The Academy: A free-to-use educational video game designed to teach a K-12 equivalency.
This is an idea I had recently as an alternative to conventional education. First, let's look at the problems with conventional education. In a traditional school, students are limited by weather conditions, teacher strikes and the odd pandemic, plus summer breaks, all of which create a disruption to the flow of education. A video game can be played anytime or anywhere. In a traditional school, classes are rigidly scheduled, with some students outperforming others within the same time frame. This means that some students may be promoted to the next grade with a full understanding of what they were taught, while others only understand about seventy or eighty percent of the lessons, but still end the semester on schedule, and get promoted without a solid foundation for the next set of lessons. If a student misses a day of class, that student misses the lessons for that day. If a student is more adept at learning certain subjects in the morning, while others are more alert in the afternoon, the lessons are taught on the same schedule for the entire class regardless. Video games, on the other hand, are played in a continuous stream on the player's schedule. Players may take as much or as little time as is needed to master a particular level. In a traditional school, there could be scheduling conflicts with the parents' work schedules, whereas video games have no such limitations. Traditional schools have a tendency to focus too much on conformity and promoting a school culture, and too little on the lessons themselves. Traditional schools can create an uncomfortable environment, almost factory-like or prison-like in some cases, as well as allowing for often toxic social environments, all of which can distract from the learning process. Video games can be played in a relaxed and comfortable environment with as much or as little social interaction as the player wishes. Traditional schools can often be slow to update lesson plans, sometimes teaching outdated misinformation or often teaching useless information. Online video games can be upgraded frequently, keeping up with the latest discoveries. Traditional education is costly, requiring building maintenance, bussing, lunch programs, books and other supplies, salaries, utilities, etc. Video games require only a server and bandwidth.
Admittedly, there are some disadvantages to video game learning. Traditional schools have labs for teaching chemistry and workshops for teaching industrial arts, whereas a video game would not. I haven't yet figured out how to deal with this issue, but hopefully, I or someone else will find a solution to this problem before the game is actually developed. Disclaimer, I am neither a video game developer nor an educator, but I do think this has the potential to be a great idea once the details have been worked out. In the meantime, I intend to plan for the game to include courses that would normally require lab work in anticipation of solving the issue at a later time.
The game should be a 3-D environment, where players can switch between first and third person view, play as a customizable character, and explore freely. The overall look of the game should be a mix of different styles and time periods, including Ancient Greek, Egyptian, Victorian, Renaissance, Medieval, etc. Players start in "The Village," where they learn fundamentals such as reading and writing, counting, shapes, manners, safety, hygiene, arts and crafts, and general knowledge. Near The Village, and in the approximate center of the game map, is "The Graduation Circle," which shows six color-coded obelisk-shaped progress bars in the following categories: Mathematics (blue), Culture (purple), Wellness (red), Communication (yellow), General Knowledge (orange), and Life Skills (green). Completion of courses and challenges result in points being awarded, and each progress bar increasing, with some courses awarding points in more than one category. Opposite the Graduation Circle is "The Academy," which is unlocked after completion of The Village lessons. Inside The Academy is a lower level for all the elementary-level lessons, and an upper level for all the more advanced lessons. Also included in The Academy are a workshop, a gymnasium, a map room, and a library. Beyond The Academy is The Forest, for teaching wilderness survival skills, and The Road, for teaching driver's education. Adjacent to The Academy is a large area known as The Training Grounds, where players apply their newly acquired knowledge in interesting ways. The game is completed when all six progress bars reach 100 points, with six bonus levels for elective courses, one for each category. Additional locations should be included as "field trips" through the use of portals, where a visual representation of the subject of study would be useful.
Teachers and other non-player-characters should be based on historic figures (for example, Pythagoras teaching the Pythagorean Theorem). Lessons should include voice-acting as well as text, to accommodate both vision and hearing-impaired players, and should be available in multiple languages. Characters should, to some degree, and as much as is possible based on what is known, to reflect the personalities and backgrounds of the historical figures on which the characters are based. I'm not sure what the legal requirements are for more recent figures, but hopefully, the owners of the estates of any historical figures depicted in the game would consent to their likenesses being used, considering that the game is for educational purposes. I would be hesitant, however, to include depictions of any living person.
