Empowering Educators: Supporting Student Progress in the Classroom with Digital Games (Part 2)

Abstract

There is growing interest in the use of digital games as part of K-12 teachers’ classroom instruction. For example, in Washington State, legislation 1 is being considered to create a pilot program for integrating games into the school curriculum. And in the fall of 2014, the White House and U.S. Department of Education hosted a game jam 2 to encourage and promote the development of learning games. As with all educational technologies, the most frequently asked question is, “Do they work?” The answer — and the question itself is complex. Work for what purpose? To help students learn? Learn what? Core content knowledge or 21st century skills? Or is the purpose to engage students? In comparison to what? As with all educational technologies, the real answer to any of these questions is, “It depends.” It depends on lots of factors, including the features of the game and, most importantly, what teachers do with those features as part of their instruction.

The A-GAMES project (Analyzing Games for Assessment in Math, ELA/Social Studies, and Science), a collaboration between the University of Michigan and New York University, studied how teachers actually use digital games in their teaching to support formative assessment.