The Education Arcade / Scheller Teacher Education Program (STEP)

Explores games that promote learning through authentic and engaging play. Its mission is to demonstrate the social, cultural, and educational potentials of videogames by initiating new game development projects, coordinating interdisciplinary research efforts, and informing public conversations about the broader and sometimes unexpected uses of this emerging art form in education.

The Education Arcade and the Scheller Teacher Education Program have always shared a similar philosophy with respect to using games and simulations in educational settings. Now, all of the rich content of the Education Arcade is available here including two prominent papers by co-authored by STEP and Education Arcade directors, Eric Klopfer and Scot Osterweil. Download both today:

(*) Moving learning games forward: opportunities, obstacles and openness
(*) Using the technology of today, in the classroom today: The instructional power of digital games, social networks and simulations and how teachers can leverage them

MIT’s Scheller Teacher Education Program (STEP), begun in 1995, licenses MIT undergraduates to teach mathematics and science in grades 5-12, and also conducts research and development of new technologies in and out of school that connect learning and fun. Located in MIT's Media Complex in the Weisner Building in Cambridge, MA.

MIT STEP offers a teacher licensing program that can be done entirely at MIT or in conjunction with courses at Wellesley College. This program licenses students to teach mathematics or science in grades 5-12. The Scheller Teacher Education Program, offered through the Department of Urban Studies and Planning, prepares MIT students to become teachers who are competent to teach in their field, willing to challenge established norms, able to bridge the boundaries among disciplines, and eager to help students develop the desire to question and explore.