Serendipity35

• school districts, states and federal authorities cut back on education funding


• rise in the dropout rate.
  


• nearly one in three students will not complete their high school education, and if you are a student of color, that ratio is closer to one out of two.
  


• according to America’s Promise Alliance, 1.3 million students are dropping out of school each year, which amounts to nearly 7,300 kids dropping out each and every school day.
  


• cost to society = millions/billions dollars in additional social welfare, health and criminal justice costs

You cannot teach children if they are not in school.
Keep kids engaged with learning in a sustainable way.

Is one way to do that play? But not costly virtual worlds with computer-generated animation.

Nuvana games - relatively inexpensive, with missions, scoring, social networking and communication over the Web and mobile platforms - but with a goal to ultimately get kids away from screens, out into the real world, doing authentic behaviors that have a lasting effect. Hence, “Playing for real.”

Sample: interrobang - mission-based, socially networked learning game engaging students with the Web and mobile devices. The Smithsonian Institution, Microsoft Partners in Learning, and Nuvana have created these active learning challenges suitable for any student – whether in elementary school or at a university – to exercise their problem-solving skills in science, history, and arts and culture. playinterrobang.com

Interrobang Intro from Nuvana on Vimeo.

http://sfjam.antiboredom.org  JAM, the Jamboree for Arts & Music - beta launched March 21, 2011 with hundreds of high school students in San Francisco and New York - arts and music game for kids - can be played by any child in grades K-12 - missions that spark a passion for the arts, mentors to guide students, opportunities to connect schools, teachers, parents, arts institutions and sponsors – and best of all, a stream of revenue that will eventually make SFJAM self-sustaining.

http://www.FLASHBACK.paragoogle.com  - history and civics learning game for teenagers - created by Nuvana, and made possible by a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.