When Eric Nelson started teaching history at North Lakes Academy Charter School in Forest Lake, Minnesota, he quickly realized that his students were staring through him rather than engaging with the material. He needed to find a way to excite his ninth graders about history.

His solution: Fantasy Geopolitics.

The idea for Fantasy Geopolitics came to Nelson one night as he simultaneously developed a lesson plan and played fantasy football. It is a social learning game that allows students to follow countries and compete for news mentions.

“It transformed my role in the classroom,” Nelson said. “I became more of a coach, a mentor, and a supporter — a fan. And my students became sort of the players in their education, the managers of their own learning.”

Nelson was accepted to participate in the 4.0 Schools Launch program to turn the idea he had tested in his classroom into a technology solution that could benefit other students and teachers nationwide. He called the three weeks he spent in New Orleans refining his idea “pivotal.”

“All teachers should be entrepreneurs, and entrepreneurs are problem solvers,” he said. “They helped me develop an entrepreneurial mindset: see the problem, own the problem, solve it.”

Today, 1,000 teachers and 50,000 students are using Fantasy Geopolitics, and Nelson is thinking about ways to grow, so that he can help turn more middle and high school students into “globally competent” citizens. In the works is a new game focused on the 2016 presidential election, which would gamify politics in the 50 states.

“The next generation needs to make decisions wisely and better, frankly, than we have in the past,” he said. “I think this game helps students stay curious about the world.”

Fantasy Geopolitics began as a venture of 4.0 Schools, a not-for-profit education incubator working in New Orleans and New York City. With backing from organizations including the Walton Family Foundation, 4.0 Schools cultivates and supports entrepreneurs who are creating new schools and innovative approaches to learning that address problems in America's K-12 schools.

Learn more about 4.0 Schools >