gie 2013

I've always sought to incorporate more elements of games and gaming into my curriculums. Students are constantly using critical thinking and teamwork skills in the games they play, whether on the athletic field or on their Xbox. Why not leverage that for the classroom?

Inspired by "alternate reality games" – a form of interactive storytelling that uses online puzzles and challenges – I designed a game for my 7th graders to play in conjunction with their reading of Homer's Odyssey. They are tasked with recovering a recently discovered (and stolen) "journal of Odysseus" by solving a variety of puzzles and riddles: everything from ancient Roman ciphers to manipulating computer files to discover hidden information. As they progress through the challenges, they receive another piece of the "journal" (in reality, excerpts from Zachary Mason's The Lost Books of the Odyssey). The puzzles require working together, critical and creative thinking skills, and, most of all, a tenacity to keep trying in the face of a difficult problem.

The game takes various shapes and exists in various formats: Youtube videos, articles, email, and more.