Tips for Teachers Using Quest Atlantis
at 7:03 am on September 18, 2009 • Leave a comment
Teachers are integral to Quest Atlantis’ success.
Gordon Holden is a big fan of Quest Atlantis, particularly for the special needs students at his school in British Columbia, Canada.
Those children tend to be isolated from their peers because of their social, mental, or physical challenges. Learning as an able-bodied avatar in the virtual worlds of Quest Atlantis wipes out those disadvantages.
“I see QA as somewhat of a puppet play where the avatars allow the self-conscious students to leave their challenges and anxieties behind,” Holden wrote in an email. “Everyone is on an even playing field physically. The students can be themselves and be evaluated accordingly, while freed from a great deal of the extraneous judgment by peers that can often be so discouraging and crippling.”
He is one of thousands of teachers, afterschool program coordinators, museum educators, and others around the world who are using Quest Atlantis to educate, entertain, and engage children ages 9-15.
Although students are often quickly immersed in the quests, the real potential, says Barab, is realized only when teachers join in and help guide the students. The game, says Barab, is not autopilot software. To use Quest Atlantis, adult leaders are required to complete either a face-to-face training with a minimum of 15 teachers, or an online training course over four weeks.
After many hours of observation, Barab and his team find that the game is enhanced when teachers:
- Become a character in the game, playing alongside their students, giving appropriate feedback at key moments and underscoring the key concepts kids are grappling with.
- Support core concepts, such as the difference between evidence and opinion; pose “what if” scenarios so students can begin to gain a more conceptual understanding; and help them see the consequences of their decisions.
- Use failure to teach—in a virtual world, bad decisions can be as illuminating as good ones.
- Allow off-task behaviors. Students may want to spend time exploring narrative or interacting with characters not connected to the assigned task. This exploration is an important part of the overall effect.
- Support transfer of learning by showing students how their virtual experience translates to real life, which can help give them the motivation and expertise to tackle other issues they face in life.
Those who have used the games as a teaching tool both in and out of school report their young “questers” become immersed in their lessons and engage more completely with the curriculum. The kids like it and, because the games are aligned with state learning standards, teachers like it too.
Beth Spataro uses Quest Atlantis’ Modern Prometheius to help her Durham, NC, seventh-grade language arts students review their writing lessons before taking their statewide standards test. Last year, two of her students garnered top scores on their statewide achievement tests—they were the only two students in Durham to score a “4” on the test.
“By using the Quest program, they really learned the importance of elaboration and persuasion,” she says. “Elaboration is really the stickler with these kids, especially the boys. They think everybody already knows what they’re thinking.”
Educators can download a free sample unit of Quest Atlantis here: http://www.QuestAtlantis.org
Photo by: Sasha Barab
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