Simulation and Game-Based Approaches to Teacher Professional Learning

The Scheller Teacher Education Program and The Education Arcade explore the playful side of the learning process. Their research-driven design results in games, tools, and curriculums that support playful, exploratory learning.

Committee of N -- Committee of N is a card game that helps teachers in training investigate and discuss the history of schooling in America. Students dive into the learning theories, purposes, and designed features that shape both the discourses of school as well as the physical schools themselves, ultimately designing their own schools. In addition to providing an overview of a wide range of school design elements and approaches, the game helps players build collaboration, planning, and communication skills.

Interactive Video Case Studies: A Collaborative, Online Approach to Teacher Training

Effective approaches to teaching can take a variety of forms in the classroom. The Teaching Systems Lab is harnessing the power of a unique, crowdsourced video annotation system to present the next generation of teachers with a variety of topically-focused video cases and associated ‘challenges’ linked to specific learning objectives. The video case studies provide examples of effective teaching practices ‘in action’ and enable student-teachers to experience, evaluate and discuss both diversity and similarity in teaching techniques and pedagogies. This style of interaction allows for the creation of interactive, collaborative problem-based scenarios situated in real world classrooms–complete with insights from the case-study teachers.