Playing at the intersection of games and education

An award-winning teacher and designer, Kathleen Mercury, M.A.T., M.E.T., has been pushing the boundaries of using design thinking to merge game design and instruction from elementary to collegiate levels for over 20 years. She has taught everything from the core subjects to Design and Gifted Intervention in schools from the midwest to California to overseas in Bucharest, Romania. Currently, she is a Lecturer in the School of Education at California Polytechnic Humboldt teaching and supervising student teachers and works freelance as a Games-Based Learning experience designer. Kathleen is a published tabletop game designer with Greece Lightning (2021), upcoming title Tulip Season, and others in the works. Kathleen thinks happiness comes from being able to create the life you want, and she feels very fortunate that she’s been able to do that.

Who Kathleen Helps:

• Museums, Libraries, Nonprofits: Creating interactive adventures and activities that inspire patrons to learn and question
• Classrooms: Interactive, standards-based learning experiences that engage and inspire
• Trade Organizations: Professional development content planning for trade shows and conventions

How Kathleen Helps: Design starts with understanding the needs of the user, and Kathleen works with clients to gain a clear understanding of needs and resources, then designs solutions to address those needs. As a K-12 teacher and University instructor, Kathleen understands the unique needs of school and education-related settings to create innovative, cost-effective solutions.

Engagement Tools:

• Hands-On Game Design Workshops: Teaching design thinking through tabletop game design for game designers, students, and educators.