Stephen T. Slota
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steveslota.bsky.social
Stephen T. Slota
@steveslota.bsky.social
330 followers 610 following 160 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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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
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 · 21h
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 · 1d
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 · 9d
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
Reposted by Stephen T. Slota
volts.wtf
A reminder that is is possible to live a life of kindness & integrity. You don't have to sell out just because everyone else is.
comicsinthega.bsky.social Comics in the Festive Age @comicsinthega.bsky.social · Jul 5
Happy birthday to Bill Watterson, the creator of Calvin and Hobbes! Born on July 5, 1958.
A photo of Watterson at his drawing table. A panel of Calvin and Hobbes riding their radio flyer red wagon.
July 5, 2025 at 7:26 PM
Reposted by Stephen T. Slota
volts.wtf
It's very obvious that the NYT has put people in editorial positions who view it as part of their job to upset the left. This is, in the bizarro, insular world of US elites, seen as a way to restore balance & regain the trust of the right.

Putting aside the merits of the larger effort ...
July 4, 2025 at 8:06 PM
steveslota.bsky.social
Learned about the upcoming game @devolverdigital.com @ballxpit.com last night, and my god, it is so well-designed. The demo is super addictive.

Imagine Vampire Survivors + Arkanoid + Into the Gungeon + a city builder. It has an *extremely* satisfying gameplay loop. 11/10, highest recommendation.
June 28, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Reposted by Stephen T. Slota
bencollins.bsky.social
Donald Trump just unilaterally bombed Iran. A masked gang is terrorizing our streets. America has rapidly devolved into an authoritarian state.

That's why, today, The Onion has purchased a full page ad in today's New York Times with a simple plea to Congress:

Sit back and do absolutely nothing.
An Onion front page with the headline: Congress, Now More Than Ever, Our Nation Needs Your Cowardice Who will stand up for our democracy? This question, fraught in even the most peaceful times, has only grown more pressing as our country approaches its 250th anniversary. Each passing day brings growing assaults on essential liberties like freedom of speech and due process. Meanwhile, our delicately assembled legal system faces a constant barrage of threats. Even as this issue reaches publication, the U.S. military has been deployed against peaceful protesters. We teeter on the brink of collapse into an authoritarian state. That is why, today, The Onion calls upon our lawmakers to sit back and do absolutely nothing. Members of Congress, now more than ever, our nation desperately needs your cowardice. Our republic is a birthright, an exceedingly rare treasure passed down from generation to generation of Americans. It was gained through hard years of bloody resistance and can too easily be lost. Our Founding Fathers, in their abundant wisdom, understood that all it would take was men and women of little courage sitting in the corridors of power and taking zero action as this precious inheritance was stripped away—and that is where we have finally arrived. Now is not the time for bravery or valor! This is the time for protecting your own hide and lining your pocket. Now is not the time for listening to your idiotic constituents drone on about what’s happening to their precious democracy. This is the time for getting down on all fours and grov- eling. Now is not the time to say, “Enough is enough,” and have the tough conversations about resisting the ongoing assaults on American liberty. This is the time to let the wave of apathy and indifference roll over you as you think about getting a really nice renovation to your house in Kalorama. But what can I, one coward, do alone? you might ask.
June 22, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Reposted by Stephen T. Slota
katmabu.bsky.social
We have a madman in the White House who is actively trying to trigger total war.

If Jeffries, Schumer, or any other Democratic leaders try to justify this, shrug indifferently, or write a strongly-worded letter and call it a day, they need to step down or be aggressively primaried.
June 22, 2025 at 1:41 AM