Hostos Lincoln Academy of Science (HLA) is happy to announce that the Game Framed Math and Science initiative created at Hostos, funded through the National Science Foundation with games developed by Colmena Design is continuing the legacy of teaching math and science concepts through engaging gameplay this fall with HLA’s 8th graders. We are piloting a month-long workshop at the college next week!
What is “Game Framed Math and Science”?
In the Summer of 2013 Hostos Professors Catherine Lewis and Rees Shad began working with a cross-disciplinary team of educators to identify targeted areas of student difficulty in remedial and introductory STEMcourses. The Game-Framed Math & Science (G-FMS) initiative at Hostos Community College aims to increase students’ understanding of STEM-based subjects by framing math and science within the context of game design and gameplay. The traditional curriculum is augmented with subject-specific gameplay which helps to instill student understanding of subject materials current faculty have targeted as particularly problematic for students. In addition, the curriculum requires students to develop their own original games to teach other students highlighted concepts.
Funded by the National Science Foundation’s Advanced Technological Education Grant and Hostos Community College, the project completed its second year of development in 2014. This has culminated in the building of a state-of-the-art game lab at Hostos, the development of pilot courses, and over a dozen original game designs. Implementation of the pedagogy commenced in the Spring 2014 semester with remedial and college-level mathematics courses as well as courses in biology and environmental science. In addition to developing and producing over a dozen games for the project, the Hive Cooperative also helped students through the process of designing games of their own as study aids. This design process resulted in higher retention numbers in its associated STEM courses and has led in recent months to a number of organizations approaching the Hostos Hive asking for assistance in developing games and game-centric curricula for a variety of educational experiences.
Who is Colmena?
Colmena began as the Hostos Hive Cooperative in 2012 when, Hostos Professor Rees Shad, then the Carnegie Foundation New York Professor of the Year, formed a team of game fanatics, composed of educators and students, who wanted to help Shad develop and expand his book on game design titled, “Einstein & The Honeybee”. The collaboration established a foundation of cooperative development that has continued on through several projects focusing on the role game design and play have in the learning process.
Colmena was created by and is continued through members of the Hostos Community. It is still a lively hive of creators, designers and artists who are dedicated to shaping their own academic community.
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