Each summer, during the FSTA Summer Conference our association holds the Elevator Pitch competition. Up and coming fantasy sports businesses present pitches to the attendees which then vote on their favorite who is awarded the Elevator Pitch Award.
Back in June, Eric Nelson of FANschool was one of those participants. His idea is to use the premise of fantasy sports to encourage to teach youth current events and geography. For example, with FANschool’s “FANgeopolitics” feature, students draft different countries and earn points depending on how many times their countries are mentioned in the news. Trading countries and seeing how they stack up against their classmates creates a fun, competitive atmosphere that enables students to get excited about studying current events, reading the news, and learning about the world.
One of our other presenters that is also participated is mentioned in the article, GM Genius (powered by How I Decide). GM Genius is a scholarship competition and digital learning platform for high school students nationwide. The program is available on the web, iOS and android devices.
Students complete lessons, answer questions, set their lineups and then check the results. Depending on how well they do, they can earn college scholarships, money for schools and other weekly prizes. The idea is to teach decision-making and critical thinking concepts.