Survey of Electronic Games that Teach
Ms. Diane Gaither and Dr. Carol L. Redfield
Computer Science DepartmentSan Antonio, Texas
www.wingz2fly.com/GameSurvey
AACE/SITE Conference in Orlando, Florida March 2006
Overview
• Games of Old
• Games of Today
• Research Performed
• Research Findings
• Further Research
Games of Old
• Musical Chairs• Letter recognition
– Jingles– Rhymes
• Number recognition– Counting fingers & toes– Number blocks– Adding/Subtracting sticks/marbles/jacks
• We didn’t even know we were learning!
Games of Today• Arcades• Laser tag
– LaserQuest• Handheld
– GameBoy• Consoles
– GameCube, Xbox, PS2• Internet games• Computer Games
– Reader Rabbit– Math Blaster– World of Warcraft– Star Wars Galaxies– Starfleet Academy– Age of Empires– Civilization
Research Performed• Addressing
– What educational games are out there and what do they teach?
– What effectiveness studies are available?
• What we did– Designed database
• determined game characteristics we wanted to find
– Collected the data– Created the database– Populate the database– Created a website
• www.wingz2fly.com/GameSurvey
Where we looked
• Commercial stores
• Educational facilities– Home school co-ops– Public schools– Private schools
• Internet
• Catalogs
• Personal libraries
What games are out there?
• Catalogued over 1000 games
• Multiple platforms
• Wide content range
• Variety of teaching methods
• All grade levels
Game Platforms
700, 71%
133, 14% 130, 13%
15, 2%
WINMACWEBWIN & MAC
• None for game consoles• were some for older consoles
Educational Content322
290
258241
223
141114
101
6048 46
28 25 17 13 8 60
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
Teaching Methods
74, 9%
97, 11%
20, 2%
89, 10%114, 13%
471, 55%
Creative ActivityDrill & PracticeGuided PraticeInteractiveRole PlayingSimulation
Major Grade Differences
• Toddler – Elementary
• Middle School
• High School - Adult
Toddler - ElementaryElementary
289247
175
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
Mathematics Language Arts Science
Middle School
Middle School
24
6
38
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Mathemadics Language Arts Science
High School - Adult
High School
42
22
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Mathematics Language Arts Science
Effectiveness of the Games
• Study done in 1999 presented at AACE/SITE International Conference*– The Learning Company
• Reader Rabbit
• As of summer 2005, no effectiveness studies were found on any games– Some anecdotal references
* Redfield, C.L. (1999). “Sky’s the Limit Charter School: Offering a Tutor-based Curriculum,” Proceedings of the 1999 Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education (SITE) International Conference, San Antonio, March 1999: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education.
Further Research
• Perform an Effectiveness Study– Select Game– Select test group– Select control group– Perform study– Analyze data
• Apply findings to new games
Research Contribution• Data is available for existing games
• The data can be used as a resource for further study
• The site can be used to query a specific search request by parents, teachers and administrators – www.wingz2fly.com/GameSurvey
www.wingz2fly.com/GameSurvey
www.wingz2fly.com/GameSurvey
