Blogs

Last month, the SMALLab-NY team—Katie Salen, Mike Edwards, Kyle Li and Claudio Midolo created one of three GameBot pieces that were unveiled at the GameBot exhibition held at Arizona Science Center.

In the GameBot exhibition, humans and robots came together for interactive gameplay exploring the social, technological, and sustainable dimensions of robotics.

The New York team's entry 'Swarm!' challenged players with an other-worldly call to arms: "Chaos reigns in the dark reaches of the universe! Your spaceship has wandered into a hive of space hornets. Repel the angry insects with your energy."

All three gamebots were developed as part of SMALLab, the K-12 Embodied and Mediated Learning project at Arizona State University, and created through a collaborative effort between teams of artists, game designers and scientists from Arizona and beyond.

We are delighted to announce that Quest to Learn will be located on the M47 campus at 225 East 23rd Street in NYC. In close proximity to our partners, the Institute of Play and The New School, Quest to Learn is accessible by public transportation via the 6, R, and W trains and the M23 bus line. We look forward to welcoming our new students this fall!
Download Location Information (pdf)

Creating a dystopian sci-fi narrative, designing game mechanics involving pixels and buckets and creating applications that allow students to track the activities of their peers, exchange expertise and amend the exquisite puzzle of their moods, are just a few of the applications that the Being Me team has been developing in support of Quest to Learn’s wellness-focused social network.

During the past month, the Being Me team has been designing a series of applications to support students in holistic work on issues related to socio-emotional, physiological and community development. The emphasis has been on empowering students to see themselves as integral parts of a larger community, helping them to understand, "I matter within this community and I contribute to its overall wellness and abilities."

Being Me’s game narrative fuels this journey of self-discovery. The narrative involves the kindhearted and industrious Wiedanrus, an endangered species who live on the planet Qetesh. Faced with their declining civilization and inevitable extinction, the Wiedanrus contact the Quest to Learn community to help them revive their once-thriving community. The story encourages students to form connections, work together, and to be reflective about their own lives and their roles in growing a healthy community. As the narrative unfolds, students participate in quests to support the Wiedanrus and unlock different applications along the way.

Sound exciting? Stay tuned for more updates soon!

IOPers Tracy Gromek and Leah Gilliam will be presenting at the upcoming 2009 Game Education Summit to be held June 16-17, at Carnegie Mellon's Technology Entertainment Center in Pittsburgh PA.

Their presentation, 'The Dynamic Classroom: Collaborations between Game Designers and Teachers,' promises to be a lively discussion as they reflect on the Institute of Play's work with curriculum specialists and educators. The presentation will use a game-based curricular unit—the Annual Blubonian-Spanish Treasure Hunt—as a point of entry into a larger examination of the myriad issues facing game designers and educators when creating effective and dynamic classroom learning experiences. Developed as part of the Institute of Play's Summer Teachers' Institute, the Annual Blubonian-Spanish Treasure Hunt was created for first-year Spanish students in the 6th grade at a New York City public school. Read full synopsis