🌱 🎮 Empower Your Students With Student Challenge Themes, Esports & More!

Welcome to the October G4C Learn Newsletter! With classes back in session, we're excited to share game-based learning resources and opportunities. Our deadline to join our new esports league with Verizon is October 11, and you can read on for details. We're thrilled to announce the themes for the 10th year of the G4C Student Challenge and upcoming free professional development sessions. Dive into updates on Game Plan, our game-based learning professional development program, and much more. Keep reading to discover how you can level up learning with games in your classroom! 🎮 📚
- G4C Learn Team

Get excited to inspire your students to become change-makers through the power of play! We are delighted to announce this year’s themes for the 10th annual G4C Student Challenge, which are inspired by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. We invite you to inspire and empower your students to address these real-world challenges by creating a digital game, tabletop game, or character design

to help solve these pressing issues.

⭐ Learn About the Themes: 

•  ☮️ Peaceformers Challenge: In partnership with the Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative, students will explore how to maintain peace by ensuring fair and just resource distribution for the future.
  

• 🍽️ Outplay Hunger: In partnership with the World Food Program USA and Take Action Global, students are tasked with designing a project to help reduce food waste and promote healthy diets.
  

• 🌱 Nurture Yourself with Nature: In partnership with Earthwatch Europe, students must create a game to alleviate eco-anxiety and foster a deeper connection to nature through creative ways.

🗓️ Key Info:

• Professional Development 1: October 7, 6 - 7 pm EST: Register Here

• Professional Development 2: October 9, 3-7 pm EST: Register Here

• Last day to register: October 11, 2024 

• Play-offs Start: December 2, 2024

• Championship & Season Ends: December 13, 2024

• Weekly Matches: Thursdays at 4 pm (EST & PST)

• Expert Coaches Provided: For the first 25 teams created

• League is for: US-based high school students

Apply by visiting https://www.verizon.com/learning/esports and Click "Press Play Now."

We are thrilled to begin Game Plan, an eight-week program designed to empower educators to integrate games and play into their teaching. This year, we have an incredible lineup of participants from diverse backgrounds and institutions across 17 different states, contributing to a rich mix of insights and expertise. These include educational institutions such as schools, universities, museums, aquariums, and youth development programs, all of whom serve students in grades 5-12

 During the program, educators will be guided by expert game designers and game-based learning specialists to explore the game design process and how games can effectively engage youth in meaningful learning experiences. By the end of this program, they will have the tools and resources needed to integrate game-based teaching practices meaningfully into their programs and classrooms.

Stay tuned for more updates and stories from our participants as they embark on this exciting adventure with Game Plan! 🎮

By joining the Student Challenge, participating educators can attend 15 FREE professional development workshops, from learning how to design games in Unity and Scratch to block-based coding in Minecraft Education. Plus, recorded sessions will be uploaded to Participate, our online community, where you can connect with other G4C Student Challenge educators and have access to additional resources. 

📅 Save your Spot for the Upcoming PD Sessions Below:

• 🎮️ Introduction to Unity: October 9, 6 - 8 PM ET 

  • Learn how to use Unity for 2D/3D game design and discover its applications beyond gaming.

• 🕹️ Leveling up with Unity: October 16, 6 - 8 PM ET 

  • Learn to confidently navigate the Unity game engine, master the tools to create your own platformer game, and bring these lessons to your classroom to inspire creativity in your students.

• 🎨 Introduction to Scratch: October 23, 6 - 8 PM ET

  • Master the fundamentals of the block-based coding program Scratch and learn how to create your mini-game! 

• 🎲 Modding Tabletop Games for Impact: November 2, 6 - 8 PM ET

  • Learn how to design an original tabletop game, explore how to prototype, design, playtest, and apply best practices. 

New to game design or looking for fresh strategies to engage your students? These workshops will equip you with valuable skills to bring game-based learning into your classroom and inspire your students to become agents of change, addressing real-world issues. Click the button below to dive into the full catalog! 🚀

Do you teach with the Unreal Engine? Our friends at Epic Games are working with the Rube Goldberg Institute to launch, the Rube Goldberg Unreal Engine Challenge®. This interactive 3D competition invites students to use their creativity to animate a virtual Rube Goldberg Machine in the digital world. Create, record, and submit a video of your Rube Goldberg Unreal Engine Machine that accomplishes the 2024-25 task: FEED A PET 🐾

📆 The deadline to enter is February 12, 2025.

This is an all-ages contest with a junior division (under 18 years of age) and a senior division (18+). Additionally, The Build a Virtual Rube Goldberg Machine in Unreal Engine Learning Kit provides a student guide, lesson plans, and project files.

Do you know educators who would be interested in bringing games and play with the professional support and community of G4C Learn? Share this newsletter with them!