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QUEST TO LEARN
SCHOOL BASED IN GAMES
Quest to Learn is a public 6–12 school with an innovative educational philosophy
developed by top educators and game theorists at The Institute of Play,
with funding from The MacArthur Foundation
When the New York City middle school
Quest to Learn welcomed its first class
of sixth-graders in 2009, it hailed itself
as “the school for digital kids.”
Its founders from the Institute of Play
promised a technology-rich environment
that would parlay children’s passion
for video games into riveting educational
experiences and authentic engagement.
By delivering curriculum through the medium
of games — some digital, some not — Quest
hoped to bridge the chasm between what
kids enjoy and value in their lives, and what
they need to learn in school. This “connected
learning,” says Rebecca Rufo-Tepper, one of
Quest’s founding designers, “makes learning
irresistible. It’s connected to kids’ lives, with
a purpose, and with relevance to the real
world.”
While technology is still at the core of the
model, the kernel in the center of that core
is games and “game-like” learning. In the
process of finding its feet, Quest ditched the
“school for digital kids” tagline and replaced
it with “Challenging students to invent their
future.”
A “challenge,” in fact, is a key component of
any game, one of many game terms that all
Quest students master. Game-related activity
-- such as creating an overarching narrative
for a unit of study, inventing a board or other
“analog” game or performing a dramatic
role-play exercise -- is the container for all
curricular content, from algebra and sex
education to memoir writing and conflict
resolution.
The flexibility and appeal of games as
a conduit for learning is what the people
behind Quest hope to share with the rest
of the educational world.
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