Substantial Integration of Typical Educational Games Into Extended Social Studies Curricula

• In Event: 34.027 - Digital and Analog Games Transforming Social Sciences Education: A Research Road Map Going Forward

Abstract

Objectives. Much research focuses on what might be possible with digital games in the classroom more advanced game designs and mechanics. The current study explores what is currently probable with typical educational games in social studies with 1,080 students enrolled in 46 classrooms taught by 15 teachers located in 10 diverse urban, suburban, and rural middle and high schools.
Theoretical Framework. Given the massive interest in recreational digital games, aspects of recreational games have spread across education and commerce in terms of educational games, serious games, and gamification; scholars refer to this as the “rise of a gameful world” (Walz & Deterding, 2015, p. 7). Reports by the National Research Council and others (e.g., Honey & Hilton, 2010; Authors, 2013; Young et al., 2012) and recent meta-analyses (Authors, 2015; Sitzman, 2011; Vogel et al., 2006; Wouters et al., 2013) have demonstrated that games can successfully support learning, but these reviews have underscored the wide range of design choices and game genres that make comparisons and generalizations difficult. The purpose of the current study is to explore a specific sub-genre of digital games, which we refer to as “typical educational games,” in the extended curricula of fifteen teachers.
Methods and Data. The sample included 1,080 students enrolled in 46 classrooms taught by the 15 teachers. The teachers each integrated a set of 55 typical educational games submitted for the study by 16 developers into their own curricula on Jacksonian democracy. Each teacher taught at least one classroom with the games and at least one classroom without the games. This study used a quasi-experimental comparison group design (Shadish et al, 2002). Quantitative analyses were supplemented with qualitative analyses of interviews with each of the teachers.
Results. If one teacher who reported a failed implementation is dropped, the results show significantly higher gains for the game condition in terms of multiple choice, open-response factual outcomes, evidentiary depth, and student engagement. If the failed implementation is included, all categories remain higher for the game condition, but only student engagement and evidentiary depth remain significant. Moderator analyses highlight the role of teacher experience and student engagement in the efficacy of the game condition, with game instruction particularly beneficial for improving confidence among special education students. Analyses of the teacher post interviews explored these patterns with a particular focus on what may have gone awry for the one teacher’s failed implementation.
Scholarly significance. While the typical educational games of the current study do not target the deeper and more ambitious learning goals of more advanced game designs and mechanics (e.g., Gee, 2007; Squire, 2011), the positive outcomes of the current study suggest substantial potential for typical educational games as a valuable addition to teachers’ repertoire of curricular tools and resources. The findings of the current study also underscore the importance of attending to the role of the teacher as well as to overarching socio-cultural and community variables in thinking about digital games for the classroom.

Authors

• Doug Clark, Vanderbilt University

• Emily Tanner-Smith, University of Oregon

• Andrew L. Hostetler, Vanderbilt University

• Aryah Fradkin, Armistead Gardens Elementary/Middle School

• Vadim Polikov, Agora Ventures