Atlantis Remixed (ARX) is an international learning and teaching project that uses a 3D multi-user environment to immerse children, ages 9-16, in educational tasks. ARX combines strategies used in commercial games with lessons from educational research on learning and motivation (AtlantisRemixed.Org). More than sugar-coating content to coerce disempowered students into caring about disciplinary knowledge, games can establish worlds where children are transformed into empowered scientists, doctors, reporters, and mathematicians who have to understand disciplinary content to accomplish desired ends. The games we design offer something new to learners; unlike any other form of curriculum, these games offer entire worlds in which learners are central, important participants; a place where the actions of a ten-year old can have significant impact on the world; and a place in which what you know is directly related to what you are able to do and, ultimately, who you become.

Central to this work is the notion of transformational play (See the Educational Leadership article or the researcher article published in Educational Researcher). Students who play transformationally become protagonists who use the knowledge, skills, and concepts of the educational content to first make sense of a situation and then make choices that actually transform the play space and the player—they are able to seehow that space changed because of their own efforts. Transformational play is a theory meant to communicate the power of games for education, highlighting their potential to situationally embody person with intentionality, content legitimacy, and context with consequentiality, attending in particular to the relations among the three. Emerging from a decade of research with Quest Atlantis, the ARX Project now combines strategies used in commercial games with lessons from educational research on learning and motivation.

The Atlantis Remixed Project allows students to travel to virtual places to play educational adventures, talk with other users and mentors, build virtual personae, and eventually create their own games. Game activities comprise both online and off-line learning activities, with a storyline inspiring a disposition towards social action. The Atlantis Remixed Project and Quest Atlantis provide students entire worlds in which they are central, important participants; places where their actions have significant impact on the world, and places in which what one knows is directly related to what they are able to do and, ultimately, who they can become. Explore our site and learn more about this exciting project. Over the last four years, more than 60,000 children on six continents have participated in the Quest Atlantis project, submitting over 100,000 Quests and completing over 100,000 Missions, some of which were assigned by teachers and many of which were chosen by students to complete in their free time. The Atlantis Remixed and Quest Atlantis Projects are in 22 states, 18 countries, more than 1000 classrooms, and the number of schools asking to participate grows daily.

We have demonstrated learning gains in science, language arts, and social studies. Equally important have been reported personal experiences, with teachers and students reporting increased levels of engagement and interest in pursuing the curricular issues outside of school. Students and teachers conduct rich inquiry-based explorations through which they learn particular standards-based content, and at the same time develop pro-social attitudes regarding significant environmental and social issues. Rather than just placing work and play side-by-side, the Atlantis Remixed Project strives to make learning fun and to show kids how they can make a difference.

Unlike any other form of curriculum, these games offer entire worlds in which learners are central, important participants; a place where the actions of a ten-year old can have significant impact on the world; and a place in which what you know is directly related to what you are able to do and, ultimately, who you become. Students who play transformationally become protagonists who use the knowledge, skills, and concepts of the educational content to first make sense of a situation and then make choices that actually transform the play space and the player—they are able to see how that space changed because of their own efforts.