Games Based School

PlayMaker is a school that has been designed and developed by the GameDesk Institute funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and launched in partnership with New Roads Schools.  So what is so special about this school?  The school’s philosophy is that children learn best by playing, making, discovering and enquiring.  They aim to transform the learning process and bring the education system into the 21st century.  Rather than simply talking at children and telling them what to learn, the children are empowered to customise their own path and develop meaningful relationships with subject material.

Image courtesy of PlayMaker School

The school aims to give children hands-on, play-based experiences that engage learners and give them a deeper understanding of the subject matter.  They have re-worked learning spaces, grade levels, traditional subject areas and so on, to create a highly engaging, exciting and 21st century school.  Four main principles guide the school:

1. Learning through play
2. Learning through making
3. Learning through discovery and enquiry
4. Learning through interest-driven curriculum

How does this work at a student level?
Students are in control of their own learning.  They have an ‘Adventure Map’ which is essentially their curriculum but one which they can interact with, personalise and reflect upon.  The Map is made up of curriculum units, which explore a certain subject area in a cross-curricula and project based way (see '10 Benefits of Project Based Learning’).  For example, the roller coaster unit teaches students about friction, speed and distance, kinetic and potential energy, measurement and digital film-making through various exercises including building a physical roller coaster, creating a digital roller coaster and making a short film.  The modules are made up of elements that are great for different types of learners (see ‘Games Based Learning Supports Multiple Learning Styles’).  Once students have completed a module, they ‘unlock’ new areas of the curriculum.

Image courtesy of PlayMaker School

On completing their Adventure Maps, students can see connections between modules and reflect upon their learning (their choices, their progress, standards they have covered etc.).  It also acts as a self-assessment tool for the student as they can see gaps in their knowledge.  This can also be seen and analysed by parents and teachers.  This is added to by a Character Sheet, which records the development of student skills and knowledge.  This feedback encourages students to further develop their self-regulating learning skills.  

The curriculum maps to U.S. standards but also focused on competencies that the PlayMaker school deems important such as systems thinking, problem solving, social-emotional learning, critical thinking, collaboration and other life and career skills (see ‘21st Century Skills and Games Based Learning’).  The school is open source so that the community of teachers and schools can learn from the school (its successes and mistakes).  I imagine that we will start to see more and more schools like this in the near future and hopefully some of them will crop up in the U.K..

Visit the school’s site for more information: http://www.playmaker.org/

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