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Educational games share certain challenges with all serious games. A successful educational game needs to be both a good game and educational. Obvious, but many teams focus on one aspect and include either the game developer or educator as an after-thought. The result is either games that don’t teach or games that children won’t play. How do you determine at what level of mathematics (or any subject) a student should begin? How do you know if students learned something and how do you prove that your game was the cause? The educational component must target, teach, test and track. Is a game where the novelty effect never wears off an oxymoron? These questions will be answered, based on both the research literature, as well as our own data, from the first two years of research on using games to raise mathematics scores of students attending schools on American Indian reservations.
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Making Educational Games That Add Up AnnMaria De Mars, Ph.D. 7 Generation Games
It happened in a moment of weakness … Hey! Let’s apply for this award to go to Washington, D.C. and analyze the National Indian Education Study
Used multiple regression analysis Culture score was significant but NOTE !! – it is coded so that lower scores mean less cultural activities, .e.g. “Do you speak your language at home?” 1= Yes 2 =No Mother’s education was significant School climate was significant Student absenteeism was significant
Not willing to choose between culture and academic achievement We submitted a proposal to USDA to develop a computer game to teach language, culture and mathematics
Questions to answer What makes a game “educational” ? What makes something a game ? How do you select the right game for your students?
How do you know Level of mathematics (or any subject) where a student should begin? If students learned something? If your game was the cause?
Problem Bad Game Bad Math 46
Is he really learning? What you don’t know about educational games can hurt you
Educational game design Common Core aligned Research-based Scaffolding Individualized instruction Data Driven Test Track
Educational game effect High degree of time on task Shows improvement from pretest to posttest Even better if the improvement is higher than the control group
IS IT REALLY COMMON CORE ALIGNED ?
Why Common Core? What students are learning in a game is the same as what they are learning in the classroom, Game strengthens and supplements the work of teachers.
Focus on student needs
Common Core Helps What math standards describe what your students need to learn next? “Understand a fraction as 1/b when a whole is divided into b parts” “Add fractions with like denominators”
The Goldilocks Effect : For both mathematics and gaming, the best level of difficulty is just right, not too hard so as to be frustrated and not so easy as to be bored.
You have been warned Grade level is far less obvious than it seems
How we do it Start with the state standards Write math challenge, instructional activities and assessment
STANDARD Express whole numbers as fractions, and recognize fractions that are equivalent to whole numbers. Examples: Express 3 in the form 3 = 3/1; recognize that 6/1 = 6
What fraction of the cart is full when you have 6 baskets?
For an explanation of how to solve this problem, click the EXPLAIN IT button below What’s this doing here?
Effective teachers “Just-in-time” individualized feedback. Zone of Proximal Development Scaffolding
Three ways to solve the problem When you add one basket to the cart, the fraction you have filled is
Feedback is timely, specific and learner-controlled
Highly effective teachers of disadvantaged students… teach specific procedures and facts in hands-on or “real-life” activities
Game Example Build a model movie: Teaches concept
Good education
Game Example Build a model movie: Teaches concept Good for LEP because language is Repeated In context Visual cues
Software can be Bad education and a bad game Good education but a bad game Good game but bad education Good game and good education for some students
Bad Education Bad game
Problems Non-verbal doesn’t teach math terms, or any language It’s unclear who is winning or even which player you are (bad game)
Good education Common core aligned Direct instruction of English Good graphics
Good for learning English Explanation is both written AND spoken Not much of a game
Good points Common Core aligned with mathematics Good sound Good graphics Game testers were engaged
Multi-method Continuous quantitative data collection Duration, frequency, interval of sessions Item-level performance data
Multi-method Qualitative data Observation Interviews
No number of interns = actual children Did you think, “Hey, I’d like to ride on that deer?
Good games “Achievement principle ... there are intrinsic rewards from the beginning, customized to each learner’s level, effort and growing mastery and signaling the learner’s ongoing achievements.”
In other words, our second game was … Game was too hard to play and students “died” so often they did not get to many math problems “Too many damn snakes!”
Good games “Learners can take risks in a space where real-world consequences are lowered.” “If you have 8 people sick and you need 3 herbs for each person to make medicine, how many do you need?”
Why do the same students who give up when math is too hard play games where every level gets more difficult?
What I learned from a fourth-grader “I don’t pay attention in math.”
We couldn’t disagree more! Let the education stand on its own
