Learning Informational Text With MOLLY OF DENALI: An Evaluation of Family Board Games

• In Event: Rethinking Learning and Access in Community-Based Contexts

Abstract

This project explores the educational benefit of offline games and reports on a study of parents’ and children’s attitudes, behaviors, and knowledge before and after playing MOLLY OF DENALI Family Games, a suite of eight offline games aimed at increasing K-2 children’s knowledge of informational text. Pre-post increases in parents’ and children’s knowledge related to informational text as well as positive changes in behaviors and attitudes surrounding gameplay and engaging with informational text—demonstrate the effectiveness of informal, offline games in supporting children’s educational development. This is particularly important, considering families from rural areas and families with lower incomes are disproportionately disconnected.

Authors

• Micaela Keating, WGBH

• Elizabeth R. Myers, Bright Horizons