PRINCETON, NJ (March 16, 2016) – Recognizing the enormous power games can have in improving classroom instruction and strengthening teacher-student relationships, the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation today announced that 70 New Jersey social studies teachers have been selected for the first class of HistoryQuest Fellows.
The Woodrow Wilson HistoryQuest Fellowship was developed to provide middle and high school social studies teachers with a professional development program focused on game-based pedagogy. Developed in partnership with the Institute of Play, the HistoryQuest Fellowship uses the power of games, play, and digital tools to transform both teacher practice and student engagement.
“The teachers who have been selected as the 2016 WW HistoryQuest Fellows are a creative and dedicated group,” said Stephanie J. Hull, executive vice president and chief operating officer at the Woodrow Wilson Foundation. “Some of them are just starting out, others are veteran teachers—but all of them have been selected because they’re committed to innovative teaching strategies, to making history lively and relevant for young people. These are educators who can lead the way in new kinds of game-based learning for history and civics.”
The 70 Fellows currently teach in 37 school districts and four public charter schools across New Jersey, including East Orange, Jersey City, New Brunswick, Paterson, Princeton, and Trenton. In total, half of all HistoryQuest Fellows come from high-need schools. All Fellows were first nominated by their school districts and then chosen through a rigorous selection process launched by the Woodrow Wilson Foundation last year. Each HistoryQuest Fellow attends an eight-day summer intensive, then participates in a 10-month follow-up program that includes additional workshops as well as individual coaching.
The Woodrow Wilson/Institute of Play-designed effort was created to help educators incorporate games in their lessons, to equip them to create their own gaming experiences for students, and to prepare them to teach students to think like game designers. In the long term, the Woodrow Wilson Foundation hopes the game-focused initiative will also enhance the Foundation’s ongoing work to improve teacher and education leader preparation.
“Gaming has the power to transform teaching and learning, better engage students and improve classroom performance,” Hull said. “In the WW HistoryQuest approach, teachers design the initial games and then teach students to think like game designers—to modify a rule or an action and understand how that might lead to certain outcomes for the period or the society they’re studying. It not only reinforces their learning of history, but it also provides them with 21st-century critical thinking and teamwork skills.”
The HistoryQuest Fellowship is built on a pedagogical foundation that features interactive learning through games and play, game design process and principles, systems thinking, and the purposeful integration of technology. Through participation in the program, educators will: 1) experience firsthand the playing, modification, and design of games mapped to content standards; 2) experiment with integrated games in classroom settings; 3) experiment with off-the-shelf commercial games for classroom use; 4) learn how to create assessment tools for use with games in the classroom; 5) integrate game-like frameworks into curricula; and 6) gain experience using the design process for game design and as a methodology for use with inquiry-based learning.
A full list of the 2016 HistoryQuest Fellows can be found at Woodrow.org/news/history-quest-fellows-announced. For more information on the Woodrow Wilson HistoryQuest Fellowship, please visit woodrow.org/historyquest.