Extra Research

KATIE SALEN  Director of Research & Strategic Initiatives

Katie is the founding Executive Director and is currently responsible for developing new projects, programs, products, and services. She is an active game designer and, as one of the Institute’s founders, a pioneer in applying game design principles to challenges outside the field of commercial game development. Katie is a Professor in the School of Computing and Digital Media at DePaul University. She lectures widely and writes extensively on game design, design education and gamer culture. She has co-authored or edited several books, including Rules of Play, a textbook on game design, The Game Design Reader and The Ecology of Games: Connecting Youth, Games, and Learning. Also, Katie was co-lead designer on Gamestar Mechanic, an award-winning online game with built-in game design curriculum. She has been involved in the design of slow games, online games, mobile games and big games in the commercial and independent games sectors around the world.

For Katie, there are 3 main things that make Quest to Learn and CICS ChicagoQuest different from other schools: (1) the everyday collaboration between game designers, teachers, and curriculum developers; (2) an assessment model that measures 21st century skills like empathy and collaboration in addition to proficiency with state standards; and (3) a commitment to formative research, which enables constant improvement and iteration on the model.

Quest Schools

A pioneering new model for school that fully engages and empowers students to survive and thrive in the twenty-first century

Designed by Institute of Play and firmly grounded in over thirty years of learning research,the Quest school model re-imagines school as one node in an ecology of learning that extends beyond the four walls of an institution and engages kids in ways that are exciting, empowering and culturally relevant.

Quest Schools’ unique standards-based integrated curriculum mimics the action and design principles of games by generating a compelling “need to know” in the classroom. Each trimester students encounter a series of increasingly complex challenges or quests, where learning, knowledge sharing, feedback, reflection and next steps emerge as a natural function of play.

The first instance of the Quest schools model, Quest to Learn opened its doors as a NYC public school to its first class of sixth graders in 2009. It now operates a full middle school—grades six through eight—and opened an upper school for grade nine in 2012. It will grow by one grade per year to offer a full middle and upper school education by 2015.

Quest to Learn was joined in 2011 by a second instance of the Quest school model in Chicago, CICS ChicagoQuest.

Quest to Learn

A pioneering public school in New York City that offers a promising new model for student engagement

Designed from the ground up by a team of teachers and game designers, and firmly grounded in over thirty years of learning research, Quest to Learn re-imagines school as one node in an ecology of learning that extends beyond the four walls of an institution and engages kids in ways that are exciting, empowering and culturally relevant.

Quest to Learn’s unique standards-based integrated curriculum mimics the action and design principles of games by generating a compelling “need to know” in the classroom. Each trimester students encounter a series of increasingly complex, narrative challenges, games or quests, where learning, knowledge sharing, feedback, reflection and next steps emerge as a natural function of play.

For instance, in the integrated science and math learning domain, “The Way Things Work,” over the course of one trimester, sixth graders help a shrunken mad scientist, lost inside the human body, navigate the systems he encounters and report back to his research lab.

Other unique components of Quest to Learn include an embedded learning design studio (Mission Lab), a mixed-reality learning environment (SMALLab), after-school programming (Short Circuit and others), a private social network in which students practice digital citizenship (QLINK), an in-school teacher and professional development program (Studio Q) and a game design summer camp (MobileQuest).

Quest to Learn opened to its first class of sixth graders in 2009. In 2012, Quest to Learn opened an upper school, welcoming its first class of ninth graders. By 2015 the school will offer a complete middle and high school education.

Research is under way to generate comparative data on student proficiency in twenty-first century skills like systems thinking, creative problem-solving, collaboration, time management and identity formation. Preliminary results are promising. In addition, students are performing at or above New York City public school averages on standardized tests. And in 2010 the school ranked in the ninety-seventh percentile in student engagement across city schools.

CICS ChicagoQuest

A pioneering public charter school in Chicago and first instance of the Quest learning model remixed

Designed in collaboration with Chicago International Charter School, CICS ChicagoQuest is the second institution of its kind in the U.S. to re-imagine school as one node in an ecology of learning that extends beyond the classroom’s four walls and engages kids in ways that are exciting, empowering and culturally relevant.

CICS ChicagoQuest adapts the curriculum design models pioneered at Quest to Learn in New York City to produce a unique game-like learning experience for students. Each trimester a compelling “need to know” is created in the classroom, as students level up through a carefully designed sequence of challenges, or missions and quests. Students learn by doing and knowledge sharing, feedback, reflection and assessment occur as a natural function of their engagement.

CICS ChicagoQuest opened to its first classes of sixth and seventh graders in September 2011. There are plans to add additional grades each year, until the school offers a complete middle through upper school education in 2014.

Other core partners in the design and implementation of the school include Digital Youth Network, whose innovative approach to digital media literacy spans in-school and out-of-school contexts to deliver unparalleled opportunities for youth to pursue and develop their passions.

With the opening of CICS ChicagoQuest the community of educators, parents, students, designers, researchers, funders, friends and fellow travelers gathered in support of the Quest learning model has effectively doubled. We look forward to continuing to leverage this growing community to evolve, refine and advance the model.

Print & Play Games

Teacher-tested, student-approved games for difficult-to-learn skills and concepts

At Quest Schools, Institute of Play game designers and curriculum specialists partner with teachers to design, produce, play-test and refine games and other learning materials that engage students in exciting new ways. Since 2009, Institute of Play has developed over 70 original classroom games.

Straight from the games library at Quest Schools, Print & Play Games are downloadable board-and-card or discussion-based games for grades 6-12. Games are designed to focus on concepts and skills that students have difficulty grasping, and align with Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards as well as 21st century skills.

Each game pack includes game materials, plus tools and resources for educators – roll-out tips, assessment guides, video tutorials and more.

The first two games are now available for free download, with more soon to come!

·       Absolute Blast: multiplayer math board game for grades 6-8

·       Socratic Smackdown: versatile discussion-based humanities game for grades 6-12

Quest Learning in Action

A video series where students and teachers bring game-like learning to life

Quest Learning in Action videos allow you to look inside the Quest Schools model of game-like connected learning.

A complementary resource to the Q Design Packs, the videos provide learning practitioners with a view into the way the model is implemented in Quest schools classrooms and elsewhere. Each video shows how the core design principles of the model become classroom practice, highlighting just some of the ways game-like learning can be effectively used by students and teachers.

An initial series of seven videos is now available on Vimeo.

Rules of Play
Game Design Fundamentals, By Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman
notes from some of the beginning pages