Stephen T. Slota
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steveslota.bsky.social
Stephen T. Slota
@steveslota.bsky.social
330 followers 610 following 170 posts
Co-author of The Worldbuilding Workshop: Teaching Critical Thinking and Empathy Through World Modeling, Simulation, and Play

Learning Scientist, EdTech Expert, Instructional Designer, GameDev, Former K12 Teacher

They|Them 🏳️‍🌈🎮 https://www.steveslota.com/
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steveslota.bsky.social
Stephen T. Slota @steveslota.bsky.social · Mar 24
It sure feels good to finally have a complete draft of our book!

Coming soon to a bookshelf near you...

The Worldbuilding Workshop: Teaching Critical Thinking and Empathy Through World Modeling, Simulation, and Play

Co-authored by @thergenrader.bsky.social & me
steveslota.bsky.social
@colinwoodard.bsky.social

@thergenrader.bsky.social & I just published our new @mitpress.bsky.social book, The Worldbuilding Workshop: Teaching Critical Thinking and Empathy Through World Modeling, Simulation, and Play, and as one of our inspos, we'd love to send you a copy. DM to coordinate. ☺️
December 9, 2025 at 6:44 PM
steveslota.bsky.social
@volts.wtf @chrislhayes.bsky.social

@thergenrader.bsky.social and I just published our new @mitpress.bsky.social book, The Worldbuilding Workshop: Teaching Critical Thinking and Empathy Through World Modeling, Simulation, and Play, and we'd love to send each of you a copy. Just DM to coordinate! 😊
December 9, 2025 at 6:41 PM
steveslota.bsky.social
In which we explore differences between gamification & playful learning; discuss how simulations & case studies enhance student engagement; deconstruct relationships between #roleplay & #creativity; & dive into The Worldbuilding Workshop.

Wherever you get your podcasts!

#EduSky #highered #teachers
December 9, 2025 at 5:31 PM
Reposted by Stephen T. Slota
ianschreiber.bsky.social
Today's indie game: Absolum (www.playabsolum.com). A classic beat-em-up brawler with modern design. If you liked classic Golden Axe, Double Dragon, D&D: Shadows Over Mystera, etc. but want more of a Slay-the-Spire-like run-based progression, this might be your GOTY.
Absolum Game
Crafted with passion by the dream team that redefined side-scrolling beat 'em ups, Absolum mixes top-of-the-class combat action with modern roguelite elements
www.playabsolum.com
December 6, 2025 at 10:54 PM
steveslota.bsky.social
Our goal is to help educators teach critical thinking and empathy by way of richly authentic world models and thought experiments. We want learners to inhabit others' perspectives—some quite different from their own—so they can appreciate the world as a dynamic web of interrelated social forces.
wrldbuildingwrkshp.bsky.social The Worldbuilding Workshop @wrldbuildingwrkshp.bsky.social · 8d
"What can be done to reconfigure education for the challenges of modernity?"

We must engage critical thinking and empathy via deconstruction of the planet’s most complex, urgent questions using collaboration, inquiry, and reflection—a process we call worldbuilding.

www.theworldbuildingworkshop.com
THE WORLDBUILDING WORKSHOP
www.theworldbuildingworkshop.com
December 4, 2025 at 4:59 PM
steveslota.bsky.social
Wherein @thergenrader.bsky.social and I discuss the ideas embedded in each chapter, why we're passionate about those ideas, and what we're hoping the book will accomplish (that is, being a force for good in a turbulent, frequently-difficult-to-navigate reality). ✨
wrldbuildingwrkshp.bsky.social The Worldbuilding Workshop @wrldbuildingwrkshp.bsky.social · 9d
The first two episodes of The Worldbuilding Workshop Companion Podcast are out now!

It's basically like reading the book alongside the authors! 😅

Available on Apple Podcasts, Podcast Addict, Amazon Music, YouTube, and Spotify:

www.theworldbuildingworkshop.com/podcast

#podcast #EduSky #education
Blog 3 — THE WORLDBUILDING WORKSHOP
www.theworldbuildingworkshop.com
December 3, 2025 at 6:51 PM
steveslota.bsky.social
It's the big day! 🤩

There is a 20% discount for anyone who purchases a print copy through Penguin Random House. Enter code READMIT20 at checkout.

