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Zynga.org's Game-Based Learning Accelerator Pairs Newbies With Experienced Players

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Co.lab is a start-up accelerator that focuses on learning games. A partnership between Zynga.org and the NewSchools Venture Fund, co.lab “works with startups leveraging the power of digital games to build transformative educational technologies for PK-12 students and teachers.”

Their third cohort was just announced. It includes seven start-ups “founded by a talented and diverse set of entrepreneurs including educators, technologists, game developers, school founders, researchers from the University of Wisconsin - Madison and the University of California - Berkeley, a member of President Obama’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability for Young Americans and even recent college graduates.”

I visited their offices last week and spoke to Esteban Sosnik (Executive Director) and Cameron White (Associate Director). They emphasized a commitment to creating an interdisciplinary space where companies with differing strengths and weaknesses can help one another thrive.

It is an exciting time for game-based learning . Schools around the world are beginning to use video games in their classrooms. A recent study that aimed to understand how educational games are being adopted, showed that 55% of teachers surveyed use games at least weekly. But education technology remains a complex market to navigate.

Whether selling games and apps directly to consumers or to institutions, there are unique challenges. Sosnik and White find that most developers have great ideas but they are missing one (if not more) pieces of the puzzle. Perhaps they don’t know how to include assessments mapped to standards. Perhaps they don’t understand how to bring an app to scale. Perhaps they struggle with marketing, or engagement, or user interface. Co.lab has designed a program “tailored to the specific needs of games-based learning startups” that brings together “NewSchools Venture Fund’s educational and edtech expertise and Zynga.org’s access to best-in-class talent and resources from the world of commercial games.”

We are thrilled to help accelerate these companies' progress by connecting them to expertise and best practices from the gaming industry, feedback from students and educators, and -- perhaps most importantly -- each other. Working together, we plan to help them optimize their products to support learning in the classroom or at home, with an emphasis on scaling impact while strengthening the broader games-based learning community.

The third co.lab cohort includes the following companies:

CodeMonkey Studios has built a web based animated puzzler through which kids learn to write code. Unlike many of the other coding apps, which generally use drag and drop interfaces to teach algorithmic thinking, CodeMonkey involves writing real code. Players learn how to move an animated monkey toward a banana.

Econauts, developed by the Learning Games Network, is a richly animated strategy game designed to teach environmental science.  The game “makes difficult-to-observe ecological phenomena visible” in order to emphasize the relationships between choices that humans make and their environmental consequences.

Kizoom makes whimsical apps that aim to help kids become aware of the power of their own brains, “building cognitive skills while gaining confidence and openness to learning new things.” Characters like Ned the Neuron join a host of other fun characters in offering puzzles aimed at 6-11 year olds.

Mathbreakers is an awesome 3D adventure game that takes place in a “mathematics playground” where math is the organizing principle.

MindBlown Labs builds games that aim to teach financial literacy. Their game, “Thrive ‘n’ Shine”  is a “captivating mobile app/game that empowers teens and young adults with critical money management skills.” The impressive list of learning outcomes includes budgeting, student loans, taxes and more.

Montessorium’s slogan is “Old school, meet new school.” If you are familiar with the Montessori educational approaches, just imagine what they would look like if they were perfectly ported to a tablet screen. These impressively designed games make basic Montessori activities like letter recognition, number recognition, cursive, geography, and more accessible to a wider audience.

Piper designs playful do-it-yourself computer kits that students build themselves. “Not only does she build her own computer, but she is then able to explore the fundamentals of web programming to create her own website.” I cannot wait for my kids to get their hands on one of these kits. In today’s world, I can’t think of a better way to provide kids with the necessary reminder that these ubiquitous screens are tools that humans created and not just parts of our everyday environment.

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