Using Quests in Project-Based Learning

Farber argues that quests give students voice and choice in the classroom and voice and choice is an important part of a healthy classroom. The Buck Institute for Education (2019) agree, calling it the gold standard for a project-based learning unit. Likewise, the Center for Self-Determination Theory supports student choice as it is a key aspect of the first of the three drivers of self-determination: autonomy (the perception of being in control), competence (feeling capable to achieve), and relatedness (social belongingness) (Center for Self-Determination, 2019). Clearly it aligns with autonomy because students are in control of their decisions. Quests present learning as a series of personalized, differentiated learning pathways. Students begin with limited choices and are offered more options as the progress in-game. In my math class, I may start a quest with a lesson on the major facts or concepts. Then, the next choices will give students the opportunity to apply their newly acquired knowledge. The next layer of quest options will give students a chance to master the concepts by exploring their real-world contexts. One of the tools and platforms recommended for educational quests is Classcraft. Their quests feature colorful maps where teachers can drag and drop pins/assignments. Students can navigate themselves to these pins with in-game arrows. Quest gamify learning without encouraging any of the extrinsic like point-based leaderboards and other forms of artificial competition. According to Farber, many students will actually complete more the minimum number of quests for fun and high-flyers will explore side quests (Farber 2019).

References

Buck Institute for Education. (2019). Gold Standard PBL: Student Voice & Choice | MyPBLWorks. Retrieved June 7, 2019, from https://my.pblworks.org/resource/blog/gold_standard_pbl_student_voice_choice

Center for Self-Determination Theory. (2019). Theory. Retrieved June 7, 2019, from http://selfdeterminationtheory.org/theory/

Farber, M. (2018, January 16). Using Quests in Project-Based Learning. Retrieved June 7, 2019, from https://www.edutopia.org/article/using-quests-project-based-learning