School uses video games as part of the curriculum. - Creepytown

[Wizrow]

School Uses Video Games To Teach Thinking Skills

by Heather Chaplin
June 28, 2010

A novel public school in New York City has taken the video game as its model for how to teach. Students use video games and design them as part of their classes. As Quest to Learn is wrapping up its first year, those behind the program say game-based learning is integral to 21st century literacy.

A 'Key' To Learning

Most kids don't need instructions to figure out how to play video games. Something about these games turns kids into phenomenal learners.

"The big idea of the school is we looked at how games work — literally how they're built and the way they support learning — and we thought could we design a school from the ground up that supported learning in the way games do," says Katie Salen, one of the executive directors of Quest to Learn.

This idea has been advocated for years by scholar James Gee, one of Salen's mentors. They believe video games are key to a new kind of literacy.

"In math, we're traveling around the world," says sixth-grader Rocco Rose, a student at Quest to Learn and a citizen of Creepytown — an imaginary city where his class learns math and English. The students play travel agents, convert currencies, keep blogs about their travel experiences and budget trips.

Creepytown is structured like a video game that has jumped out of the computer. During their 10-week "missions," students learn to adapt and improvise.

"The second trimester, Creepytown went broke," Salen says. "They had ... an economic crisis. So the kids worked to figure out ... what had gone wrong. And then they proposed the design of a theme park to bring revenue in."

Systems Thinking

Salen says playing with complex dynamic systems gives kids opportunities to learn.

Getting involved with the school, since there has been no program previously existing quite like this, was a complete leap of faith ... like jumping off a bridge.

- Sam Clayton, who sends his child to Quest to Learn

Students "learn how to solve problems, how to communicate, how to use data, how to begin to predict things that might be coming down the line," she says.

They also learn something called systems thinking, which Salen says is one of the cornerstones of 21st century literacy. It helps you understand how the behavior of a derivatives trader in Hong Kong affects housing prices in Florida. When a system becomes sufficiently complex, Salen says, you start to get outcomes that are hard to foresee.

"Suddenly you begin to get what's called emergent behavior, and in emergent behavior, that system, the elements in it, begin to relate to one another in ways that can be unpredictable," she says.

'Complete Leap Of Faith'

In a classroom across the hall from Creepytown, 12-year-old Liam Smith is working with his team to storyboard one of Aesop's fables. It's the first step of the game-design process.

At Quest to Learn, students not only play in gamelike environments, they also make video games. Salen says there's no better way to learn systems thinking than by making one. It's also familiar, says Liam.

"When you start playing games at age 3, I think it just comes naturally to you," Liam says.

For parents, though, video games aren't necessarily so familiar. Sam Clayton says choosing to send his child to Quest to Learn was a difficult decision. "Getting involved with the school, since there has been no program previously existing quite like this, was a complete leap of faith ... like jumping off a bridge," Clayton says.

Will It Make The Mark?

But Quest to Learn participants take the same standardized tests that all public school kids take.
Katie Salen, one of the executive directors of Quest to Learn
Enlarge Courtesy of Quest to Learn

Katie Salen, an executive director at Quest to Learn, says video games are an important component of 21st century literacy.
Katie Salen, one of the executive directors of Quest to Learn
Courtesy of Quest to Learn

Katie Salen, an executive director at Quest to Learn, says video games are an important component of 21st century literacy.

"The school is under a huge microscope right now," says Valerie Shute, who has a grant to asses the school from the MacArthur Foundation, which put up the seed money for the school. "There are people hoping for a wild success, and there are people hoping for the opposite."

Shute says she has already seen significant improvement in systems thinking among the students, and she is optimistic traditional skills like math won't take a beating.

For Salen, the bottom line of 21st century literacy is empowerment.

"What systems thinking does is it gives you a tool to manage complexity," she says. "Because of the complexity of problems, if you're not able to look at them as a system, you're just going to look at a blur. You will just be overwhelmed by the complexity."

The school had around 500 applicants for 80 slots in next year's class, so Creepytown should thrive for at least another year.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...ryId=128081896

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I was listening to this on NPR a while back and absolutely loved the idea. I believe using video games in a classroom setting in order to teach kids would be extremely effective.

I could see this idea spreading throughout the classroom in the next generation or two.

