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Tuesday 2nd June 2009 10:01 am
Promising Evidence for Using Immersive Games in Classrooms
Science students make greater gains in MacArthur grantee David Birchfield and colleagues’ SMALLab than in regular classrooms.
In a series of recent pilot studies, my colleagues and I compared learning gains in SMALLab with those in a regular classroom among 72 at-risk ninth graders in earth science and chemistry classes. Results show that students made stronger gains in SMALLab.
SMALLab is a mixed-reality platform for learning. It is grounded in the belief that learning is effective when it is embodied (that is, engaging the body and mind in learning), multimodal (visual, sonic, kinesthetic), and collaborative.
Like the Wii, SMALLab moves students beyond the desktop and into a hybrid physical-digital environment. Students and teachers interact with digital elements via full body movements and gestures in real 3D space.
See it in action in this video at right.
To test the effectiveness of this approach, we divided students into two groups in a wait-list control design. We wanted to compare achievement during SMALLab learning against regular classroom instruction and also better understand how SMALLab learning fits with existing curriculum.
Group 1 received three days of regular classroom instruction followed by three days of SMALLab learning. Group 2 received three days of SMALLab followed by three days of regular instruction. Both groups completed the same paper/pencil test about geological evolution at the mid-point in the study and again at the end. We compared the mean scores for both groups.
The results showed that students in both groups made significantly greater gains during SMALLab learning than during regular instruction. For example, the 34 students in group 1 gained 3.6 points (effect size = 0.38; statistically significant) after the regular instruction but 19.4 points (effect size = 1.34; highly significant) after the SMALLab participation. The 37 students in group 2 gained 18.0 points (effect size = 1.44, highly significant) after SMALLab, but declined 1.6 points (effect size = -0.09; not significant) after regular instruction.
In a second, similar study, we compared SMALLab learning against a hands-on lab activity for chemistry. The results held. Students made greater gains (again, statistically significant) in SMALLab than in the lab/lecture control condition.
Although these preliminary findings are promising, further research awaits before we can generalize beyond the current population. Nonetheless, we are encouraged that the innovative nature of SMALLab learning can drive substantial improvements in student achievement within a school context.
The Digital Media and Learning grant to SMALLab and the Institute of Play funds a partnership between the EMLearning project and researchers and educators at the Institute of Play in New York City led by grantee Katie Salen. Gaming SMALLab unites work in mixed-reality learning with the Institute of Play’s work in games and learning. For more see http://ame2.asu.edu/projects/emlearning.
Category: Unexpected
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Comments
http://ame2.asu.edu/projects/emlearning
Posted on June 4 2009 8:43 PM
Thanks so much for your feedback!
We’re certainly looking more closely at the underlying mechanisms that are at play. The areas you mention are a definite focus. For example, we’ve found preliminary evidence that physical movement in the environment - embodied interaction - does play a role in students’ understanding of physics. We describe some of this work in an upcoming issue of the International Journal of Learning and Media. We’ve also found evidence that collaborative activity and discourse is elevated in SMALLab. We believe that this, along with engagement, is a feature of the experience that plays an important role in enriching student understanding.
Also, I want to let you know that we’re currently working on a longer Spotlight piece for the near future, so please stay tuned!
June
University of Southern California
http://21stcenturyscholar.org/
Posted on June 3 2009 7:14 PM
Thank you for the post Mr. Birchfield. I’m quite excited both about your study, and the capabilities of SmallLab. I was wondering if you might expound on what you think you got such great results.... Do you think perhaps the students were particularly engaged and attentive during the SmallLab sessions, so they retained more knowledge? Do you think that physically moving and engaging with a multi-modal tool enhanced their retention of the class content? As an educational technology scholar myself, I’m quite intrigued. Thanks!