Quest Atlantis = Educational Gaming

Quest Atlantis is an interactive 3D multi-user educational environment for children between the ages of 9 and 12. The environment provides a combination of pedagogy and educational content with a "commercial gaming" approach to learning. The goal of Quest Atlantis is to improve and demonstrate the relationship of interaction of education and entertainment in the classroom. Can "commercial gaming" really be applied effectively in the classroom? Is it a good motivation tool?

Quest Atlantis’s 3D environment includes: novels, storyline, comics, quests, and real-world scenarios. Children are able to put themselves in the story and travel through the virtual world and participate in quests. Each quest is divided up into related villages, and each with a theme. The content of the quests is based on academic state standards, which is where the appeal is for the education community.

It is difficult for "commercial gaming" to be embedded in curriculum. Typically students aren't interested in learning when they could be playing games. However, the creators of Quest Atlantis researched areas of student interest and based the program around student learning and recent "fads."

With this recent move into the academic world, it is necessary for more research to be done on ways in which gaming can be connected to learning within a "content and inquiry based pedagogy." For now, Quest Atlantis has successfully shown teachers, administrations, and parents that it is possible to support learning through interactivity, but it would be interesting to learn if it is possible to integrate similarly using more traditional methods of learning.