The classes taught in The Academy's Level One should cover heath and fitness, logic, arithmetic, grammar, general knowledge, additional life skills, typing, geography and history. Level Two should cover algebra and geometry, physics, chemistry, astronomy, sex education, driver's education, industrial arts, psychology, probability and statistics, civics, economics, home economics, philosophy, world history, comparative religion, earth science, public speaking, arts and music, classic literature, self-defense, style and grooming, meditation, information technology, composition, sales and negotiation, mythology and folklore, and wilderness survival. A second language course and a local history course should be included, with multiple options for language and locality. Upon completion, elective "bonus" courses should be made available including trigonometry and calculus, third language, motorcycle or truck driving, more intensive history, additional literature, and sports and games strategies. Courses should not be organized into grades-levels, but rather taught on a continuum. Players should learn each subject to completion, as a person would learn job-training or a new hobby. Some classes would need to be taught in a particular order (for example, learning arithmetic before learning economics), but others could be taught in any order (for example, learning painting before or after learning typing).
With no final decisions made yet, here are some suggestions for characters to act as instructors: Science teachers may include Aristotle (logic), Albert Einstein (physics), Maxwell Planck (quantum mechanics), Dimitri Mendeleev (chemistry), Charles Darwin (evolution), Gregor Mendel (genetics), Henry Gray (anatomy), Nicolaus Copernicus (astronomy), Jacques Cousteau (oceanography), and others in order to both present the connection between discovery and discoverer, providing historical context, but also to include an element of history with the science lessons. Mathematics teachers may include Euclid (geometry), al-Kwarizmi (algebra), Blaise Pascal (probability), Pythagoras (trigonometry), Isaac Newton (calculus), Plato (western philosophy) and others. The role of the Librarian may be Melvil Dewey, introducing important works of literature presented by their individual authors. History teachers may include Herodotus and H.G. Wells, alongside various historic figures discussing the events of their respective times. Art and music styles may be taught by various painters, sculptors, composers, choreographers, etc. from history. Other important figures who may be included as instructors: Emily Post (manners), Karl Benz (driver's education), Sigmund Freud (psychology), Charles Atlas (physical education), Dr. Ruth Westheimer (sex education), William Shakespeare and Konstantin Stanislavski (theater arts), Daniel Boone (wilderness survival), Christopher Nathan Sholes (typing), Samuel Morse (Morse code), Bruce Lee (self defense), Henry Heimlich (the Heimlich maneuver), Samuel Johnson (English spelling and grammar), the Brothers Grimm (European folklore), Gerardus Mercator (geography), Aesop (fables), and many others.
As for the lessons themselves, as I said, I'm not a teacher myself, and I haven't been to school in a very long time, so I don't know what the latest changes in the curriculum are, but I do have a few suggestions based on things I was taught in school which I have since learned to be either untrue or unnecessary. For one thing, cursive writing was expected from an early age, but later on, was considered unnecessary and even discouraged. I would suggest that cursive writing be taught as a part of art class, rather than as an actual writing lesson. In arithmetic, I was taught division with "remainders," and then afterward, taught fractions. It seems logical to me that fractions and division are the same thing, and the symbol for division (the line with two dots) is never used in algebraic writing. So it would make more sense to me to teach a single fractions/divisions lesson, and leave out the remainders. This would also eliminate the need for PEDMAS order of operations, which also becomes irrelevant when students move onto algebra. Also, a lot of historic teachings are essentially myths which are later debunked, such as teaching in elementary school that Columbus discovered the world was round, and high school teaching that he did not. I would say to skip the myth, teach the facts first, and then as an additional note, explain that some fictionalized versions of such stories exist in literature. I think that writing should focus more on clarity than on pedantry, and that rules pertaining to split infinitives or avoiding prepositions at the end of sentences are unnecessary. I realize that modern sex education is a lot more inclusive these days than it was when I was in school, but I would stress the importance of including important elements such as the use of safe words before beginning roleplay, safety precautions before engaging in BDSM, honest communication in the intent of a relationship, and of course, to avoid imposing parochial moral views in what should be an academic discussion. Another issue I had with my own education was that I was taught many things that were never useful to me in life, such as trigonometry, but was not taught things that would have been very helpful, such as psychology and logic. I have heard that many school nowadays have revised their curricula, making advanced math courses an elective, and teaching more practical courses, but I wanted to make sure to underline this point. Finally, I think that it would be important to go back and review previous lessons from time to time in order to keep players' skills sharp. This can be done by having recurring challenges in the Training Grounds that require the use of knowledge gained in early lessons.
Ideally, a person having completed the entire game would have learned the equivalent of a full generalized education without the need for conventional classrooms or class schedules, and be able to easily pass any high school equivalence testing. Furthermore, upgraded games using the same or similar design could be used in the future for college-level courses or specialized career training. Granted, a virtual education may not be suited for everyone, but having at least one alternative such as this one to conventional education, I believe, will improve the overall education of society and be a great benefit to many people.