[Rhyis.]

They used to allow us to play video games when I went to grade school too, 25 years ago. Anyone remember Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? Yeah, that was one of the games we played.

[Seanr]

Oregon's Trail

[Max™]

http://gtamp.com/images/pro-pain.png

Taste the meat AND the heat... I tell you whut.

[Dantrag]

Oregon's Trail

This.

Also used to play some FPS in middle school on the macs... forgot what it was called.

[Kurokikaze]

Kid Pix is where its at.

[Melena]

Probably Marathon.

In elementary school was all about oregon trail and carmen sandiego. In high school I just played Doom and Wing Commander after I was done with my keyboarding assignments and sold them to the rest of the class since I was done in 10-15 min.

[Antithesis]

I was listening to this on NPR a while back and absolutely loved the idea. I believe using video games in a classroom setting in order to teach kids would be extremely effective.

I could see this idea spreading throughout the classroom in the next generation or two.

Show the kids how those motherfucking games are programmed. That ought to knock a few screws loose.

Something about Video Games being designed specifically and obviously for learning makes me want to go out and commit infanticide with .45 Smith & Wesson. You know, Tetris was very educational to me. It taught me that if I don't fucking re-arrange the blocks in the right way for a certain amount of time, my puzzle solving skills suck and I really should fucking work on that.

[Ksandra]

They use a lot of computer tools nowadays just in general. When I substitute 3-6 graders they go to the computer lab 1-2 times a week (depending on the school), and play learning games. (usually have to do 10 minutes of English and 10 minutes of Math). Then their last 5-10 minutes they get to play whatever they want lol

[zoobernut]

They used to allow us to play video games when I went to grade school too, 25 years ago. Anyone remember Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? Yeah, that was one of the games we played.

This is exactly what I was thinking. It was new like 17 or 18 years ago when I was in elementary school but it certainly isn't new now. We played Carmen Sandiego as well as Oregon Trail and a couple other "educational" games that were on the Mac back then.

Not to mention all the reading comprehension specific games I can't remember the names of, as well as all the typing games.

[Ksandra]

When are they going to make a full-blown 3D highly graphical remake of Oregon Trail anyway?

you know you'd buy it, don't hide it.

[zoobernut]

When are they going to make a full-blown 3D highly graphical remake of Oregon Trail anyway?

you know you'd buy it, don't hide it.

I would buy it in a heartbeat. As long as they didn't mess up the gameplay of it.

[ronin sparthos]

Oregon's Trail

Fucking lol.

I loved Oregon Trail along with Amazon Trail and Yukon Trail.

If there was one thing I learned is that picking the most resources and thinking you were gonna coast through the game usually wound up with you cursing at the screen as every bad thing imaginable happen to you and your party.

Also, trying to cross a river as-is usually got your shit fucked up. I guess that option to wait for conditions to improve actually meant something.... too bad when you're like 9 it doesnt matter. >.>

Carmen Sandiego.... man those were the days. The video games and the TV shows were fucking awesome.

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kz...tzduo1_500.jpg

Video games can be a very effective medium for teaching kids a variety of stuff since most of the time people rather do things than sit back and hear about it. It really is too bad that most people hear video games and throw up pitchforks but have no problem with their kids watching shitty reality TV all day.

[Lucavi]

Number. Fucking. Munchers.

That is all.

[Khamsin]

When are they going to make a full-blown 3D highly graphical remake of Oregon Trail anyway?

you know you'd buy it, don't hide it.

With FPS on the hunting parts? Except, instead of buffalo, you kill off other caravan parties and steal their supplies. It'll be an online game.

[ronin sparthos]

With FPS on the hunting parts? Except, instead of buffalo, you kill off other caravan parties and steal their supplies. It'll be an online game.

Don't forget the achievement points for successful cannibalism.

[Ksandra]

With FPS on the hunting parts? Except, instead of buffalo, you kill off other caravan parties and steal their supplies. It'll be an online game.

Holy shit. Oregon Trail MMO. Wow killer right there and you know it!

[zoobernut]

It would make millions on the nostalgia factor alone.

[Kerberoz]

Needs more intro to logic and game theory in high schools.

[Rhyis.]

I've never heard of this Oregon Trail game. Must be an American thing.