Institute of Play

Hackasaurus: X-Ray Goggles for the Web

Brian Waniewski — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:10:19 +0000

Atul Varma wants everyone to know how the worldwide web works. He envisions a generation of web makers: people as at home in the code language underlying the web as in the sites and social media tools that sit on its surface. This vision led Varma to spend the last year developing a neat new [...]

Embedded Assessment at Quest to Learn

Eliza Spang — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 01:10:09 +0000

Four eleven-year olds focus their attention on a game board. One girl rolls a set of dice. The boy across from her scribbles something on a sheet of paper, grins, and then exclaims,“The frequency of 7 is the highest, so far!” What? Since when do eleven-year olds discuss frequency while playing a game with such [...]

Team Player Spotlight: Rebecca Rufo-Tepper

Bob Holling — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 19:36:17 +0000

With the Institute from the start as a founding member of Quest to Learn’s design team, Rebecca hasn’t stopped pushing herself and others to continue to grow and take on new challenges. This summer, for instance, Rebecca took over the direction of Mission Lab, the Institute’s learning design studio, currently embedded at Quest to Learn. [...]

Designing a Classroom Game That Can Get Kids Excited About History

Brian Waniewski — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 16:24:17 +0000

About six years ago and six years into a career as a sixth-grade social studies teacher, Rick Brennan noticed he was getting the same questions again and again from his students. He knew what they would ask, when they would ask it, and he was bored. Brennan considered leaving the profession, but instead decided to [...]

Hive at MozFest Wrapup

Janet Kim — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 17:53:52 +0000

Missed Hive@MozFest last week? No worries, here’s the scoop on all the fun that happened. The Hive Pop-up Experience brought together organizations from New York, Chicago, San Francisco and London to create a “YouthZone” around the tagline, “Less Yack, More Hack.” Leah Gilliam, Program Manager for Informal Learning at Institute of Play, described it as [...]

Sneak Peek: Hive at MozFest

Janet Kim — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 02:39:31 +0000

Happen to be in London for the weekend? Check out the 2011 Mozilla Festival. The festival brings together web developers, journalists, filmmakers, gamers, educators and activists to reinvent media online and explore how the open web connects us in a creative and collaborative manner.

Taking Flight! New Pilot Programs

Janet Kim — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 14:30:21 +0000

We’re excited to announce the launch of two new after-school pilot programs this fall at Quest to Learn. Funded in part by The Hive Digital Media Learning Fund at The New York Community Trust and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the programs challenge and empower students to take on roles as scientists, engineers, designers, inventors, journalists, [...]

The Power of Creativity: How Game Design Changes the Way We Think

Brian Waniewski — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 18:30:14 +0000

Game designers, who must capture and retain players' attention and interest quickly, need to understand human psychology and culture.

Quest Community Doubles

Brian Waniewski — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 16:57:50 +0000

This fall we welcome the newest member of the network: CICS Chicago Quest! Teachers from Quest to Learn school in NYC contributed to a three-week professional development intensive workshop to help get new teachers in Chicago up to speed on the Quest curriculum model.

Curriculum, Rewired

Razeen Zaman — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 00:59:39 +0000

GRINDING LENSES, a collaboration with the National Writing Project, and Indiana and DePaul Universities, brought master teachers and students together to learn an innovative new pedagogy based on design, collaboration and systems thinking. Teachers became avid systems thinkers, and students gained proficiency as designers, philosophers, writers and activists.