Quest to Learn (Q2L) is a public middle and high school in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. The school is operated by the

New York City Department of Education The New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) is the department of the government of New York City that manages the city's public school system. The City School District of the City of New York (more commonly known as New York City Publ ...

and is located in the Bayard Rustin Educational Complex in the Chelsea neighborhood of

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

History

The creation of the school was a collaboration between the Institute of Play and the

, with backing from the

MacArthur Foundation The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is a private foundation that makes grants and impact investments to support non-profit organizations in approximately 117 countries around the world. It has an endowment of $7.6 billion and ...

and support from New Visions for Public Schools. The school began in the 2009–2010 school year with one sixth grade class, and added a new grade every year until 2015 when it became a fully functioning combined middle and high school encompassing grades 6-12. Game designer and educator Katie Salen was one of the chief designers of the school.

Curriculum

Q2L's standards-based curriculum is developed collaboratively by teachers, game designers, and curriculum designers. Curriculum design mimics the design principles of games by framing every piece of the curriculum as a mission that involves game strategies such as collaboration, role-playing, and simulation. The school encourages hands-on problem solving, and is designed to promote learning of skills many experts say are necessary for college and career success, such as

systems thinking Systems thinking is a way of making sense of the complexity of the world by looking at it in terms of wholes and relationships rather than by splitting it down into its parts.Anderson, Virginia, & Johnson, Lauren (1997). ''Systems Thinking Ba ...

, collaboration, and digital literacy. Not only do students play games in the classrooms, they learn to make them in order to demonstrate their systems thinking skills. Quest to Learn emphasizes "7 Principles of Game-Based Learning": *"Everyone is a participant", *"Challenge is constant", *"Learning happens by doing", *"Feedback is immediate and ongoing", *"Failure is reframed as “iteration”, *"Everything is interconnected", and *"It kind of feels like play".

Students

Quest To Learn looks to engage their students through a unique learning style which incorporates games, hands-on activities, and collaborative activities. The student body is very diverse, with students having numerous cultural and ethnic backgrounds. According to Brian Waniewski, the Managing Director of the Institute of Play in 2012, Quest to Learn's students "are performing at or above New York City-wide averages on standardized tests. In the first 20 months of the school’s operation, students showed statistically significant gains in systems thinking skills, according to a study from

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

.Waniewski, Brian (December 18, 2012
"Meet The Game Designers Who Are On A Quest To Make NYC Public School More Fun"
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Fast Company ''Fast Company'' is an American business magazine published monthly in print and online, focusing on technology, business, and design. It releases six print issues annually. History ''Fast Company'' was founded in November 1995 by Alan Webb ...

Notable Alumni

* Declan D'Aleo

References

External links

Official website
{{authority control Educational institutions established in 2009 Public high schools in Manhattan 2009 establishments in New York (state) Chelsea, Manhattan