Wizards of the Coast Launches Educational Initiative with Teaching Materials, Afterschool Club Kits

September 20, 2022

Dragons of Stormwreck Isle, a new D&D starter set releasing Oct. 4, provides a fresh pathway for players to begin their journey with the World’s Greatest Roleplaying Game. Wizards of the Coast marks the occasion with another enterprise aimed at bringing even more people into the community of more than 50 million fans. With this new initiative WotC will provide Dungeons & Dragons-themed classroom materials for teachers across the country to add to their curriculum. These educator resources provide a platform to use D&D for social activities and educational learning.

Back to School with D&D and Dragons of Stormwreck Isle

The materials were developed by WotC to coincide with the start of the new academic year as students return to the classroom, some for the first time since the 2020 pandemic began. These teaching resources and Afterschool Club Kits available from WotC aim to help with the concerns parents and educators have about the effect on interactions among students and with teachers by providing a platform using D&D for social activities and educational learning.

“I use Dungeons & Dragons both in my classroom and as an after school extracurricular with students from grades 3 to 8. In class, I asked my students to go around the table and use a few words to describe Dungeons & Dragons to peers who had not heard of it. The words they chose were: ‘telling a story together’, ‘making friends’, ‘sharing jokes’, ‘solving puzzles’, ‘battling monsters’, ‘being heroes’ and ‘creating crazy characters.’ I think this perfectly describes the fun, whimsical, collaborative, problem-solving that is Dungeons & Dragons. I have never seen students push themselves to read the way I have with Dungeons & Dragons. They beg me to get more books for the classroom and at recess, I see small groups of students from differing grades reading the books together and taking notes. I’m not sure there is any other activity that gets students to choose to take notes from books, usually above their grade level, during recess!” — Emilie Rayner, an Elementary School Teacher in Ontario, Canada

To celebrate the release of Dragons of Stormwreck Isle the teaching kits for grades 4-6 and 6-8 present an opportunity for educators to incorporate D&D into their lesson plans with a goal of reinforcing language arts, problem-solving and interpersonal skills all while having fun going on an adventure. Educators have taken note of D&D’s popularity surge and recognize the benefits of the social learning environment created by playing the game. Basics like math, reading and writing help build on academic foundations while engaged players develop collaborative and problem solving skills as well as building empathy and self-confidence.

Schools, libraries, community centers and enrichment organizations can also receive the D&D Afterschool Kit, which includes everything needed to start or enhance D&D clubs and meetups. This kit includes the Dragons of Stormwreck Isle starter set along with instructions and guidelines for club organizers, a demo, a guide for Dungeon Masters, character cards and materials to help advertise a club with a poster to and flyers — all at no cost.

WotC also partnered up with the International Literacy Association for a series of webinars on using D&D as a powerful learning tool to enhance classroom curriculum.

“D&D hones critical thinking and problem-solving — it’s one of the few activities that prompts students to solve high-stakes problems in a low-stakes environment. Whether a student is into art, math, science, writing, or otherwise, D&D gives them an opportunity to experiment with their favorite skills while also developing new ones.” — Zac Clay, D&D Club volunteer in the Bay Area

Featured image — Dragons of Stormwreck Isle is your gateway to action-packed adventures in the cooperative storytelling game Dungeons & Dragons, where heroes battle monsters, find treasure, and undertake epic quests.