The audiobook edition of The Worldbuilding Workshop is still being fine-tuned, but we plan to release it very soon... More details to follow! ✨🌎
wrldbuildingwrkshp.bsky.social The Worldbuilding Workshop @wrldbuildingwrkshp.bsky.social · 10d
WE HAVE LIFTOFF!

After four years of brainstorming, writing, revision, peer review, and proofreading, THE WORLDBUILDING WORKSHOP launches TODAY!

Thank you to @mitpress.bsky.social for making this happen!

Visit: www.theworldbuildingworkshop.com

#education #highered #teaching #design #k12 #edtech
THE WORLDBUILDING WORKSHOP
www.theworldbuildingworkshop.com
December 3, 2025 at 2:35 AM
Reposted by Stephen T. Slota
mitpress.bsky.social
In "The Worldbuilding Workshop," Trent Hergenrader & @steveslota.bsky.social explore worldbuilding as an educational tool that cultivates critical thinking and empathy through simulation and play: mitpress.mit.edu/978026255333... @thergenrader.bsky.social @wrldbuildingwrkshp.bsky.social
A copy of "The Worldbuilding Workshop: Teaching Critical thinking and Empathy Through World Modeling, Simulation, and Play" by Trent Hergenrader and Stephen Slota on a plain background. The cover features an illustration of a hand holding a pencil poised over the silhouette of a cityscape.
December 2, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Reposted by Stephen T. Slota
wrldbuildingwrkshp.bsky.social
OH HO, looks like there are some early arrivals...! 👀

We're so excited for the education community to dig in!

Access more info (plus our companion podcast and other free video/PDF resources) at:

theworldbuildingworkshop.com

#education #teaching #K12 #highered #pedagogy #EduSky
December 1, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Reposted by Stephen T. Slota
adevenney.bsky.social
Gee, look what was sitting in my office mailbox. I’ve been away on a trip to Ireland for the last few weeks, but I’m so bad about checking my office mailbox, it could have been there before I left. 😂 Awesome job, @thergenrader.bsky.social & @steveslota.bsky.social
Holding a copy of The Worldbuilding Workshop by Trent Hergenrader and Stephen Slota, showing a cover with a hand holding a pencil above a stylized cityscape. Ooo all shades of purple with a yellow background. Nice…
December 1, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Reposted by Stephen T. Slota
kballestrini.bsky.social
Two very exciting sales through the weekend!

For Spanish teachers/learners, VERBA Español for less than the original Kickstarter pricing ($25!) tpg-104198.square.site/product/span...

For Dragon fans, Underlings of Underwing also for $25 tpg-104198.square.site/product/unde...

Please share widely!
Spanish Core Set | The Pericles Group, LLC
VERBA: Español core set. Includes 50 "grey" sentence cards and 146 "white" noun cards. Designed for the novice learner.
tpg-104198.square.site
November 29, 2025 at 12:08 AM
Reposted by Stephen T. Slota
wrldbuildingwrkshp.bsky.social
Hi there, #EduSky!

We're so grateful to have such a rich, talented community of educators with whom we share a passion for innovative, creative, and empathetic pedagogical design.

Can't wait to trade worldbuilding-based teaching practices, assessment methods, activity ideas, and more! ✨🌎
November 24, 2025 at 11:32 PM
steveslota.bsky.social
@thergenrader.bsky.social and I are super psyched to finally share this project with all of you.

Spread the word: The Worldbuilding Workshop hits shelves on Tuesday, December 2!

Peep our shiny new website for tons of free videos, worksheets, and the inaugural episodes of our companion podcast! 🤩✨
wrldbuildingwrkshp.bsky.social The Worldbuilding Workshop @wrldbuildingwrkshp.bsky.social · 18d
HELLO WORLD!

