Transformational Play and Virtual Worlds: Worked Examples from The Quest Atlantis Project

Abstract

What does it mean to know, and how do educators best support learning? These questions have been under debate since Aristotle, and quite likely even before that. At the very core of this debate is a quarrel about the relationship between person and environment, between knowing and meaning, between content and context. In the three worked examples included here, we advance a vision of knowing that focuses specifically on transformational play; how individuals and environments develop, push on, and change one another through meaningful inquiry (Connell, 1996; Dewey, 1938; Dewey & Bentley, 1960). The worked examples presented here are stand-alone worlds and game missions situated within Quest Atlantis, a multi-user virtual environment (Barab, Jackson, & Arici, 2004; Barab, Thomas, Dodge, Tuzun, & Carteaux, 2004; Barab, Dodge, Thomas, Jackson, & Tuzun, 2007). Quest Atlantis (QA) is a learning and teaching space that uses a 3D multi-user environment to immerse children, ages 9-14, in educational tasks (see htt...