Around Campus News

Innovation at Friends often comes through collaboration, and recently, our seventh and eighth-grade students had a unique opportunity to act as "beta testers" for a project that blends biology, gaming, and pedagogical design.

Teacher Mia (T. Mia), a familiar face to many after her time as a student teacher in our Kindergarten classrooms last fall, returned to campus with a special mission. As she prepares to graduate from Swarthmore College's Education program, T. Mia developed a prototype for a Cell Cycle game for her biology course, The Art of Discovery. 

Having just completed their own unit on cell division, our Middle School students were the perfect demographic to put the game to the test. The students dove into the gameplay, providing a lively environment for T. Mia to observe how her concepts translated to the classroom.

The engagement was high, but the most valuable part of the visit was the feedback session. Our seventh and eighth graders provided detailed, "invaluable" critiques of the game mechanics and educational flow. T. Mia plans to incorporate this student feedback into her final design as she explores the possibility of patenting the game.

It was a full-circle moment for our community: a future educator returning to the Friends classrooms to learn from the students themselves. We can’t wait to see if this student-vetted game makes it to the national market!