We're just 8 days away from @mitpress.bsky.social The Worldbuilding Workshop's official launch date, and we're delighted to reveal the site we've built to support your world modeling efforts!

Learn more at: www.theworldbuildingworkshop.com

#highered #edtech #teaching #k12 #education
THE WORLDBUILDING WORKSHOP
www.theworldbuildingworkshop.com
November 24, 2025 at 11:09 PM
Reposted by Stephen T. Slota
steveslota.bsky.social
"Don't... cross... the rickety bridge...

...YOU'LL GET LOST!"

#smilingfriends @smilingfriends.bsky.social
(Left) A Jack-o-lantern carved to imitate Mr. Boss from the cartoon series 'Smiling Friends' when he tells Pim not to cross the rickety bridge or he'll get lost; (Right) Mr. Boss' face as appears in a tree reminding Pim not to cross the rickety bridge or he'll get lost.
October 27, 2024 at 7:01 PM
steveslota.bsky.social
JUST TWO MORE MONTHS (!!) until The Worldbuilding Workshop hits bookshelves/earbuds near you!

I'm so psyched to finally reveal the book cover, which @mitpress.bsky.social graciously allowed me to design.

The *final* final version may vary very slightly, but this is the general layout.
Cover art for "The Worldbuilding Workshop: Teaching Critical Thinking and Empathy Through World Modeling, Simulation, and Play" by Trent Hergerader and Stephen Slota. The Image depicts a purple horizon set against a yellow background with a timeline of events, historical structures, and a cityscape beneath a giant hand. The back cover reads: The Worldbuilding Workshop is the first comprehensive treatise on worldbuilding as an educational tool for deconstructing, analyzing, and contextualizing the planet’s most urgent, mind-boggling questions. The process unfolds across six stages that collectively encourage hypothesis formation, research, group discussion, and systems modeling. By interrogating governmental, economic, social, and cultural forces at various points in space and time, learners are prompted to reflect on: 1) how these forces came to be in the first place; 2) how different people experience(d) these forces based on their respective socioeconomic and sociocultural contexts; and 3) how each of us can shape these forces within our shared reality. Beyond advocacy for avant-garde technologies or flash-in-the-pan activities, co-authors Trent Hergenrader and Stephen Slota point to worldbuilding as a strategy for reconfiguring education to meet 21st century challenges and teach critical thinking as well as its less-talked-about sibling, empathy. Featured topics include: how and why worldbuilding is supported by contemporary theories of human thinking and learning (e.g., constructionism, situated cognition); interrelationships between constructivist teaching and assessment practices; how instructors and learners can co-develop accurate representations of worlds set in specific places and times; geographies and demographies of worlds; creation of ethical character sketches that capture broad characteristics of diverse populations; and how instructors and learners can interact with co-constructed worlds through simulation and role-play.
October 2, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Reposted by Stephen T. Slota
volts.wtf
Yes. What Kirk did is a simulacrum of discussion & debate, constructed without any of the good faith that might give it meaning or impact. It was a show -- humiliating liberals &, by invoking liberal values like "civil discourse" -- fooling them into playing along with it.
sethcotlar.bsky.social Seth Cotlar @sethcotlar.bsky.social · Sep 13
The fact that people who should know better can’t tell the difference between what Kirk did on one hand and “civil discourse” on the other is a sign of what a bad state our “civil discourse” is in these days.
September 13, 2025 at 6:32 PM
steveslota.bsky.social
Really great thread—clearly articulates why @thergenrader.bsky.social and I have focused so much of our time and writing on helping educators implement worldbuilding and world modeling projects in their classrooms (to drive home foundational critical thinking and empathy skills).
joestieb.bsky.social Joe Stieb @joestieb.bsky.social · Sep 13
The right sets the terms of our political discourse in so many ways, one of which is the idea that there isn't enough "debate" and "free speech" on campus.

