About Q2L


Key features




Core components of the school’s design include:
Organization of Knowledge
At the center of Quest to Learn is an innovative approach to pedagogy that connects game design and systems thinking within a content rich curriculum aligned to state standards. This pedagogy includes a reworking of traditional disciplines to reflect on the organization of knowledge in the 21st century—integrated, networked, mathematically rich, and systems-oriented. Quest to Learn supports students in developing a way of thinking about global dynamics, for example: how world economic, political, technological, environmental and social systems work and are interdependent across nations and regions. High levels of student engagement and ownership in the learning process are valued, as students participate in a rigorous process of research, theory-building, hypothesis testing, evaluation, and critique, followed by a public defense of results. The flexible curriculum can be adapted to allow teachers to meet the needs of all students, not just the high performing ones, including ESL and special education students.

Dynamic Learning
Quest to Learn students engage in “ways of knowing and doing,” using models and simulations to study the science of weather, learning mathematical reasoning by designing codes using an Enigma machine, and creating a role-playing game about the American Revolution where players rewrite the Constitution to reflect an alternate set of values. This approach offers an engaging and motivating platform on which to build the technological, artistic, cognitive, social, and linguistic skills students need to graduate from high school prepared for college and the world of work. Students not only develop these capacities within the curricular experiences of the school but also are equally supported through internships, community service, service learning opportunities, and capstone research projects.

One Node within a Learning Network
Quest to Learn learning takes into account the experiences, communities, and contexts, in which students are engaged, both in and outside of “school.” Rather than defining school as a separate place in time and space from the concerns and communities of children’s lives, Quest to Learn reaches out into the home, into local and global communities to which students belong. This does not mean that students are expected to be “at school” 24/7; it does mean that all experiences are leveraged as potential contexts for learning, building on nascent interest-driven participation motivating student engagement. 81 percent of those who drop out of school claim that “opportunities for real world learning” would have improved their chances of staying in school.

Student Identity Formation
Quest to Learn pedagogy focuses on learning to “be” rather than learning “about.” Students take on identities of mathematicians, scientists, writers, historians, and designers as they work through a 21st century curriculum that challenges them to demonstrably connect ideas, information, and experiences. Immersion within richly defined problem spaces requires students to gain the ability to find and use resources on demand, with intelligence, judgment, and sophistication. Peer education is an important part of the curriculum: students exchanging interests and expertise with one another.

Embedded Assessment
Assessment at Quest to Learn is integrally connected to learning. This means understanding the needs of all students, defining explicit tools for assessment, creating opportunities for feedback and revision, and exposing students to data that can inform their own decision-making. Students and teachers use data as powerful tools to support each student’s ongoing potential for future learning. Longitudinal data on student development will be captured within multiple, overlapping systems, including an online social network space and annual portfolios.