The Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies has announced the launch of Smithsonian Quests, a digital badge program that fosters project-based learning.
The Smithsonian Quests program encourages students to have a greater curiosity about the world by presenting learning challenges that have real-world applications. Students complete a series of online activities and submit their work for review by Smithsonian education experts to earn digital badges. A wide variety of activities are offered that include creative writing, photography, oral histories and graph-making. The cross-curricular, standards-aligned program aims to prepare students for college and future careers by incorporating knowledge and skill-building into the quests. Teachers can also earn digital badges for their work.
The Smithsonian Quests badges are integrated with content from the Smithsonian Online Education Conferences. The first badges aligned with the 2013 Smithsonian Online Education Conference Series, “Community Historian” and “Portrait Reader,” debuted today, Feb. 13, during the “Civil Rights: From Lincoln to Today” session.
Information and registration for Smithsonian Quests are available at http://smithsonianquests.org/.