We need to push back on this. The truth is (speaking for myself as a history prof), I don't really emphasize debate much in my classes/
September 13, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Reposted by Stephen T. Slota
cowtoolsdaily.bsky.social
day 126 of making a cow tools every day unless i don't
Cartoon featuring a table of 3 crude tools, a lump, a hooked stick, and an irregularly shaped saw, all sitting before a sign that reads "midvale tools for the gifted" In the background, a child holds a fourth cow tool, the lump with handle, while pushing as hard as he can on a door marked "pull", attempting to enter the Midvale School for the Gifted
March 14, 2025 at 11:39 AM
Reposted by Stephen T. Slota
museumofscience.bsky.social
What makes Pluto so fascinating, even without planet status? 🔭🪐🧪

Despite its 2006 reclassification as a Kuiper Belt object, Pluto remains one of the most intriguing worlds in our solar system.
August 23, 2025 at 4:47 PM
Reposted by Stephen T. Slota
mitpress.bsky.social
❤️
steveslota.bsky.social Stephen T. Slota @steveslota.bsky.social · Aug 21
Ahead of our book's upcoming launch, @mitpress.bsky.social has shared a pair of fantastic endorsements from other researchers in the field! 🤯🤩
Two endorsements for the upcoming book The Worldbuilding Workshop: Teaching Critical Thinking & Empathy Through World Modeling, Simulation, and Play. "The Worldbuilding Workshop shows how to center imagination—our mind’s world-building, time-traveling power—at the heart of education in a world that urgently needs it." - James Paul Gee, Regents Professor Emeritus, Arizona State University; author of What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy "A genuinely new, practical, and much-needed pedagogy for playful and connected learning. Where everything zigs to numbers and algorithms, The Worldbuilding Workshop zags to role-play and narrative to nurture humanistic inquiry of our complex worlds." - Sebastian Deterding, Chair of Design Engineering, Imperial College London; coeditor of The Routledge Handbook of Role-Playing Game Studies
August 22, 2025 at 1:25 PM
steveslota.bsky.social
Ahead of our book's upcoming launch, @mitpress.bsky.social has shared a pair of fantastic endorsements from other researchers in the field! 🤯🤩
Two endorsements for the upcoming book The Worldbuilding Workshop: Teaching Critical Thinking & Empathy Through World Modeling, Simulation, and Play. "The Worldbuilding Workshop shows how to center imagination—our mind’s world-building, time-traveling power—at the heart of education in a world that urgently needs it." - James Paul Gee, Regents Professor Emeritus, Arizona State University; author of What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy "A genuinely new, practical, and much-needed pedagogy for playful and connected learning. Where everything zigs to numbers and algorithms, The Worldbuilding Workshop zags to role-play and narrative to nurture humanistic inquiry of our complex worlds." - Sebastian Deterding, Chair of Design Engineering, Imperial College London; coeditor of The Routledge Handbook of Role-Playing Game Studies
August 21, 2025 at 8:58 PM
Reposted by Stephen T. Slota
cowtoolsdaily.bsky.social
this is a powerful piece, well worth the read
Opinion Article by Moochelle Cattle: Is The Cure to Male Loneliness This 1982 Far Side Cartoon? Image of a man crying as he looks at the Cow Tools comic in which a bipedal cow shows off her 4 crudely made tools.
January 29, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Reposted by Stephen T. Slota
kenjennings.bsky.social
Children of Men but it’s the last driver still using turn signals.
July 17, 2025 at 4:43 PM
Reposted by Stephen T. Slota
cowtoolsdaily.bsky.social
the Kowleshov Effect is the filmmaking principle that the juxtaposition of two shots imparts more sophistication than either shot can individually.
July 14, 2025 at 1:27 PM
steveslota.bsky.social
Installing new flooring after a lengthy bathroom renovation and decided to leave a secret time capsule message for whomever pulls it up in the future.

@criminalsimpsons.com #thesimpsons
A white bathroom subfloor featuring a sharpie drawing of Moe Syzlak from "The Simpsons" saying "Hey everybody! I'm a stupid moron with an ugly face and a big butt and my butt smells and I like to kiss my own butt!"
July 13, 2025 at 8:30 PM