Investigating a Digital History Game in Middle School Classes: A Classroom Implementation Study

• In Event: Roundtable Session 20
  In Roundtable Session: Learning in Educational Games

Abstract

This paper reports on a school-based study of Mission US: For Crown or Colony?, a digital history game and classroom curriculum for middle school history classes. The study investigated the role of a classroom digital history game as a tool for enabling students to learn content and practice a subset of historical reasoning skills. It also explored whether differences in teachers’ implementation of the game and classroom materials affected student learning outcomes. An independent samples t-test compared the average number of items answered correctly at post and Mission US students scored higher than did students in comparison classrooms. Analysis of survey items and teacher comments suggest that teachers found the game a valuable adjunct to their history teaching repertoire.

Authors

• James Patrick Diamond, Education Development Center

• Pilar Carmina Gonzalez, Education Development Center, Inc.

• William Tally, Education Development Center, Inc.