WHAT

Elephanta Education is an edtech startup that uses Game Based Learning to make social studies class irresistible.

how

BRAVE COURSE GAMIFYING U.S. HISTORY is a catalogue of board 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 they realize they’re driving the systems. Who’s to say what will happen next? Second, players use a range of scaffolds to clear a safe path into the heart of the matter. Third, students are positioned as scientists, a STEM application that fosters accuracy & rigor. Meanwhile, teachers step into the role of facilitator, guiding students as they segue from lower order to higher order thinking. Learning culminates as players complete a situation analysis, then 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. Does that explain declines in reading and composite ACT scores across nearly every demographic for the last twenty years? Who knows. But meta analysis shows that comprehension increases when reading strategies and materials are taught in combination with specific content. Think: science & social studies. This is especially true with female and minority students.

That’s why Elephanta Educaiton is creating cross-curricular, standards-based programming that optimizes brain function, i.e., interleaving, dual coding, elaboration, retrieval practice, and cognition. Enter BRAVE COURSE GAMIFYING U.S. HISTORY, trauma-informed learning that reveals the nature of our shared past, empowering children with knowledge-based skills to forge a sustainable future in their time. Skills like active listening, reciprocity and agency.

In sum, we’re leaning into data that shows the benefits of contextualized reading to design Game Based Learning tools that champion 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!