public schools do not show any remarkable differences between the pupils and students of nearby traditional schools.

Current State regulated test results tend to be aimed at measuring a rather narrow, outdated concept of knowledge and learning. They cannot yet forsee what the long term effect of this program on the career and personal success of the pupils will be.

This game-based pedagogy, is fascinating and alluring, and still very experimental, and as such, not yet a model for schools. This attempt to bridge the gap between 21st century living and learning is inspiring. The thinking behind the school has valuable lessons that can already be incorporated into regular classrooms. Perhaps the best way to regain focus away from multimedia devices in the classroom, is to embrace them, capitalize on student’s fascination with these tools and use their appeal to relate education to today’s learners and keep them connected to their classroom.

The 21st Century Pedagogical approach at Quest to Learn is to motivate students to engage in learning, stay on task, socialize and communicate in away that links formal and informal learning experiences but also enhance the knowledge student's already possess. It is exciting to imagine that some of these ideas could catch on at our outdated schools and finally address the growing gap between traditional schools and 21st century culture.