The New York Times article about Quest to Learn provided some insight into this revolutionary school in New York City
The students are required to either make their own video games to demonstrate key skills and knowledge or use video games that had been designed specifically for them. The games require a range of interdisciplinary skills; maths, writing, art, computer programming, deductive reasoning and critical thinking. I agree with Salen that the standard school curriculum which isolates disciplines from each other is ‘weird’ and does not reflect real life, and therefore the idea of having interdisplinary projects or games is more reflective of life outside school.
While the principle of learning at Quest to Learn is based on the well recognised problem-based learning pedagogy they have tapped into student’s interests, playing video games. Research shows that today’s youth are playing video games at the expense of school work and that the drop out rate of 30% is because they find school boring (Salen, 2010). Quest to Learn is obviously hoping that the use of video games will change these statistics.
While I am an advocate of pedagogy which engages students there needs to be evidence that they are ‘learning’. Results from Quest to Learn students who sat federally mandated tests showed they did no better or worse than other sixth graders. However are the results of these tests evidence that these students are not learning or that the testing instrument is not reflective of the learning at this school?
Quest to Learn is a showcase of how video games can be used in schools but this model is unlikely to be workable in larger number of schools due to the costs involved. The school receives additional funding through several private corporations (Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation & MacArthur Foundation) which allow them to employ additional technical staff.
I would certainly agree that as teachers we need to engage the students if we want to increase educational performance and video games appear to engage students. It will be interesting to see the long term outcomes from Quest to Learn. If Quest to Learn is able to demonstrate that their students have improved outcomes and they have higher retention rates then educational authorities will need to consider how this model can be adopted more widely.
Teresa
Like you, I agree with Salen that the isolation of disciplines, especially as practiced at high school, is not indicative of real life. Whilst the integration achieved at the Quest to Learn School is impressive it appears likely that the curriculum it can offer is bound to be limited by the nature of its format.
ReplyDeleteAll the research in this area that I have come across has had one major theme i.e. the use of computer games in education is highly motivational. If the Quest to Learn school can beat the Kaiser Foundation 30% high school dropout due to boredom, than it really should be taken seriously, at least as a case study. Even though the students appear to be doing no better or worse than other schools in standardised testing, if student retention rates can be noticeably improved then the rate of achievement is really much higher than the test statistics indicate.
Unfortunately, I have to agree with you that this model is unlikely to be workable on a large scale. Not all schools can tap into the Bill Gates foundation and it is unlikely that education funding will be increased enough in the near future to create schools of this nature. I also suspect that there would be opposition from a large number of parents and educators who do consider video games educationally valid.
However, the Quest to Learn School may be able to offer some valuable insights into ways that we can use games to improve engagement and motivation in our schools.
BurnBabyBern