Nathan Maton and Ala’ Diab came together to create 4See back in 2011. Since then, these two friends have been on a mission to match youth gaming with impactful ways to strengthen leadership and teamwork in youth centered programs. Nathan stopped by the NPC last Friday to discuss his new kickstarter campaign, the 4see prototype, and why it’s so important to foster teambuilding skills in youth today.
Team building is the biggest problem faced by youth activists, simply because it is rarely taught in schools. That’s the bottom line. It’s usually a locker room lesson left for athletes and coaches. But what if we lived in a world where teamwork was instilled and built upon from a young age?
Using research from Harvard University done by Marshall Ganz and Ruth Wageman, Nathan and Ala’ were able to distill key elements of forming and working effectively in teams, and were able to create a playful way to learn about each of the five key elements: finding a common purpose, forming a team with diverse backgrounds, establishing clear roles, establishing clear boundaries and explicit norms.
“It is a multiplayer game,” says Nathan, “and the more the players learn to collaborate, the better they’ll do. They get to work with a variety of team members from other teams than the one they currently work on outside of the game to better learn their skill set. Then, in the final level, the original team must tackle a more complex problem that relates to their real work.”
From the prototype makers themselves: must form and build teams to succeed.
Written by: alebez