• $250,000Active Strategy

  2013 (Duration 1 year)

  Digital Media & Learning

  NEW YORK, NEW YORK — The Institute of Play promotes media literacy as a critical 21st century skill, and games as new environments for learning. With previous grant support, in 2009 the Institute opened the Quest to Learn school - an innovative school model that can be implemented as a whole school or individual elements of the model may be implemented in traditional schools - and the ChicagoQuest charter school in 2011. The institute will use this grant to test and share curricular guides, toolkits, and videos with the ChicagoQuest staff and with teachers across the country.

• $3,300,000Active Strategy

  2012 (Duration 3 years)

  Digital Media & Learning

  NEW YORK, NEW YORK — In collaboration with the Gates Foundation and Electronic Arts, the largest video game company in the world, the Institute of Play, a not-for-profit games, learning, and research organization, will use this grant to establish a Games, Assessment and Innovation Lab to create validated exemplars of game-based assessments and to help create a new model of partnership between the commercial game industry and public education. It also will develop assessments to be included in popular video games.

• $400,000Active Strategy

  2011 (Duration 2 years)

  Digital Media & Learning

  NEW YORK, NEW YORK — The Institute of Play promotes media literacy as a critical 21st century skill and games as a new learning environment. Its executive director is Katie Salen, a leading U.S. game designer who founded the Quest to Learn schools. Salen will work with designers from Filament to develop a suite of interactive video games that assess systems thinking: considering all the elements and relationships in a system, and knowing how to structure them more efficiently and effectively. The games will be pilot tested at the New York-based Quest to Learn and ChicagoQuest schools, and used in schools in seven states.

• $150,000Active Strategy

  2011 (Inactive Grant)

  Digital Media & Learning

  NEW YORK, NEW YORK — To extend the Gamestar Mechanic game to include new activities for parents and teachers, and a badge system for game design.

• $1,800,000Active Strategy

  2011 (Duration 3 years)

  Digital Media & Learning

  NEW YORK, NEW YORK — To develop the Quest to Learn schools in New York City and Chicago (over three years).

The MacArthur Foundation awarded Institute of Play $5,900,000 between 2010 and 2013.