Social and emotional learning game Zoo U, developed by 3C Institute, is being moved to market by Personalized Learning Games (PLG), a company 3C Institute CEO Dr. Melissa DeRosier established to help educators assess and improve social and emotional learning skills for students with games.
PLG has assembled an all-star team to achieve their goal of making these games available to every elementary school student in the United States:
- Tim Huntley, Chief Executive Officer, who cofounded and grew an enterprise software company to over $10 million in revenue and a $170 million exit
- Jessica Berlinksi, Chief Impact Officer, who was managing director at GameDesk and cofounder of If You Can
- Melissa DeRosier, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer, who has received more than $5 million in grant funding from the Department of Education to develop a series of games for social and emotional learning
- Jim Thomas, Chief Technology Officer, who has a doctorate in computer science focused on intelligent tutoring systems
Developed with SBIR funding from the U.S. Department of Education, Zoo U is the only research-proven online game that assesses children’s social and emotional skills and provides a targeted intervention based on that assessment, enabling the program to meet each child’s individual needs. This unique combination of features makes Zoo U more effective than one-size-fits-all social-emotional games and traditional interventions.
Players are students in a school for future zookeepers, where Principal Wild and a host of friendly animals help them learn critical social and emotional skills, including impulse control, emotion regulation, and communicating effectively.
Geared toward children ages 7-12, Zoo U offers schools an unprecedented advantage over other social skills assessments and interventions—the ability to effectively reach each individual child at his or her level with a minimal time and cost investment.
