WHAT

Elephanta Education is a small business that uses Game Based Learning to make social studies class irresistible.

how

BRAVE COURSE GAMIFYING U.S. HISTORY is a catalogue of board game history games drawn from historical records that flip the script on traditional learning. First, competition sparks intrinsic motivation to get into the game, whereby student-led teams bring a game to life. Slowly at first, then quickly, each team recognizes the systems that drive their role—at which point players realize they’re driving the systems. Who’s to say what will happen next? Second, students clear a safe path into the heart of the matter using a range of literacy scaffolds. Third, competition and collaboration reveals a mathematical model that students as scientists analyze; a STEM application that fosters accuracy & rigor. Meanwhile, teachers step into the role of facilitator, guiding players as they segue from lower order to higher order thinking. Learning culminates as players rally to transform an applicable challenge.

why

Learning is a deep dive. Like any adventure, that journey needs to be engaging. Safe. INSPIRING. Yet studies show student engagement plummets over time. And reading and composite ACT scores across nearly every demographic have remained stagnant over the last twenty years.

Research trends confirm comprehension increases when reading strategies and materials are taught in combination with specific content. Think: science & social studies. This is especially true for female and minority students. That’s why Elephanta Education is creating cross-curricular, standards-based programming that aligns with cognitive science to optimize brain function. Enter BRAVE COURSE GAMIFYING U.S. HISTORY, a Healing Centered Engagement framework that cues empathy, kicking off cognition through skilled learning. Skills like active listening, critical thinking, reciprocity and agency.

In sum, we’re leaning into data that shows the benefits of contextualized reading by producing Game Based Learning to benefit all learners, including diverse learners. Because lower readers with deep knowledge in a content area outperform higher readers with little background knowledge in terms of comprehension and working memory. So when arguing if students should learn to read OR read to learn…we say BOTH!