Wow, long time since last post, lots to tell, more coming soon, but in the meantime here’s something really neat:

Quest to Learn is a school established in New York by Katie Salen and co. with the aim of teaching kids entirely through games (both physical and digital). Immediately I’m reminded of The Young Ladies Illustrated Primer, and would love to see first hand how the whole thing is working out for them. From their website:

“It is a place where digital media meets books and students learn to think like designers, inventors, mathematicians, and more. Q2L brings together teachers with a passion for content, a vision for helping kids to learn best, and a commitment to changing the way students will grow in the world.”

I would SO send my kids there.

It’s fantastic that initiatives like this are getting funding and that people like Katie are putting a lot of this Games for Learning theory into serious practice. It’s one thing to put a budget maths tutor on the market, or create an experimental MMO designed to teach history, but running an entire school curriculum on play is entirely next level. Congrats Katie and look forward to seeing more!

In partnership with “Columbia University, Dartmouth College, Parsons, Polytechnic Institute of NYU, and other colleges”, Microsoft are launching a Games for Learning Institute at NYU, specifically focused on creating educational games to teach maths, science, and engineering.

Microsoft chief research and strategy officer Craig Mundie said that “The Games for Learning Institute at NYU is a great example of how technology can change how students learn, making it far more natural and intuitive.”

It’s a great time for Meaningful Play. As the financial market continues to crumble along with educational standards, its becoming very clear that a brute force “throw more money at it” approach is not an effective solution for effectively engaging with Gen Y.

We need to be working smarter not harder to revitalize curriculum and teaching tools so they are relevant to todays students. Gen Y’s demand participation, personalization, interactivity, and community. Traditional teaching methods just cant compete with the engagement these kids experience through social networks and gaming. And what’s more, games aren’t just cool, but a superior method for understanding and experimenting with concepts and principles.

There is clearly huge opportunity in games based learning through Meaningful Play.

P.S. Over at Straylight we put up a couple of new pages explaining our approach to the utilization of Meaningful Play, in particular it’s application across the three “genres” we see, one of which is Education. Keen for everyone’s thoughts