The Pittsburgh Fabrication Institute helped Tennessee educators prepare to teach students 21st-century skills.

In this series of articles, we check in with teachers from TeacherQuest—a unique professional development program focused on games and game design. Through this 11-month program, which includes a summer intensive followed by a series of online design challenges, teachers learn to design and use games to develop 21st century skills.

What does it take for today’s students to succeed? What is it exactly that makes some learners so self-directed, while others lack motivation? Pittsburgh students let us in on what keeps them engaged, and why it’s not all about grades.

The transformation marking Elizabeth-Forward High School’s recent renovation warrants more than literary description and admiration, it might justify a school name change to “FORWARD Elizabeth!”

Educators in the Pittsburgh suburb of Elizabeth say yes. Modeled after YOUmedia, and informed by new research about how kids learn today, an innovative digital space for teens opens at Elizabeth Forward High School.