Thank you for taking the time to watch our video!  Our research team is currently testing our game-based ModelME curriculum with eight fourth and fifth grade teachers and their students.  Because this research is ongoing, our video focuses on the design of the game (called "Dream2B") rather than specific research results at this time. 

We are especially interested in discussion regarding the design and development of accessible game-based curricula that work from students' assets- that is, their diverse ways of thinking and making sense.  We would love to hear if design features used in the Dream2B game might be applicable to your own context (e.g., work with students, teachers, and schools; research, etc.) and what those features might be.  We also invite comments on any aspect of our work.  

Jessica:  Congratulations on this exciting asset-based work!  The contexts seem engaging and provide rich and relevant learning opportunities.  You made a wise decision to use the 3 minutes to immerse the viewer in the worlds instead of relying on descriptions from staff.

Thank you, Judy, for stopping by and for your comment! We are excited to share the game's design features and though the best way to do that was, as you said, immerse the viewer in the game worlds!  Viewers can also play the game by visiting https://modelmemath.com/gamepage/.

This is a really neat design of the games ~ connecting fractions to an interdisciplinary STEM context that goes beyond pizza and pies! 

Thanks for sharing this video! I'm curious if you're doing any data collection/analysis to see if students use different strategies to solve the problems. It seems like the visual/interactive assets could encourage trying out different strategies than paper worksheets, and tracking these differences during the design stage could be really interesting!

Thanks for watching and for your question, Corinne!  I have two answers :).

First, we are collecting meta gameplay data in terms of looking at, for instance, different strategies players used, or if different number values or problem types across the worlds invite more diversity in strategy.

We are also looking at the data to better understand the assets and tools students use as they solve the problems (e.g., how different assets support strategies).  We used Universal Design for Learning in our design of the user interface (e.g., tools, assets; sandbox gameplay features), so we are particularly interested in which aspects of the user interface enhance engagement, representation, action, and expression.  I think this is linked to you idea of how the visual/interactive assets could engage students to take risks and try new strategies.

I'll also mention that a component of our curriculum (after game tasks) involves students directly unpacking strategies they used in the game in drawings and discussion, so we are excited to dig into those data as our study concludes this spring!

Your video is really engaging and the game looks professional--great work! I love to see a foundational math skill like this packaged into something fun and engaging for students. You mentioned how you use UDL to guide the design and allow for a lot of customization of the game mechanics. I was curious about whether students organically use those customization features, or whether they tend to stick with the defaults. I also noticed that at some points, the screen is quite busy with content--words, images, and animations. Is it possible that some students will find the density of information to be overwhelming or make it harder to process and enjoy the game? Thanks again for showing this work--very exciting!

Hello Lorna,

Thank you for your comments! We are completing the preliminary trial of this game in the classroom with a replication study planned for next spring so these comments will likely change over time. We have a training tutorial for students where they demonstrate their ability to use the UDL tools prior to playing the game. In terms of the words overlaying the images, those were put in the video as a demonstration of the content being taught in the class. The students will discuss the vocabulary with their peers and the teacher. Playing the game is the best way to understand how it works. https://modelmemath.com/ 

Best,

Matt 

Thanks for sharing this video. I appreciate your attention to students' deep learning and engagement in the stories of sustainable energy techs as they learn fractions by applying their work to authentic settings. Very nice!

Sarah, thank you for your comments!  Our main goal with Modelme was to ensure students' foundational understanding and comprehension of fractions while including STEM-based careers that students might not necessarily see or be aware of.  

This is a great description of the game!  This makes it clear how diversity is included, STEM career information, and fundamental concepts for understanding fractions.

Thanks for sharing. Looks like a lot of work has gone into this! A few questions:

How do you think about the learning curve. It sounds like based on usability testing, you went back and added a tutorial? How do you think about the density of concepts covered in each level?

How do you weigh introducing new ideas via text / spoken audio vs letting kids explore and experiment with feedback to discover?

How do you think about failure and feedback within the design, i.e. wrong answers from players? Those can be opportunities for surprise and delight, but does take a fair bit of time to implement well.

If you get more time to work on the game, what are some of the directions you'd like to take it in going forward?

Thanks for sharing this neat project. As you mentioned doing user testing, what are the kinds of in-game and out of game measures that you are looking at. I am thinking that many affective measures could be useful. I also wonder about something like Valerie Shute's stealth assessment as a way to measure learning during the game play.

Hi Marcelo, thanks for these questions!

Right now we're working to develop a gameplay data pipeline that will work in the background of Dream2B to generate in-game, process oriented measures to compliment the existing out-of-game measures Jessica mentioned above. The pipeline will produce data on students' clickstream behaviors within the game. We can then use this data to analyze in-game behaviors (e.g., tool use frequencies within levels), identify common game play paths and associated learning outcomes, or interpret instances of self-regulated learning behaviors during gameplay.

While we don't have plans to interpret this data through an affective lens just yet, we are working on populating this process-level data to teacher facing data dashboards. We'll collect initial feedback on what kinds of student data and data visualizations teachers would like to see included in these dashboards during our upcoming teacher focus groups!

Hi Jessica and team - Dream2B is an innovative, engaging context for students to understand fractions. Congratulations on your design--I know a lot of effort has gone in to this! Good luck with data collection,

Thanks Hiller!  We are excited to analyze the data!

Hi, I am Ho-Chieh Lin, a Ph.D. candidate at OSU. My work involves "videos" and fractions, so I am very excited to learn about your team's project. I believe the video games you have developed are attractive to children. I was wondering how you suggest teachers implement these activities in their classrooms. Do they use them for exploration, assessment, or review activities? What if children could not figure out the chanllenges? Also, I was curious about how you decided on the topics of each task. I love how the contexts connect with STEM fields. Look forward to your reply :)

Hi Ho-Chieh - great questions! 

As far as teachers implementing the activities, the Dream2B video game is embedded within a supplemental fractions curriculum, and we see the "launch" and "after gameplay tasks" as integral to students' gameplay. We've suggested 10 minutes of gameplay at least 3 times per week in our feasibility study. The set up of the game is a type of "sand box" play so in that sense students can use the game as a form of exploration. Teachers can also use students' gameplay as a form of formative assessment by observing and questioning students as they play the game. Soon we will have a teacher dashboard developed that also gives teachers data that can support formative assessment. 

When students struggle with the challenges, there are questioning prompts teachers can use to learn more about what they've tried so far and support them thinking about other ways to try to solve the problems. The game also gives text prompts to students as they play depending on the actions they take. Perhaps most important here is the follow up that happens in the after gameplay tasks, which are essentially lessons rooted in a number string, worked example, or "game replay." During this time, students have a chance to think, write, and discuss real problems from the game and teachers facilitate those conversations. Our hope with this is that these conversations support students with difficulties they had in the game the next time they play. 

I'll let Jessica share more about how the task topics were decided. Thanks for your compliments on the game!

- Alex

I appreciated seeing the actual game design (mom of now-grownup gamer). My work isn't in the same field as you (ie more adult informal science ed), but it was enjoyable seeing what you were doing.

Thank you, Patti! We're excited to begin analyzing the data!