This individual papers session, ”Math Games”, will include the following:
Examining a Conceptual vs. a Computational Design on Understanding in an Mathematics Game
This paper examines the effect of different learning mechanics on middle school students’ learning outcomes and motivation in two versions of a mathematics videogame designed to teach the properties of angles. One version was computation-oriented and required players to choose a correct numerical answer that solved an unknown angle. The second version was identical, except that players were required to choose the correct conceptual rule that would apply to finding the solution for an unknown angle. The impact of these two game versions was subsequently analyzed to determine their effect on three dependent variables: learning, motivation, and in-game performance. Results from N=194 sixth and seventh grade students, randomly assigned to play one of the two versions of the game, suggest that the learning mechanics studied affect how much students learn, favoring the computation-oriented game version. Implications of these findings are discussed within the context of educational game design.
Charles Kinzer, Selen Turkay, Dan Hoffman, Dao Chantes
Counting Coconuts and Apples: Young Children ‘Kinect-ing’ Sesame Street and Mathematics
The ability to count objects is a crucial skill for young children. We report on an experimental study that utilized a Kinect Sesame Street TV intervention designed to support two types of counting activities. Our quantitative analysis is supplemented by our preliminary qualitative analyses, and the complexity of these contexts for mathematical learning is unpacked with the assistance of literature from the fields of mathematics education and cognitive science. We conclude by making recommendations for interactive educational design in general.
Meagan Rothschild, Caroline "Caro" Williams, Jordan Thevenow-Harrison
The Pythagorean Temple: Creating a Game-Like Summative Assessment
We work in a middle school where teachers, game designers, and curriculum designers collaborate to create a game-like curriculum that is relevant and engaging while teaching 21st-century skills. As part of our integrated math and English class, eighth grade students attempted to uncover the secrets of an ancient secret society called the Pythagorean Brotherhood, based on a historically real secret society. We decided to make an iPad game that related to the narrative of revealing the secrets of the Pythagorean Brotherhood that we could use as the final assessment of students’ understanding of linear equations and the Pythagorean theorem for the trimester-long mission. In this postmortem of The Pythagorean Temple, we detail our design process, outcomes and next steps that came out of our first attempt at applying game-like learning and our curriculum design model to a digital game-like end-of-trimester performance task.
John Murphy, Grant Tumen
Caro Williams, Discussant
